Fossil Amber Beetle Congregation

Seeing is believing, as this amber that measures a mere 40 by 22 mm contains more than two dozen beetles. Each of 24 Platypodid beetles (Order: Coleoptera; Family Platypodidae) measures about 4 mm in length and is a striking reddish brown color.

Also called ambrosia beetles, the still extant platypodid beetles penetrate deeply into the wood. The larvae develop in small cells adjoining the main galleries, and in most species they are fed fungi by the females, that also carry away the larval feces in order to keep the galleries clean. After pupation, the new adults emerge, not by burrowing through the bark like the bark beetles, but by crawling out of the galleries made by the mother.

The beetles share their eternal resin tomb with a number of insect cousins: other Coleopterans (a cicid and a click beetle); Homopteran (a plant hopper).