A rare and fascinating discovery comes from Ecuador: insects, plant fragments and cobwebs perfectly preserved in amber dating back 112 million years. The discovery, which occurred in Hollín formationwithin the eastern Amazon region of the country, represents a precious piece in the reconstruction of a Cretaceous tropical ecosystem.
The details were published in the magazine Communications Earth & Environmentand show how much there is still to discover about the Earth’s natural history, especially in less explored areas such as South America.
Amber, a plant fossil that tells the story of life millions of years ago
Amber is one fossil resin produced by treescapable of trapping small organisms and preserving them with incredible precision. In particular conditions, this resin solidifies and resists over time, becoming a sort of time capsule.
In the case of the amber found in Ecuador, scientists have identified specimens of insects belonging to five different ordersincluding flies, beetles, ants and wasps. Some insects were so well preserved that they were on display current behaviorssuch as feeding on mushrooms. They were also found remains of cobwebs, spores, pollen and plant fragmentselements which together offer a very detailed picture of the environment in which they found themselves.
This ability of amber to capture even soft-bodied organisms, such as insects and fungi, is critical. Normally, these living things , because they decompose quickly. But when they get trapped in the resin, everything stops: behavior, position, interactions with the environment.
A forgotten corner of Gondwana
During the Cretaceous period, about 112 million years ago, the area now occupied by Ecuador was part of Gondwanaa supercontinent that included South America, Africa, India, Australia, and Antarctica. At that time in Earth’s history, Gondwana was slowly fragmenting and new ecosystems were emerging.
Until now, most discoveries about this period have come from the Northern Hemisphere. But Ecuadorian amber changes the cards on the table: it allows you to study an ecosystem from the southern hemispheremuch more humid, tropical and rich in resinous vegetation, capable of generating large quantities of amber.
Scientists hypothesize that the forest in question was thick and hotpopulated by resinous plants and an intricate network of insects, fungi and other life forms. What is striking is the complexity of the ecosystemsimilar, in some respects, to that of modern rainforests.
A journey into ancient biodiversity
Amber not only returns the image of a single insect, but a photograph of the entire ecosystem. Thanks to the presence of plant materials and organisms interacting with each other, researchers can understand how species coexistedwhat ecological functions they performed and how they adapted to the climate.
The fact that these fossils come from a little-explored area like the Ecuadorian Amazon makes the discovery even more significant. Often, in fact, data on Cretaceous biodiversity are based on materials from the North of the world. But Ecuador could guard key information about how life evolved in the Southern Hemisphereand how the fragmentation of Gondwana has affected species distribution.
These fossils also help to better understand the climate and ecological changes of the time, offering comparisons with current environmental dynamics. It is a concrete example of how the study of the past can help interpret the present and future of our planet.
