Flight-life and Flight-fight in Amber Fossil Environments

Abstract

Insects have been described in fossil amber inclusions and reflect the evolution of ancient environments. However, amber insect syninclusions with predatory behavior are less common. Flight-life in insects represents a behavior for feeding, reproduction and rapid dispersal. Within flight-life, flight-fight is in winged insects the way for predation, to escape predators and compete for resources such as food, mating and habitats. In this study, we represent flight-life in three amber pieces (two from Burmese Cretaceous and one from Baltic Eocene) with syninclusions of different organisms. Although amber syninclusions may be associated with random processes representing the ancient ecosystem, the study was focused on possible interspecific flight-fight predator-prey interactions represented in two pieces from Cretaceous and Eocene epochs. This evidence represents fossil environment with evolutionary behavioral implications.