Snail fossilized in amber while giving birth 99 million years ago - Daily Mail

Scientists have uncovered a newly discovered species of land snail trapped in amber some 99 million years ago.

A new species of snail, Cretatortulosa gignens, was discovered encased in amber in a Myanmar mine.  In addition to being some 99 million years old, the specimen is unique because she had just given birth.

'The snails were apparently encased in the tree resin immediately after birth and preserved in that position over millions of years,' evolutionary biologist Adrienne Jochum of the Senckenberg Research Institute and Natural History Museum Frankfurt said in a statement.

Live births are rare for land snails but this species might have evolved the practice to birth 'to protect its offspring from predators as long as possible'.

Besides the uniqueness of its maternal state, land snails are usually captured as fossilized shells or imprints—the preservation of their 'marshmallow-like' soft bodies is 'a rarity,' the researchers said.

This week, scientists in Myanmar announced another unique discovery trapped in amber roughly 99 million years ago—a new species of ancient lizard.

In January 2017, researchers discovered a 100-million-year-old insect preserved in amber which bore a passing resemblance to ET. 

In June 2017, researchers revealed a stunning hatchling trapped in amber, which they believe was just a few days old when it fell into a pool of sap oozing from a conifer tree in Myanmar

The incredible find showed the head, neck, wing, tail and feet of a now extinct bird which lived at the time of the dinosaurs, 100 million years ago, in unprecedented detail

The first evidence that dinosaurs had bloodsucking parasites living on them was found preserved in 99 million-year-old Burmese amber

The newly-discovered tick dates from the Cretaceous period of 145 to 66 million years ago

In 2021, researchers announced they had discovered a new species of land snail from 99 million years ago preserved in amber moments after giving birth

The same week, scientists in Myanmar announced another the discovery of a new species of ancient lizard trapped in amber at roughly the same time.