Scientists have identified a 38-million-year-old pair of termites preserved in Baltic amber from Kaliningrad. The discovery appears in the journal PNAS and adds a remarkable glimpse into ancient termite life.
The specimen stands out because it captures two termites together. Dr. Ales Bucek, an entomology and biology expert at the Czech Academy of Sciences, notes that while termite fossils are common, a true pair is a rarity. Bucek emphasizes that this is the first time a twin of the same species has been found fossilized side by side in amber, offering a rare look at mating and social behavior from deep time.
The two termites belong to the species Elektrotermes affinis. Long ago, individuals of this species likely encountered each other on the warming shores that bordered the Baltic Sea. The amber housing the fossils was mined in Kaliningrad decades ago and later found its way to researchers in the Czech Republic for study. An international collaboration, including scholars from Japan, examined the fossils using modern paleontological and comparative methods.
What makes the arrangement intriguing is the position of the insects. The female and male lay side by side, with the female’s mouthparts touching the tip of the male’s abdomen. This tandem-like pose is reminiscent of the behavior seen in many modern termites, where adults groom, signal through pheromones, and begin nest site selection together. The image suggests an early form of coordinated mating and social organization that has persisted in termite lineages for millions of years.
Researchers also consider whether this precise arrangement demonstrates a specific early ritual or simply a moment captured in amber as the resin hardened. Experiments with live termites and resin indicate that such positions can shift when liquid resin becomes solid, so scientists carefully assess whether the fossil truly reflects a natural behavior or an incidental snapshot. The consensus is that it still provides valuable insight into how mating and colony founding may have appeared in ancient termite populations.
In recounting the find, scientists stress the importance of amber as a time capsule. The preservation of soft body parts and delicate interactions in amber allows researchers to observe behaviors that fossils typically do not reveal. The Kaliningrad amber deposits continue to illuminate the lives of ancient insects and the ecosystems they inhabited, offering context for how modern termite species evolved their complex social systems. This discovery reinforces the notion that termite social behavior has deep roots and has endured through vast swaths of geological time. The study contributes to a broader understanding of insect evolution and the ecological dynamics of ancient shorelines. [Bucek et al., PNAS, 2024]