Russian specialists found a piece of amber with a fossilized cockroach inside, which lived 35 or 40 million years ago, the Kalinningrad amber plant reported today, where the finding was made.
“This unique copy will be one of the main lots of the Rare Amber Auction, which will be held on August 2,” says the official note.
The piece weighs about seven grams and was discovered during the inventory of the articles that houses the plant in its funds. The insect, of the Blattodea order, is preserved in a piece of amber of 41 × 21 millimeters.
“The cockroach was frozen in the petrified resin of old relict trees very advantageous for posterity: just on the surface,” says the statement.
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In this way, he explains, you can examine in detail the wings, legs and the head of the insect. According to Russian specialists, it is the largest cockroach found in the last five years.
“It is not the same cockroach that lives today, but you can still find similar species in the tropics,” said Anna Dúguina, a gemologist at the Kaliningrad amber plant.
Dozens of millions of years ago, due to the warm and humid climate, and forest fires, the resin of old relict trees was in a liquid state and served a kind of trap for its future “prey.”
The insects fell into it with bursts of wind, they were attracted to the bright surface or were surprised by a drop of a tree.
Thus were born the pieces that today represent around 7 and 9% of the entire amber extracted, the Russian specialists detailed.
With EFE information
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