Frozen in time 112 million years ago, an entire ecosystem preserved in amber has been unearthed from a quarry in Ecuador. The scene contains bugs, pollen, and even strands of spider web.

T his is the first large discovery of insect-laden amber in South America, providing an unprecedented view of Cretaceous life in the Southern Hemisphere.

The amber, found at Genoveva quarry in Ecuador, has preserved at least five orders of insects, including a variety of flies, a fungus beetle, wasps, and a caddisfly.

It also caught evidence of arachnid activity, in the form of a fragment of spider web. The way the strands are oriented suggests the web may have been built in the style of modern orb-weavers , though it lacks the sticky droplets typical of these kinds of webs.

"These findings provid

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