Actually this frog found encased in Amber is from the Oligocene epoch, and the stone’s owner is not likely to allow DNA to be taken from the frog, due to its rarity. Which is a bit of a shame, but certainly understandable. Oligocene is from the Greek meaning, “few recent forms.” That refers to few modern animals that originated during the Oligocene. Mostly animals became more refined, and began to resemble the animals we see today, but archaic vertebrates died out. The Oligocene was a major division of the Tertiary Period between the Eocene and Miocene epochs and occurred about 33.7 to 23.8 million years B.C.E. It was mostly temperate with some areas bordering on tropical. This little frog, while quite rare in it’s current form, was probably as common in its native habitat as tree frogs are today.

February 17, 2007—A miner from Mexico’s Chiapas state has made the find of a lifetime—a tiny tree frog preserved in amber that could be 25 million years old, a scientist recently announced.

I think this is one of the coolest things ever.