and sometimes the genus level, from that found

today. Mesozoic amber opens a door to an earlier

and more different fauna. Cretaceous Burmese

amber from Myanmar is about 99 million years

old, while Cretaceous Lebanese amber is older, at

125 to 135 million years. Some Jurassic Lebanese

amber with beetle inclusions is also known.

Recent breakthroughs in synchrotron

technology have allowed scientists to digitally

reconstruct insects preserved in nontransparent

amber. The importance of this opaque amber

was never before realized, because the inclusions

were not visible.

The chances of any individual becoming a

fossil are vanishingly small, and what we know

about the fauna of the past relies on chance

preservation in the fossil record. It is an important

role of modern entomologists to build insect

collections, as a new fossil record, so future

generations will have a more complete window

into the insect fauna of the world today.

opposite | Chelonarium andabata

(Chelonariidae) One of two fossil

turtle beetles from Eocene Baltic

amber, assigned to a modern,

mainly tropical, genus.

right | Pelretes vivificus (Kateretidae)

A pollinating beetle from mid-

Cretaceous Burmese amber,

provisionally assigned to the

extant family Kateretidae.

left | Cretotrichopsenius burmiticus

(Staphylinidae: Aleocharinae) from

Cretaceous Burmese amber. The

larger insect is a soldier termite,

and this beetle probably lived with

termites, in the same way as some

of its modern relatives.