{"id":438381,"date":"2026-01-28T09:59:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-28T09:59:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/438381\/"},"modified":"2026-01-28T09:59:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-28T09:59:08","slug":"greater-detail-than-ever-before-ancient-creature-found-immaculately-entombed-in-amber","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/438381\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cGreater detail than ever before.\u201d Ancient creature found immaculately entombed in amber"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Scientists studying an amber collection from the Goethe National Museum in the German town of\u00a0Weimar have made a remarkable discovery. Held within two pieces of the fossilised tree resin are three exceptionally well-preserved animals: a\u00a0fungus gnat, a black fly and, most notably, an ant.<\/p>\n<p>Now extinct, the ant species (\u2020Ctenobethylus goepperti) is commonly found in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.discoverwildlife.com\/plant-facts\/trees\/what-is-amber-and-how-does-it-preserve-animals-and-plants-for-so-long\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">amber<\/a>. What makes it special, however, is the immaculate condition of the specimen, which allowed researchers from the University of Jena to study the species in \u201cgreater detail than ever before.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"685\" height=\"604\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Amber-piece.webp.webp\" alt=\"Amber piece\" class=\"wp-image-150713\" style=\"width:840px;height:auto\"\/>Arrows show the location of the ant in the amber. Credit: Boudinot et al. Scientific Reports<\/p>\n<p>Using modern imaging techniques to create three-dimensional images of\u00a0the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.discoverwildlife.com\/animal-facts\/insects-invertebrates\/ants-guide\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">worker ant<\/a>, the team identified fine hairs on its body. More significantly, they were able to peer inside the head and thorax of the creature,\u00a0offering new insight into its morphology.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have fully processed the specimen and, based on the newly acquired information, created a 3D reconstruction that is available online,\u201d says Daniel Tr\u00f6ger from the University of Jena. \u201cThis model helps colleagues worldwide to identify and compare further <a href=\"https:\/\/www.discoverwildlife.com\/animal-facts\/fossils-guide\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">fossils<\/a> of this species.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The amber-encased ant is similar to living species of the genus Liometopum, which are found in North America and parts of Europe. By comparing the two, the researchers say it\u2019s possible to draw conclusions about how the extinct ant lived. One theory is that it built vast nests in tree canopies, which may explain why it is often found in amber.<\/p>\n<p>The study was published in the journal\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41598-026-36004-4\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Scientific Reports<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"685\" height=\"1132\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Ctenobethylus-goepperti.webp.webp\" alt=\"Ctenobethylus goepperti\" class=\"wp-image-150715\" style=\"width:840px;height:auto\"\/>3D renders of \u2020Ctenobethylus goepperti in the amber piece. Credit: Boudinot et al. Scientific Reports<\/p>\n<p>Top image: Ant in amber: \u2020Ctenobethylus goepperti in amber (left in the stone) from Goethe&#8217;s collection.<br \/>More amazing wildlife stories from around the world<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Scientists studying an amber collection from the Goethe National Museum in the German town of\u00a0Weimar have made a&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":438382,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[49,48,295,66],"class_list":{"0":"post-438381","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-environment","11":"tag-science"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/438381","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=438381"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/438381\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/438382"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=438381"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=438381"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=438381"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}