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Journal articles on the topic 'Amber fossils'
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1
Harms, Danilo, and Jason A. Dunlop. "The fossil history of pseudoscorpions (Arachnida: Pseudoscorpiones)." Fossil Record 20, no. 2 (August 9, 2017): 215–38. http://dx.doi.org/10.5194/fr-20-215-2017.
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Abstract. Pseudoscorpions, given their resemblance to scorpions, have attracted human attention since the time of Aristotle, although they are much smaller and lack the sting and elongated tail. These arachnids have a long evolutionary history but their origins and phylogenetic affinities are still being debated. Here, we summarise their fossil record based on a comprehensive review of the literature and data contained in other sources. Pseudoscorpions are one of the oldest colonisers of the land, with fossils known since the Middle Devonian (ca. 390 Ma). The only arachnid orders with an older fossil record are scorpions, harvestmen and acariform mites, plus two extinct groups. Pseudoscorpions do not fossilise easily, and records from the Mesozoic and Cenozoic consist almost exclusively of amber inclusions. Most Mesozoic fossils come from Archingeay and Burmese ambers (Late Cretaceous) and those from the Cenozoic are primarily from Eocene Baltic amber, although additional fossils from, for example, Miocene Dominican and Mexican ambers, are known. Overall, 16 of the 26 families of living pseudoscorpions have been documented from fossils and 49 currently valid species are recognised in the literature. Pseudoscorpions represent a case of morphological stasis and even the Devonian fossils look rather modern. Indeed, most amber fossils are comparable to Recent groups despite a major gap in the fossil record of almost 250 Myr. Baltic amber inclusions indicate palaeofauna inhabiting much warmer climates than today and point to climatic shifts in central Europe since the Eocene. They also indicate that some groups (e.g. Feaellidae and Pseudogarypidae) had much wider Eocene distributions. Their present-day occurrence is relictual and highlights past extinction events. Faunas from younger tropical amber deposits (e.g. Dominican and Mexican amber) are comparable to Recent ones. Generally, there is a strong bias in the amber record towards groups that live under tree bark, whereas those from litter habitats are underrepresented. We also discuss challenges in interpreting fossils: their cryptic morphology warranting novel techniques of morphological reconstruction, the massive gap in the fossil record between the Palaeozoic and Mesozoic, and problems with the classification of (historically) old amber material. Finally, we discuss aspects of the palaeoecology and biology of the fossils compared with the Recent fauna, such as phoresy.
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McCoy, Victoria E., Carmen Soriano, and Sarah E. Gabbott. "A review of preservational variation of fossil inclusions in amber of different chemical groups." Earth and Environmental Science Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 107, no. 2-3 (June 2016): 203–11. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s1755691017000391.
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ABSTRACTFossils in amber are a particularly important and unique palaeobiological resource. Amber is best known for preserving exceptionally life-like fossils, including microscopic anatomical details, but this fidelity of preservation is an end-member of a wide spectrum of preservation quality. Many amber sites only preserve cuticle or hollow moulds, and most amber sites have no fossils at all. The taphonomic processes that control this range in preservation are essentially unknown. Here, we review the relationship between amber groups and fossil preservation, based on published data, to determine whether there is a correlation between resin type and aspects of preservation quality. We found that ambers of different chemistry demonstrated statistically significant differences in the preservational quality and the propensity of a site to contain fossils. This indicates that resin chemistry does influence preservational variation; however, there is also evidence that resin chemistry alone cannot explain all the variation. To effectively assess the impact of this (and other) variables on fossilisation in amber, and therefore biases in the amber fossil record, a more comprehensive sampling of bioinclusions in amber, coupled with rigorous taphonomic experimentation, is required.
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Poinar Jr, George O. "New fossil nematodes in Dominican and Baltic amber." Nematology 14, no. 4 (2012): 483–88. http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/156854111x612199.
