In a significant paleontological discovery announced in September 2025, scientists have unearthed prehistoric insects meticulously preserved in amber in Ecuador's Napo province. This marks the first such find in South America, offering an unprecedented window into life approximately 112 million years ago during the Albian stage of the Lower Cretaceous period. The discovery is particularly noteworthy given that most amber deposits dating back over 130 million years have been concentrated in the Northern Hemisphere, making the scarcity of such finds in southern regions, once part of the supercontinent Gondwana, a long-standing scientific enigma.
The amber, formed from the resin of ancient trees, has captured a variety of terrestrial arthropods, including beetles, flies, ants, and wasps. Fragments of spider webs have also been found embedded within the fossilized resin, providing intricate details of the ancient ecosystem. The surrounding rock strata yielded a rich assortment of plant fossils, such as spores, pollen, and leaves, painting a vivid picture of a humid, resinous forest environment that once thrived in this region. This ancient forest, characterized by species of ferns and conifers like the Monkey Puzzle Tree, differed significantly from the modern Amazonian rainforest.
Researchers have identified two distinct types of amber from the site: one formed underground around the roots of resin-producing plants, and a rarer form created when resin was exposed to the air. It is this aerial amber that has yielded the majority of the fossil inclusions, preserving delicate organisms. The resin-producing trees are believed to have been araucariaceous conifers, a type of tree widespread during the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods. This find represents the largest Cretaceous amber deposit discovered in South America, rivaling many northern counterparts in its volume and the preservation of delicate species.
This discovery provides crucial insights into the biodiversity of ancient tropical rainforests in the Southern Hemisphere and enhances our understanding of equatorial ecosystems during a transformative era. It sheds light on the biogeographical connections of these ancient life forms as the modern continents were separating from Gondwana. The findings illuminate an ecologically significant period when flowering plants, or angiosperms, began to gain prominence, gradually replacing the previously dominant gymnosperms. The collaborative research, published in the journal Communications Earth & Environment, involved scientists from institutions including the University of Barcelona and the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute.