Submission + - 100M year old microbes found in termite guts (msn.com)
viyh writes: "One hundred million years ago a termite was wounded and its abdomen split open. The resin of a pine tree slowly enveloped its body and the contents of its gut.
In what is now the Hukawng Valley in Myanmar, the resin fossilized and was buried until it was chipped out of an amber mine. The resin had seeped into the termite's wound and preserved even the microscopic organisms in its gut. These microbes are the forebears of the microbes that live in the guts of today's termites and help them digest wood.
The fossil is the earliest example of a relationship between an animal and the microbes in its gut, a new study shows.
"The chances of finding a termite with its body open like this are rare," said George Poinar, an amber expert at Oregon State University who led the research, published in the latest edition of the journal Parasites and Vectors. The amber preserved the microbes with exquisite detail, including internal features like the nuclei.
"In some of these [microbes] you can actually see wood particles," Poinar told LiveScience."
In what is now the Hukawng Valley in Myanmar, the resin fossilized and was buried until it was chipped out of an amber mine. The resin had seeped into the termite's wound and preserved even the microscopic organisms in its gut. These microbes are the forebears of the microbes that live in the guts of today's termites and help them digest wood.
The fossil is the earliest example of a relationship between an animal and the microbes in its gut, a new study shows.
"The chances of finding a termite with its body open like this are rare," said George Poinar, an amber expert at Oregon State University who led the research, published in the latest edition of the journal Parasites and Vectors. The amber preserved the microbes with exquisite detail, including internal features like the nuclei.
"In some of these [microbes] you can actually see wood particles," Poinar told LiveScience."
