5 mm long, 37 million years old: a new species of beetle found in Baltic amber

A unique beetle discovered in a small piece of amber from the Sambian Peninsula. 

The discovery was made by a researcher Vitaly Alekseev from the Baltic Federal University named after Kant, together with specialists from the USA and Latvia.

The extinct insect belongs to the Trogossitidae family, the so-called dark beetles (previously, only two representatives of this family were found in the world).

«Modern relatives of this genus of beetles are predators, — Alekseev said. “They feed on wood-eating bark beetles and woodworms.”

Photo: IKBFU Telegram channel