Doubly trapped insectSometimes a fossil preserves the last moments of an animal’s life. In
Doubly trapped insectSometimes a fossil preserves the last moments of an animal’s life. In this particular case, dating from a mere 20 million years back, an insect was first caught in a spider’s web (the dark thread) by a droplet of glue (the bubble) deposited on the web from the spider’s abdomen during construction. Somewhat later the web, droplet of glue and unfortunate insect were all engulfed in low viscosity resin from a tree. The resin gradually fossilised, losing many of its volatiles, and turned into the piece of Dominican amber (seehttp://tinyurl.com/lompw53) that records this aeons old unique moment in life’s eternal struggle for individual survival.LozImage credit: Mila Zinkova via EPOD -- source link
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