99-Million-Year-Old Bioluminescent Beetle Found Preserved in Amber


Jan 20, 2021

Found in a piece of mid-Cretaceous amber from northern Myanmar, the wonderfully-preserved male of Cretophengodes azari has a light organ on the abdomen which presumably served a defensive function.

Bioluminescence, the production of light by living organisms, evolved over 30 times independently on diverse branches of the tree of life including algae, cnidarians, fishes and marine worms.

http://www.sci-news.com/paleontology...ari-09267.html