A Gnat In Europe Got Trapped In A Piece Of Amber About 40 Million Years Ago, And Now Scientists Are Learning More About The Never-Before-Studied Species
Around 40 million years ago, Europe’s climate was warmer and more humid, providing the ideal conditions for tiny winged insects, like gnats, to thrive.
One of these gnats got itself trapped in a piece of amber. Recent analysis of the amber has led to new knowledge about ancient gnat species.
Researchers from the University of Copenhagen have also discovered that it contains the first fossil of a rare predatory fungus gnat species.
The gnat, Robsonomyia henningseni, has never been studied before. It was found in a piece of amber along the North Sea coast of Denmark in the 1960s.
The piece has remained in the vast collection of the Natural History Museum of Denmark for decades. However, a team of Polish scientists removed it from the collection to conduct a thorough examination.
They were able to determine that the gnat was an extinct species that belonged to a rare genus of predatory gnats. Living species of the genus are currently only found in California and Hokkaido, Japan.
“This is the first time that anyone has found a fossil gnat of this genus, which were only thought to live in Japan and North America.
The finding demonstrates that this type of gnat was also widespread in Europe during past climates and gives us new knowledge about the gnat’s distribution on Earth,” said Alicja Pełczyńska, a Ph.D. student at the University of Łódź and the University of Copenhagen.
It is believed that the gnat connects its two rare relatives still living in the United States and Japan. The distance between the existing species has always puzzled researchers, but the new fossil indicates that the species must have traveled across the European continent.
Björn Wylezich – stock.adobe.com – illustrative purposes only, not the actual gnat
The research team began their study by polishing the amber until it was shiny and transparent. Next, they used an advanced camera and spectrometer to capture a chemical fingerprint of the amber. Then, they assessed the fossil and identified the insect.
The team estimated that the gnat inhabited the pine forests in what is now Scandinavia about 35 to 40 million years ago.
In the forest, the gnat got stuck in a lump of pine resin on a tree. Rivers, ocean currents, and glaciers carried the entombed gnat to the North Sea.
“An amber collector by the name of C.V. Henningsen found the piece of amber on the western coast of Jutland back in the 1960s. Henningsen sold the piece, along with the rest of his collection, to the Natural History Museum of Denmark. Since the gnat species had never been described before, we named it after him, and it is now known as Robsonomyia henningseni,” said Lars Vilhelmsen, an associate professor and curator with the museum.
Amber preserves prehistoric animal and plant remains, allowing scientists to learn more about what Earth was like millions of years ago.
However, if the gnat is removed from the amber, it will crumble into bits and be lost forever since its organic material decomposed long ago. So, the best approach is to study it inside the amber.
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