Fossil Insects & Spiders
Insects and spiders generally don't fossilize well because their chitinous exoskeletons are thin and easily destroyed, but the world's rocks and sediments do contain some spectacular fossils of these animals.
About Fossil Insects
Detailed and beautifully illustrated articles about insects in amber, insect fossils in rock, and insect trace fossils, from Meganeura, the Palaeoentomological Newsletter. Trace fossils are remains of an animal's activity rather than of the animal itself. Footprints, burrows, and grazing trails are examples.
Detailed and beautifully illustrated articles about insects in amber, insect fossils in rock, and insect trace fossils, from Meganeura, the Palaeoentomological Newsletter. Trace fossils are remains of an animal's activity rather than of the animal itself. Footprints, burrows, and grazing trails are examples.
Cheliceramorpha: Fossil Record
Here is a brief discussion of the fossil record of spiders, their ancestors and their kin. Spiders' ancestors first showed up in the Middle Cambrian Burgess Shale fauna.
Here is a brief discussion of the fossil record of spiders, their ancestors and their kin. Spiders' ancestors first showed up in the Middle Cambrian Burgess Shale fauna.
Fossil Beetles in Quaternary and Environmental Studies
Information on what can be learned from not-quite-fossilized beetles (subfossils) in Quaternary sediments.
Information on what can be learned from not-quite-fossilized beetles (subfossils) in Quaternary sediments.
Organic Flypaper
Some of the best-preserved insects are fossilized in amber. This article provides carefully-explained technical details about amber and the insects trapped within it.
Some of the best-preserved insects are fossilized in amber. This article provides carefully-explained technical details about amber and the insects trapped within it.
Plant-Insect Associations and Paleocene-Eocene Warming
The warmer the climate, the more insect diversity and plant predation will occur in the area. Relationships found in fossil plants and insects can be used to determine warming trends in the Paleocene-Eocene epochs.
The warmer the climate, the more insect diversity and plant predation will occur in the area. Relationships found in fossil plants and insects can be used to determine warming trends in the Paleocene-Eocene epochs.
Uniramia: Fossil Record
Photographs and descriptions of some of the oldest known insects and their ancestors, from University of California at Berkeley.
Photographs and descriptions of some of the oldest known insects and their ancestors, from University of California at Berkeley.