Locked in Stone: A Gallery of Fossilized Insects

McAbee Fossil Site

McAbee fossil beds, British Columbia — (Image credit: S. Bruce Archibald)

Fossil Fly

Fossil gnat from Canada — (Image credit: S. Bruce Archibald)

A fossilized fungus gnat from Driftwood Canyon, Canada. The fly is only a few millimeters long.

Fossil Insect

A fossil insect from British Columbia. Details are preserved finely enough that scientists can figure out which species the specimens belonged to.

Fossil Wasp

A fossil wasp from the collection of the Stonerose Interpretive Center & Eocene Fossil Site in Republic, Wash.

Stonerose Wasp

Stonerose, Washington fossil wasp specimen — (Image credit: S. Bruce Archibald)

The wings of a wasp from the Stonerose Interpretive Center & Eocene Fossil Site collection are barely visible.

Tiny Fossil

Insect fossil held by paleontologist — (Image credit: S. Bruce Archibald)

Paleontologist Rolf Mathewes of Simon Fraser University in British Columbia holds up a tiny insect fossil.

Quilchena Fossil Site

Fossil site in Canada — (Image credit: S. Bruce Archibald)

Paleontologist Rolf Mathewes with students at the Quilchena fossil site in British Columbia.

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Stephanie Pappas is a contributing writer for Live Science, covering topics ranging from geoscience to archaeology to the human brain and behavior. She was previously a senior writer for Live Science but is now a freelancer based in Denver, Colorado, and regularly contributes to Scientific American and The Monitor, the monthly magazine of the American Psychological Association. Stephanie received a bachelor's degree in psychology from the University of South Carolina and a graduate certificate in science communication from the University of California, Santa Cruz.