At the Natural History Museum in London. There was once a fly that became famous as the Piltang fly, which is an insect specimen and a piece of amber.
In this piece of amber a large fly is wrapped in amber from the Baltic Sea.
In 1850, the German entomologist Hermann Leff first mentioned this piece of amber.
More than a hundred years later, in 1966, the famous German entomologist Willy Hennessy examined this amber specimen.
The flies were identified as a modern species, the tibial toilet fly.
It was found that the tibial toilet fly is a very evolved fly,
This seems to imply that the amber of the Baltic Sea does not accurately reflect the fauna of tens of millions of years ago.
This has a serious impact on the scientific status and value of the Baltic biota, which proves that other modern species should also be preserved in the amber of the Baltic Sea.
In 1993, with confusion and doubt, this specimen was once again placed under a stereo microscope and re-examined under the Vientiane lamp.
A little bit of heat released by the light,
Suddenly, a crack appeared around the fly, which was very bad news.
It's very disturbing, but it also indicates that something strange is happening.
After a closer look from the side, the scientists found two facets,
A flat cut through the amber.
The other revolves around flies.
Apparently someone once split this piece of amber in two!
One of the middle foreheads was dug up, a fly was stuffed in, and the amber was glued together.
The fly's eyes were bright red, and the way its abdomen cracked was unnatural.
These also hint at counterfeiting,
A closer look reveals that there are many lines around the flies.
The illustration of amber was cut from there and hollowed out.
The fossil turned out to be forged.
For a time, this amber fly specimen was famous for being exposed for counterfeiting, and was known as the Piltang fly.
It was later permanently preserved in the Museum of Nature in London as a warning of amber counterfeiting.
The picture below shows a real fly that was preserved in amber 40 million years ago.
