41 million year-old mating insects trapped in amber.

Around 41 million years ago, on the southern tip of what was then the Gondwana continent, two mating flies were unexpectedly interrupted as tree resin got them into a sticky–and not necessarily good–situation. The two insects became trapped, without any chances of escape. They remained hidden from sight, trapped in amber for 41 million years until a group of paleontologists found them in the Otway Basin of present-day southern Australia.

The supercontinent of Gondwana was part of Australia, Antarctica, India, Africa, and Southern America. It broke of from the Pangea supercontinent some 200 million years ago.

“This is one of the greatest discoveries in paleontology for Australia,” explained Associate Professor Jeffrey Stilwell, further adding that this may be one of the first examples of ‘frozen behavior’ in the fossil record of the continent. Read the free article.