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Four new species of fossil mermithids (Nematoda: Mermithidae) are described from amber: Heydenius arachnius n. sp. from a spider (Arachnida: Araneae) in Dominican amber, H. phasmatophilus n. sp., from a walking stick (Phasmatodea: Phasmatidae) in Baltic amber, H. podenasae n. sp. from a moth (Lepidoptera) in Baltic amber and H. trichorosus n. sp. from a caddis fly (Trichoptera: Leptoceridae) in Baltic amber. With previous descriptions of fossil mermithids from Diptera, Coleoptera, Hymenoptera and Hemiptera, there are now representatives of seven insect orders as hosts of fossil mermithids. With these additional four fossils, the total number of described nematode fossils is now 95, with 70 occurring in amber.
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Shavrin, Alexey V., and Shûhei Yamamoto. "Unexpected palaeodiversity of omaliine rove beetles in Eocene Baltic amber (Coleoptera, Staphylinidae, Omaliinae)." ZooKeys 863 (July 11, 2019): 35–83. http://dx.doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.863.34662.
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Fossil records of the subfamily Omaliinae are fragmentary and most of them are less informative compression fossils. Baltic amber from the mid-Eocene of northern Europe is one of the most important sources of insect fossils, but only two reliably placed omaliines have been described. Here, we provide a general overview of this subfamily in Baltic amber. In total, five new extinct species of four genera in three tribes are described and illustrated:Geodromicusbalticussp. nov.(Anthophagini),Eusphalerumkantisp. nov.(Eusphalerini),Paraphloeostibamorosasp. nov.,Phyllodrepadaedalisp. nov., andPh.icarisp. nov.(Omaliini). Additionally, we report on four species belonging toEusphalerum, which remain unnamed, from the same amber deposit. The records ofEusphaleruminclude the first fossils of the tribe Eusphalerini, while that ofGeodromicusmay represent the second and the first definitive fossil record of the genus and tribe Anthophagini. Our discoveries highlight the unexpected palaeodiversity of Omaliinae in Baltic amber, further reinforcing the coexistence of thermophilous and temperate-loving beetles in Baltic amber and potentially indicating wetland and riparian habitats of amber-producing forests.
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Li, Yan-Da, David Peris, Shûhei Yamamoto, Yun Hsiao, Alfred F. Newton, and Chen-Yang Cai. "Revisiting the Raractocetus Fossils from Mesozoic and Cenozoic Amber Deposits (Coleoptera: Lymexylidae)." Insects 13, no. 9 (August 25, 2022): 768. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/insects13090768.
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The fossils once assigned to Raractocetus Kurosawa from the Mesozoic and Cenozoic amber deposits differ from extant Raractocetus in the longer elytra, the more strongly projecting metacoxae, and the hind wing with vein 2A forked. Thus, these fossils should be removed from Raractocetus. Cretoquadratus engeli Chen from Kachin amber appears to be conspecific with R. fossilis Yamamoto. As a result, R. fossilis and R. extinctus Yamamoto from Kachin amber, R. balticus Yamamoto from Baltic amber, and R. sverlilo Nazarenko, Perkovsky & Yamamoto from Rovno amber are transferred to Cretoquadratus Chen, as C. fossilis (Yamamoto) comb. nov., C. extinctus (Yamamoto) comb. nov., C. balticus (Yamamoto) comb. nov., and C. sverlilo (Nazarenko, Perkovsky & Yamamoto) comb. nov., and C. engeli syn. nov. is suggested to be a junior synonym of C. fossilis.
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HEIKKILÄ, MARIA, THOMAS J. SIMONSEN, and M. ALMA SOLIS. "Reassessment of known fossil Pyraloidea (Lepidoptera) with descriptions of the oldest fossil pyraloid and a crambid larva in Baltic amber." Zootaxa 4483, no. 1 (September 20, 2018): 101. http://dx.doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4483.1.4.
