O. Crassiclitellata and O. Diptera

Age: Oligocene-Miocene.

Location: Mina la Cumbre, Dominican Republic.

Amber is a fossil resin of plant origin that comes from the legume Hymenaea protera, dated between 25 and 40 million years.

Dominican amber differs from Baltic amber by being more transparent, and by having a greater number of fossil remains.

This piece contains two earthworms belonging to the order Crassiclitellata and a mosquito and several flies belonging to O. Diptera.

The earthworm belongs to the Lumbricidae family, they are annelids (cylindrical worms with rings). They are the group of terrestrial oligochaetes that evolutionarily descend from aquatic worms, so they still maintain characteristics typical of the environment, such as skin respiration and dependence on humidity, developing resistance systems to desiccation, as an adaptation to the terrestrial environment.

The worms dig galleries in the ground and come out at night to explore their surroundings. They are very beneficial animals: while they dig to make their tunnels, they ingest soil particles and digest any organic remains. In wet seasons they drag leaves into the ground to feed. With this they stir, aerate and enrich the soil, helping to keep it fertile by raising phosphorus and potassium from the subsoil and by expelling their own nitrogenous waste. The most favorable time for worms is when the weather is humid and warm, at which time they come to the surface to procreate.

Weight: 3,4 g

Measures: 3,2 cm x 2,9 cm