Turn amber when mating. How did prehistoric flies reproduce 4 1 10,000 years ago?

In the past 4 billion years, the earth has been full of vitality, and life has multiplied on the earth for a long time. However, due to a series of reasons, including threats from the earth's interior and the universe, 99% of the species on the earth have become extinct. Today, millions of species on earth account for only a small part of many species in the past.

Scientists know that there were countless creatures on the earth in the past because these creatures did not completely disappear in the long river of time, and some of them were preserved with fossils. When paleontology is buried by sediments for various reasons, their bones and shells may become fossils with sediments, and they will evolve into fossils after long-term geological processes.

After a long time, organic matter in organisms will decompose, so there are only bones and shells in fossils. Although fossils can tell us what kind of creatures existed on the ancient earth, it is not easy to infer what paleontology looks like from fossils.

However, there is a special kind of fossil in nature, which can preserve the remains of ancient creatures relatively completely. This is an amber fossil. Amber not only does not decompose biological organic matter, but also retains their last state before death.

Paleontologists at Monash University have discovered a very special amber fossil in which two prehistoric flies (belonging to Eupolyphaga) are still mating. The analysis shows that amber came from Paleogene-Eocene-Barton period 4/kloc-0.0 million years ago, which means we are looking at the paleontological behavior 4/kloc-0.0 million years ago.

At that time, shortly after the earth recovered from the fifth extinction, the ancestors of modern mammals began to appear, and biologists could find many mammalian fossils of that era. Through amber fossils, we can further understand the situation at that time.

So, how did this amber fossil form?

Amber is actually a fossil formed by resin secreted by ancient trees such as prehistoric pines and cypresses. As early as tens of millions of years ago, resin dripped from prehistoric trees. If they happen to be buried deep underground, after a long period of high-temperature extrusion, the resin gradually petrifies and eventually forms amber.

If the resin just drips on prehistoric creatures and wraps them, the remains of these prehistoric creatures will be preserved with amber. Because amber is well sealed and organic matter will not be completely decomposed, we can directly know the appearance of prehistoric creatures through amber fossils.

465,438+0000 years ago, when these two prehistoric flies were mating, resin happened to fall on them, and then turned into amber fossils, which is what we see now.

However, other paleontologists have put forward different views on the formation of this special amber. These two prehistoric flies may not be wrapped in resin during the breeding process, but it is possible that one prehistoric fly was trapped by resin first, and the other prehistoric fly wanted to take this opportunity to breed with it, and as a result, he also trapped himself.

Anyway, amber fossils are of great significance to our study of prehistoric creatures. Through amber fossils, we can not only discover new prehistoric species, but also understand the prehistoric earth environment and the evolution process of organisms.