<em>Darwinylus marcosi</em> Beetle and Pollen in Amber (IMAGE)

Smithsonian

<em>Darwinylus marcosi</em> Beetle and Pollen in Amber

Caption

This image (A) shows loose pollen grains from a gymnosperm plant, enlarged in (C) and (D), trapped in 105 million-year-old amber with the newly discovered beetle, Darwinylus marcosi. The beetle with the pollen in amber is featured in its entirety at (H). The photos (E), (F) and (G) show pollen grains from a gymnosperm plant that are stuck to the surface of the beetle. Based on their understanding of the fossilization process, scientists conjecture the resin covered the beetle in the direction of the green arrow and scattered the pollen grains loose from the beetle's body into the adjacent resin within the cone-shaped envelope indicated in (I).

Credit

Courtesy of David Peris (Departament de Ciències Agràries I del Medi Natural, Universitat Jaume, Castelló de la Plana, Spain).

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News media use of the image in relation to the publication in Current Biology are permitted.

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