Abstract

Amber captures a snapshot of life and death from millions of years in the past. Here, the fate ofthree fossil Darwin wasps in Baltic amber is virtually dissected with the help of micro-CT scanning,to better understand the taphonomic processes that affected their preservation. The states of thefossils range from nearly perfect preservation, including remains of internal organs, to empty caststhat were strongly affected by decomposition. We describe the three specimens as new taxa, Osparvisaurorae gen. et sp. nov., Grana harveydenti gen. et sp. nov. and Xorides? romeo sp. nov. Based on thetaphonomic and morphological interpretations, we conclude that two specimens were trapped alive,and the third ended up in resin post-mortem. The morphology and classification of the specimensprovide clues regarding their ecology, and we discuss their likely hosts and parasitation modes.Taken together, our three wasp fossils showcase how an integrative analysis of amber taphonomy,taxonomic association and morphology can shed light onto past biodiversity and offer valuableinsights for interpreting their evolutionary history.