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Like several other dimunitive memebers of the dipteran order, fungus gnats, family Sciaridae, are common inclusions in amber. This is for several reasons. Fungus gnats were very common so there were a lot of them available for entrapment in resin. Also, because they are small, delicate insects they are seldom able to free themselves once caught. |
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Fungus gnats, like other dipterans, have a complete metamorpohsis. They lay small,
white eggs that are difficult to see with the unaided eye. From these, hatch tiny, thread like
maggots. They prefer moist soil that is rich in organic matter. Though they do feed on fungus, as the
name implies, they also feed on the roots of plants, especially young plants. This makes them a pest in
greenhouses and other places where plants are being grown in moist soil that does not periodically dry
out.
Animals such as this which were very common millions of years ago and still very common today illustrate
one of the intesting facts about amber inclusions. Though the species to which this individual belonged
is probably extinct, it would take an expert to distingush it from currently extant species because the
family and possibly the genus is still around and includes numerous species today. Thus, we can easily
identify the "type" of insect in most amber pieces and entymologists can usually inentify the family
and sometimes the genus of an amber inclusion based on keys for extant species.
In this specimen the struggle to escape the resin is apparent from the akward position of the front legs
and the way the wings are folded. The striping of the amber, probably caused by chemical impurties, also
makes this a very interesting piece of amber.
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