Shared between Chile and Argentina, southern Patagonia is chiefly a land of vast, desolate steppes, though the Chilean section also has areas of conifer and beech forest.

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Scientists think the web became trapped in conifer resin after a forest fire and then became fossilised inside the resulting amber.

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Neil Stoddart, a forest district manager for the Forestry Commission at Llandovery in Carmarthenshire, said although conifer production was an important part of rural economic development, it could be balanced with environmental gains.

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