Prehistoric Insects and Plants Newly Discovered!

A stunning discovery has revealed 112-million-year-old insects and plants preserved in amber found in Ecuador — the first of its kind ever uncovered in South America. The find offers scientists a rare window into the lush forests that once thrived on the ancient supercontinent Gondwana.

“This discovery captures a moment in time from a forest that existed 112 million years ago,” said Xavier Delclòs, who led the study describing the amber in Communications Earth & Environment.

The amber, excavated from the Genoveva quarry in Ecuador’s Hollín Formation, contained 21 lifeforms, including beetles, flies, wasps, and a fragment of spider web, along with ancient spores and pollen. Researchers concluded that the resin formed in a humid, densely vegetated forest dominated by resin-producing trees. The discovery is expected to reshape scientific understanding of Cretaceous ecosystems in the Southern Hemisphere, an area that until now remained largely unknown.