Scientists have discovered insect fossils hidden inside a piece of amber that once belonged to famous German author Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Using advanced imaging techniques, researchers were able to uncover organisms that had been trapped in fossilized tree resin for tens of millions of years.
Goethe’s amber collection, currently housed in the Goethe National Museum and managed by the Weimar Museum, includes 40 pieces of Baltic amber. Two of those specimens were found to contain fossilized animals that were nearly impossible to see with the naked eye because the amber pieces had never been polished.
To find out more, researchers at the University of Jena turned to modern scanning technology. The German Electron Synchrotron (DESY) in Hamburg used synchrotron micro-computed tomography to create detailed three-dimensional images of the fossils. The scan revealed three insects: a mushroom gnat, a blackfly, and an ancient ant.
New details about ancient ants revealed
The most notable of the discoveries was the ants.
“Ants belong to an extinct species †Ctenovetilus geperti “This is very common in amber (Mayer, 1868),” explains Bernhard Bock of the Philetish Museum of the University of Jena. “Thanks to the excellent preservation of amber and extensive research, we have been able to describe it in more detail than ever before and obtain new information about this species and its relationships.”
The specimen is so exceptionally preserved that scientists were able to examine features that had never been documented in such detail before. The scans revealed the worker ants’ fine body hair and also allowed the researchers to visualize the internal skeletal structure of their heads and thoraxes. These observations provide valuable new information about the anatomy and evolution of the species.
The research team also created a complete digital reconstruction of the fossil.
“We have fully processed the specimen and, based on the newly acquired information, have created a 3D reconstruction image that is available online,” says Daniel Treger from the University of Jena. “This model will help researchers around the world identify and compare further fossils of this species.”
Comparison with modern Ant genus riometopamare now found in temperate regions of North America and Europe, providing clues to how extinct species lived. Researchers believe that ancient ants likely built large nests in trees, which may help explain why they are so well preserved in amber.
The relationship between Goethe and Amber
Although Goethe owned specimens of amber, he showed little interest in amber itself beyond its optical properties. He even polished lenses from fossilized resin to study the effects of color as part of his research on color theory.
By Goethe’s time, scientists had already begun studying amber and the fossils preserved within it. Early scientific publications on the subject were available in his personal library. However, the broader scientific significance of these fossils was not yet clear, and the discoveries being made today were far beyond what researchers imagined at the time.
“Goethe is considered the founder of morphology, and I’m sure he would have been delighted to see how he was able to gain valuable insights in this field using completely new methods,” says Bernhard Bock. “At the same time, this result shows the value of such historical collections. It is really interesting that objects from his hands and time, when science was just beginning, can still enrich us so much today.”
The findings highlight how museum collections assembled centuries ago continue to generate important scientific discoveries. Thanks to modern imaging technology, even objects that once seemed ordinary can reveal hidden stories in Earth’s distant past.
