Published 13:59 IST, April 4th 2020
Fossil in Australia shows flies preserved in amber 41 million years ago
Researchers also discovered many other species of flies frozen trapped inside amber samples in the fossils from the Late Triassic and early Paleocene period.
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A recent discovery of a rare fossil in Victoria, Australia has a pair of mating flies that died and got preserved in amber for 41 million years in same posture, as per open-access study published in a scientific journal. It is oldest Australian fossil of mating species found on record uneard by Monash University's School of Earth, Atmosphere, and Environment in Melbourne.
researchers also discovered many or species of flies frozen trapped inside amber samples in fossils from Late Triassic and early Paleocene period. After treating fossils for microscopic assessment, several unique preserves were discovered like ants from sourn Gondwana, first Australian fossils of wingless hexapods, also known as "slender springtails", a cluster of spiders, two liverwort, two moss species and biting midges, all encased since over a period of thousands of years.
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Evolution of modern Australian biota
Jeffrey Stilwell, a paleontologist at Monash University and study's le author, said in a press release, “Amber is considered to be a holy grail in discipline, as organisms are preserved in a state of suspended animation in perfect 3D space, looking just like y died yesterday." According to study, amber is brittle and many samples were eir collected as broken fragments from core or burst during extraction. He furr ded explaining importance of finding “ fossils are many millions of years old, y provide us with an enormous amount of information on ancient terrestrial ecosystems”.
preserves were collected from Tasmania's Macquarie Harbour Formation and Victoria's Anglesea Coal Measures, dating back over 50 million and 40 million years by a team of scientists from Australia, Spain, Italy, and UK. " research furrs our understanding of prehistoric sourn ecosystems in Australia and New Zealand during Late Triassic to mid-Paleogene periods (230–40 million years ago),” Stilwell emphasized. findings provided scientists an insight into origin and evolution of modern Australian biota, as per research published.
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14:08 IST, April 4th 2020