Burmese Amber or Burmite opus 940
| 10 September 2026 1531 Hours | | Entomology, Anatomy, Biology, Botany, Environment, Evolution, History, Science, Zoology |
While browsing through eBay I discovered specimens for sale,
Of various lizards, crabs, scorpions, butterflies, and beetles,
Encased in beautiful, polished—so they claimed—amber.
Of course many creatures from many thousands of years ago,
Became entrapped in oozing tree sap which fossilized into amber.
Specifically, Burmese amber from Myanmar is about 100 million years old.
It comes from an important period on Earth, coinciding with
The formation of modern flora and fauna.
This is the period when the world's biota changed
From one dominated by gymnosperms to one dominated by angiosperms.
Burmese amber captures the rapid origination
And radiation of modern insect groups.
Also seen in the amber is the co-evolution of plants and animals,
Adaptation of insects to new host plants,
And the adaptation of flowering plants to new pollinators.
Burmite provides a record of the emergence of new species,
As well as evidence of specialized life forms and habitats.
With its inclusions, amber reveals many events of nature.
Sir Francis Bacon, the English philosopher,
In his Historia Vivae et Mortis (1623) wrote:
"When we see spiders, flies, or ants, entombed and preserved
For ever in amber, a more than royal tomb,
Although they are tender substances and easily dissipate."