Rostec Corporation’s Kaliningrad Amber Mining Company has announced that it has found a piece of amber containing a 50-million-year-old dragonfly.
According to experts, this piece is unique because it contains the whole body, not parts of a dragonfly, and it is the second discovery of its kind in the history of amber extraction in Russia. Experts estimate the age of the piece to be around 50 million years. The piece of amber weighs 31 grams, length 57 mm, width 31 mm and thickness 27 mm.
Experts note that impurities are visible only in the external secretions of resin. The resin is like a trap: some insects are carried by the wind, others are attracted to its shiny surface, others are surprised when a drop of resin falls from the tree and sticks to it. In general, impurities make up no more than 9 percent of the extracted amber.
Andranik Manoukyan, chief investigator of the Amber Museum in Kaliningrad Province, said it is extremely rare to find such fragments. For example, 35 pieces of amber with dragonflies have been found in Europe so far, 25 of which are in museums in Germany.
“The first piece found in Russia about 10 years ago is on display in the Amber Museum. Now the second piece we found has a different kind of dragonfly in it,” he said.
Source: “Izvestia” newspaper.
Source: Arabic RT
