Scientists have uncovered hidden fossil insects inside pieces of amber that once belonged to the famed German writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Using advanced imaging technology, researchers were able to reveal creatures that had remained trapped inside the fossilized tree resin for tens of millions of years.
Goethe’s amber collection, now housed at the Goethe National Museum and managed by the Klassik Stiftung Weimar, contains 40 pieces of Baltic amber. Two of those specimens turned out to contain fossilized animals that were nearly impossible to see with the naked eye because the amber pieces were never polished.
To investigate further, researchers from the University of Jena turned to modern scanning techniques. At the German Electron Synchrotron (DESY) in Hamburg, they used synchrotron micro computed tomography to create detailed three dimensional images of the fossils. The scans revealed three insects: a fungus gnat, a black fly, and an ancient ant.
Ancient Ant Reveals New Details
Among the discoveries, the ant attracted the most attention.
“The ant belongs to the extinct species †Ctenobethylus goepperti (Mayr, 1868), which is very common in amber,” explains Bernhard Bock from the Phyletisches Museum of the University of Jena. “Thanks to its excellent preservation and the extensive investigations, however, we were able to describe it in greater detail than ever before and gain new information about the species and its relationships.”
Because the specimen is so exceptionally preserved, scientists were able to examine features that had never been documented in such detail. The scans revealed fine body hairs on the worker ant and even allowed researchers to visualize internal skeletal structures within the head and thorax. These observations provide valuable new information about the anatomy and evolution of the species.
The research team also produced a complete digital reconstruction of the fossil.
“We have fully processed the specimen and, based on the newly acquired information, created a 3D reconstruction that is available online,” says Daniel Tröger from the University of Jena. “This model helps colleagues worldwide to identify and compare further fossils of this species.”
Comparisons with the modern ant genus Liometopum, which is found today in North America and warmer parts of Europe, offer clues about how the extinct species may have lived. Researchers believe the ancient ants likely built large nests in trees, which may help explain why they are so commonly preserved in amber.
Goethe’s Connection to Amber
Although Goethe owned the amber specimens, he showed relatively little interest in amber itself beyond its optical properties. He even ground lenses from fossilized resin to study color effects as part of his work on color theory.
By Goethe’s time, scientists had already begun studying amber and the fossils preserved inside it. Early scientific publications on the subject were available in his personal library. However, the broader scientific importance of these fossils had not yet become clear, and the discoveries being made today were far beyond what researchers of that era could have imagined.
“Goethe is regarded as the founder of morphology and would likely have been delighted to see how we were able to gain valuable insights in this field using entirely new methods,” says Bernhard Bock. “At the same time, the results demonstrate the value of such historical collections. It is truly fascinating that an object originating from his hand and his era, when this science was just beginning, can still enrich us so much today.”
The findings highlight how museum collections assembled centuries ago can continue to yield important scientific discoveries. Thanks to modern imaging techniques, objects that once seemed ordinary can still reveal hidden stories from Earth’s distant past.