This spider was trapped in tree resin about 20 million years ago. Over, time the resin fossilized into amber, preserving the animal inside.

© AMNH\D. Grimaldi

Preserved for 230 million years in droplets of amber just millimeters long, two newly named species of mites and a fly have set a record. They are the oldest arthropods – invertebrate animals that include insects, arachnids, and crustaceans – ever found in amber. 

Researchers screened 70,000 amber droplets, resulting in the three arthropod inclusions. Read the full story: http://bit.ly/NA6nRN

Image: Photomicrographs of the two new species of ancient gall mites, taken at 1000x magnification. The gall mites were named (top) Triasacarus fedelei and (bottom) Ampezzoa triassica.  (University of Göttingen/A. Schmidt)

This image shows how amber is set up to be photographed. It is placed on a plexi surface with light coming through from underneath. Shot by Denis

A few amber-related items from the Museum’s collections, photographed by Craig