Fossils of fleas were found inside the piece of amber 30 million years ago

Fossils of a perfectly preserved monkey monkey round flea inside newly discovered amber in the Dominican Republic. Currently, it was taken to the lab at Oregon State University.

This flea is rounded up because of the blood after "eating" right on the body of a monkey. But perhaps, it was thrown out by the primate's "catching lice" behavior.

The primates are connected by picking a single animal in the herd so that they can catch the parasite for each other. This behavior helps to bond and be good for the entire monkey community, but it is disastrous for the ancient beetles to be thrown aside and stuck in sap drops.

The bug is perfectly preserved inside the amber.

Being thrown out of the host, the bug's body broke. When he died, the monkey's blood oozed out from two small holes on the bug's back into the sap. That sap gradually hardened and became amber, which preserved the beetle between 20 and 30 million years later. Recently, it was discovered near a mine in the Dominican Republic and was taken to a lab at Oregon State University.

Under a microscope, small blood rays can be seen and these are fossilized red blood cells of mammals for the first time. They will help provide important insights about ancient mammals.

Biologist George Poinar Jr. examined fossils, then he gradually grinded the amber layer until the specimen was only a hundred percent away from the surface. Blood oozed from the small holes on the back of the bug that had spread and merged into amber, the preparation for the experiment was almost complete. Based on the shape and diameter of the cells, Poinar said this blood comes from a monkey.

A small piece of amber pieces contains red blood cells.

There is another type of parasite in the blood of the monkey, the scientific name is Babesia, this is the primary parasite that still exists today. They cling to fleas, when they suck on monkey blood, they will invade and cause infections in monkeys. For humans, it causes a malaria-like illness called Babesiosis.

After studying the bug intact, Poinar separated the amber and studied it inside. He found the Babesia parasite present everywhere in the bug.

The discovery of Babesia parasites is perfectly preserved in amber, which has helped researchers reduce the time it takes to recognize the appearance of parasites. Although a small fossil, the amber piece tells us a complicated story about the life cycle of Caribbean creatures millions of years ago.