Scientists have discovered a 50 million years old amber discovery 700 new species of ancient insects were found inside of the amber. The amber weighed 150kg's, the amber was produce in a rainforest in India.
From these new discoveries scientists have discovered that even though there was millions of years in isolation in the ocean the region has proved to be a lot more biologically diverse that it has previously believed to be.
The amber (named Cambay amber) has been found in the lignite mines in the Cambay shale of the Indian state, Gujarat.
When
When Gondwana split up into several smaller pieces in the mid-Jurassic, some 160 million years ago most of its pieces stayed in the southern hemisphere but one part of it spread to the northern hemisphere, Because it continued shifting for about 100 million years and a fast rate of 15-25 cm per year! The plate eventually collided wit h Asia and became what we now call today, India. So now it is believed that it caused it to have incredibly unique plant and animal life that are found only in this region.
Most of the recently discovered bugs also show links to modern insects as well as those that lived millions of years ago in different parts of the world, including Asia, Australia, and even South America."It is possible for plants to drift hundreds of kilometres on open ocean currents, and in the case of insects, some can fly," said Dr Rust.
This discovery has lead to a whole new perspective of the animal and plant life in India millions of years ago all due to a 150 kilo piece of amber.
SITE:
Moskvic, Katie. "BBC News - Ancient Bugs Found in 50-million-year-old Indian Amber." BBC - Homepage. 25 Oct. 2010. Web. 11 Nov. 2010.
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ReplyDeleteStars:
1. liked how you posted everything in order, beginning, middle and end.
2. I also liked how you named the scientists and said who did what and who researched what!
3. The picture suits the article, nice job putting in the picture because you know, 75% of people understand the information with pictures than without pictures.
Wow!
ReplyDeleteThat's a very interesting article!
By studying these ancient bugs, maybe scientists will be able to connect their adaptations to modern-day insects, and then they can help any endangered bugs come off the endangered species list! Also, the fact that this large chunk of amber contradicts many theories about how diverse the life in ancient India was is also interesting. It shows how there could have been completely different animal lifestyles than what we originally thought!
Good article!