14 DAY TRIAL // An interesting discovery finally confirmed that mites evolved long before flowering plants did. The conclusion belongs to a new study, which identified two mites and a midge inside a piece of amber determined to be 230 million years old.
By all accounts, these are the oldest arthropods ever discovered. The insects, which were trapped in the resin of a conifer tree species that is now extinct, are part of a group of invertebrates that also include arachnids and crustaceans.
The amber that held them was recovered from an outcrop in the Italian Dolomite Alps, in northeastern Italy. About 70,000 small pieces of fossilized resin were dug out, measuring 2 to 6 millimeters each.
Scientists believe that the arthropods were trapped during a climatic shift that saw conifers produce more resin than usual, Science Now reports.