Confocal laser scanning microscopy is an essential analytical tool in biological, biomedical, and material sciences, integrating microscope manufacturing technology, optical-electronic technology, and computer technology. In the last decade, confocal laser scanning microscopy has been successfully applied to the study of amber bioinclusions. Enhanced signal to noise ratios, resolution power, capability of optical sectioning, three-dimensional reconstruction, and better performance when imaging thicker samples provide a great deal of valuable and detailed morphological information about amber fossils. We briefly discuss the practical applications of CLSM in amber studies and compare it with other imaging methods commonly used in the field, including bright-field microscopy, wide-field fluorescence microscopy, and micro-computed tomography. A general procedure for imaging amber inclusions with CLSM is provided, with a focus on pretreatments and image processing.

Significance: We report on the unique discovery of Jurassic and Cretaceous carrion beetles (Silphidae) from China and Myanmar, early relatives of one of the most protected of beetle species in North America, and which clearly preserve evidence indicative of complex parental care. This finding represents the earliest evidence of parental care, a behavioral repertoire that is the first step in the development of truly social behavior and one that is intensely studied by ecologists, ethologists, and evolutionary biologists alike. Our fossils clearly span the origins of parent–offspring communication and allow us to provide a robust estimate of the time of origin for this complex behavior.

Agaricomycetes, or mushrooms, are familiar, conspicuous and morphologically diverse Fungi. Most Agaricomycete fruiting bodies are ephemeral, and their fossil record is limited. Here we report diverse gilled mushrooms (Agaricales) and mycophagous rove beetles (Staphylinidae) from mid-Cretaceous Burmese amber, the latter belonging to Oxyporinae, modern members of which exhibit an obligate association with soft-textured mushrooms. The discovery of four mushroom forms, most with a complete intact cap containing distinct gills and a stalk, suggests evolutionary stasis of body form for ∼99 Myr and highlights the palaeodiversity of Agaricomycetes. The mouthparts of early oxyporines, including enlarged mandibles and greatly enlarged apical labial palpomeres with dense specialized sensory organs, match those of modern taxa and suggest that they had a mushroom feeding biology. Diverse and morphologically specialized oxyporines from the Early Cretaceous suggests the existence of diverse Agaricomycetes and a specialized trophic interaction and ecological community structure by this early date.