220 mya Bacteria Found In Amber

["Richard W. Travsky" <rtravsky@uwyo.edu>]

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/12/061213-amber-germs.html

Scientists have discovered a "microworld" of 220-million-year-old life 
trapped in tiny drops of ancient amber.

The fossilized plant resin preserved bacteria, fungi, algae, and 
microscopic animals known as protozoans some 220 million years agothe era 
when the very first dinosaurs began to appear.

Surprisingly, these microscopic organisms look quite familiar to today's 
scientists.

Alexander Schmidt and colleagues from the Humboldt University of Berlin, 
Germany, report that the microbes have undergone few or no physical 
changes since the Triassic periodfrom 245 million to 208 million years 
ago.
...