A piece of Burmese amber has become a paleontological treasure by encasing a glowing creature from the dinosaur era.
According to Science Alert, the perfect fossil discovered in Myanmar provides evidence that dinosaur-era creatures once admired one of the most enchanting sights known to humanity today: The sparkling night sky filled with fireflies.
The Burmese amber reveals that creatures from the Cretaceous period also enjoyed a night sky full of fireflies, just like us – (Illustration by: Anh Thư).
A recent study led by paleontologist Chenyang Cai from the Chinese Academy of Sciences analyzed a precious 99-million-year-old specimen found in Myanmar.
This country has long been famous for Burmese amber, which sometimes inadvertently traps prehistoric creatures.
However, this is only the second firefly lineage creature revealed within amber.
Close-up of the creature trapped in Burmese amber – (Photo: Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences).
This specimen is particularly special because it perfectly preserved the entire firefly, including something invaluable to scientists: the “lantern” at the tail.
The newly discovered creature belongs to a different species from the previous specimen. It has been named Flammarionella hehaikuni.
The previously found firefly in Burmese amber was Protoluciola albertalleni, which also preserved evidence of bioluminescence and is of the same age as this new specimen.
However, scientists have an additional stroke of luck: The first firefly was male, while the one just discovered is female. They exhibit some differences in body structure; for example, the male typically has much more elaborate antennae than the female.
Additionally, another research group previously found a non-firefly luminescent insect in a different amber mine in Myanmar.
According to Dr. Cai and his colleagues, this new creature is vivid evidence that the ability to glow in insects is older than we think, and around 99 million years ago, this trait had diversified across many firefly species.
They hope to discover more bioluminescent creatures from the Cretaceous period as well as the Mesozoic era in general, to better understand the origins and mechanisms behind bioluminescence in the animal kingdom.
The research has just been published in the scientific journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences.
