Fossil Amber Alates and Beetles

This is a pretty oval shaped amber with easily eye-visible insects from an ancient rainforest. It is pendant sized.

The specimen contains two Alates, the sexual form of the termite, as well as a reddish platypodid beetle, a member of a species that are often found congregating in mating rituals, nor to mention whose descendants are guilty of eating the bark of trees in Arizona and other places during modern times. Finally, there is a more exotic beetle from Family Staphylinidae known as a Rove beetle.

Flying termites, or Alates, are the sexual form of termites that swarm from the colony in huge numbers to fly weakly to a new site to form another colony, where they soon shed their wings and set up housekeeping. Modern-day termites time the emergence of all colonies in a region to swamp the predators, giving at least a few the opportunity to found new colonies.