Abstract
Museum collections remain essential scientific resources, especially when revisited using modern analytical techniques. In an interdisciplinary study, we examined the overlooked amber collection of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832), polymath and pioneer of art and natural science. Using synchrotron-based micro-computed tomography (SR-µ-CT), we identified a fossil ant from Baltic amber (Eocene ~ 47–34 Ma) in Goethe’s collections. The specimen is assigned to †Ctenobethylus goepperti (Mayr in Die Ameisen des Baltischen Bernsteins. Beiträge zur Naturkunde Preussens, 1868), which we redescribe and re-diagnose, proposing †Eldermyrmex exsectus Dubovikoff et Dlussky, 2019 as its junior synonym (syn. nov., comb. nov.). We further infer a potential sister-group relationship with the extant genus Liometopum Mayr, 1861, suggesting that †C. goepperti may have been a dominant arboreal species in warm-temperate coniferous forests, a scenario which is supported by its abundance in Baltic amber. Critically, our results document endoskeletal structures in a Cenozoic fossil ant, underscoring both the morphological value of historical collections and the lasting scientific legacy of Goethe’s naturalist vision.
Data availability
All four scans are available at: http://www.morphosource.org/projects/000760923?locale=en
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Acknowledgements
We thank Björn Rulik (Leibniz-Institut zur Analys des Biodiversitätswandels, Bonn) for the helpful comments on the determination of the two nematoceran flies. We would like to thank the Klassik Stiftung Weimar for permission to examine these valuable cultural assets, as well as the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology Jena for the scan time at short notice. We also acknowledge provision of beamtime related to the proposal BAG- 20230681 ‘AmberSOIL – Characterization of soil organisms and their biota across time using Cenozoic and Mesozoic ambers’ at beamline P05, PETRA III at Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY), Hamburg, a member of the Helmholtz Association (HGF). This research was supported in part through the Maxwell computational resources operated at Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY, Hamburg. We also express our gratitude to the International Amber Association (IAA) Gdańsk, Poland for spectroscopic analysis of the amber pieces. We also like to thank Sandra Rüdiger, (Institute of Zoology and Evolutionary Research) Matthias Krüger (Phyletisches Museum) and the administrative staff of the Friedrich Schiller University for their quick support in processing of our requests.
Funding
Open Access funding enabled and organized by Projekt DEAL. BEB acknowledges financial support from an Alexander von Humboldt Stiftung research fellowship (2020–2022) and from the Smithsonian Institute via a Peter S. Buck research fellowship (2023–). MW was supported by the Honours Programme University of Jena (2021–2022) and Landesgraduiertenstipendium University of Jena (2023–2025). DT was supported by a scholarship of Deutsche Bundesstiftung Umwelt (DBU). Open Access funding enabled and organized by Projekt DEAL.
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Conceptualization: B.E.B., B.L.B., T.S.; Methodology: B.E.B., B.L.B., D.T., J.U.H., M.W., V.G.; Software: J.U.H., V.G.; D.T. M.W.; Validation: B.E.B., J.T.O., M.M.S.-K., T.S., B.L.B.; Investigation: B.E.B., B.L.B., T.S., J.T.O.; Data curation: J.U.H., D.T., V.G., K.J.; Resources: J.U.H., V.G.; Writing—original draft: B.E.B., B.L.B., T.S; Writing—review & editing: B.E.B., B.L.B., J.T.O, M.W., D.T., T.S.; M.M.S.-K., V.G., J.U.H., K.J.; Visualization: D.T., B.L.B., M.W., B.E.B., K.J.; Supervision: B.E.B., B.L.B., T.S.; Project administration: B.E.B., B.L.B.; Funding acquisition: B.E.B., D.T., M.W., K.J., J.T.O.
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Boudinot, B.E., Bock, B.L., Tröger, D. et al. Discovery of Goethe’s amber ant: its phylogenetic and evolutionary implications.
Sci Rep (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-36004-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-36004-4
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