Secrets Frozen in Time: Two Mysterious Ancient Cockroach Species Unearthed in Myanmar Amber Cave
So, picture this: two tiny critters, stuck in amber for a staggering 99 million years, just chilling while dinosaurs roamed around like they owned the place. Yep, scientists digging through a cave in Myanmar stumbled upon ancient cockroaches—Crenocticola svadba and Mulleriblattina bowangi—that are not just any bugs, but bona fide dinosaur-era cave survivors. You’d think after all that chaos, these cave-dwellers would have checked out, right? Nope. These perfectly preserved little troglomorphic insects (that’s just a fancy term for cave-adapted species) seem to have been feasting on dino droppings and living their best subterranean lives while T. rex did his thing. It kinda makes you wonder—if cockroaches could survive a mass extinction, what hope do the rest of us have? Talk about resilience! Curious how these ancient roommates ended up trapped in amber deep underground? Let’s just say tree roots and sticky resin had a part to play in this prehistoric preserve. Dive into this wild discovery and see how it flips what we thought we knew on its head—because, trust me, this survival story is way cooler than your average bug tale. LEARN MORE
These 99 million-year-old discoveries represent “the only known dinosaur age cave survivors.”
Lenka Podstrelená, Sendi et al. Gondwana Res 2020 (Copyright Elsevier 2020)The two species likely descended from a common ancestor, before the supercontinent of Gondwana drifted apart.
An international team of researchers just discovered two new ancient species of cockroach. Discovered in amber in a cave in Myanmar, they’ve been named Crenocticola svadba and Mulleriblattina bowangi. Both are part of the Nocticolidae family and officially 99 million years old.
According to Phys, their remarkable age places them squarely in the Cretaceous period — when dinosaurs roamed the Earth. The specimen were found in deposits from a Hukawng Valley mine, which have been used for several, unrelated studies in recent years.
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