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The identifications of known fossils currently placed in the lepidopteran superfamily Pyraloidea are critically re-examined. Of the eleven fossils examined, only three are confirmed to show morphological characters supporting placement in the superfamily. These fossils include a crambid larva in Baltic Amber, Baltianania yantarnia, Solis gen. n. et sp. n. and the oldest known fossil pyraloid, Eopyralis morsae Simonsen, gen. n. et sp. n. The third fossil, Glendotricha olgae Kusnezov, 1941, displays apomorphic characters for Pyraloidea, but is shown to be an inclusion in copal, not Baltic amber as had been reported. Seven fossil specimens lack reliable characters and cannot be assigned to Pyraloidea with certainty: Pyralites obscurus Heer, 1856; Pyralites preecei Jarzembowski, 1980; Petisca dryellina Martins-Neto, 1998; three fossil larvae tentatively identified as Pyralidae by Zeuner (1931); and Gallerites keleri Kernbach, 1967. A possible fossil pyraloid in Mizunami amber could not be located in museum collections and available literature does not provide details to assess the validity of the identification. We discuss the contribution of the reliably identified fossils towards better understanding the evolutionary history of Pyraloidea.
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Jenkins Shaw, Josh, Bo Wang, Ming Bai, and Dagmara Żyła. "The Oldest Representative of the Rove Beetle Tribe Pinophilini (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Paederinae), from Upper Cretaceous Burmese Amber." Insects 11, no. 3 (March 10, 2020): 174. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/insects11030174.
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The recently reviewed subtribe Procirrina comprises eight extant genera with a predominately (sub)tropical distribution. Previous phylogenies consistently recover the tribe Pinophilini of the subfamily Paederinae monophyletic. No fossils of the tribe have been described, although compression fossils are known from the Cenozoic Green River Formation (50.3–46.2 Ma) as well as inclusions from the Miocene Dominican (20.43–13.65 Ma) and Mexican (20–15 Ma) ambers. Here we describe †Cretoprocirrus trichotos Jenkins Shaw and Żyła gen. et sp. n., the oldest fossil representative of the tribe Pinophilini, from Upper Cretaceous Burmese amber (ca. 99 Ma). Phylogenetic analyses of morphological data allow its unambiguous placement in the subtribe Procirrina. †Cretoprocirrus trichotos is the second genus of Paederinae described from Burmese amber and provides an important insight into the evolution of the subfamily.
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Lohrmann, Volker, Qi Zhang, Peter Michalik, Jeremy Blaschke, Patrick Müller, Laurent Jeanneau, and Vincent Perrichot. "<i>†</i><i>Cretolixon</i> – a remarkable new genus of rhopalosomatid wasps (Hymenoptera: Vespoidea: Rhopalosomatidae) from chemically tested, mid-Cretaceous Burmese (Kachin) amber supports the monophyly of Rhopalosomatinae." Fossil Record 23, no. 2 (December 11, 2020): 215–36. http://dx.doi.org/10.5194/fr-23-215-2020.
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Abstract. Rhopalosomatidae, currently considered the sister group of the Vespidae, are an enigmatic family of aculeate wasps that originated in the Late Jurassic or Early Cretaceous. Despite their considerable age, very few fossils of the family have been reported – all of them in amber (Miocene Dominican, Miocene Mexican, and mid-Cretaceous Burmese ambers). Here we report a new mid-Cretaceous rhopalosomatid wasp, Cretolixon alatum Lohrmann, gen. et sp. nov., from Burmese (Kachin) amber. This new genus has a unique mixture of characters, some of which are only known from the recent brachypterous genus Olixon and others of which are known only from the recent macropterous genera. Thus, Cretolixon Lohrmann, gen. nov. not only provides further evidence for the monophyly of the family but also contributes evidence for the monophyly of the Rhopalosomatinae. Key characters of the family are discussed, and an updated checklist of the world genera and fossil species and occurrences of Rhopalosomatidae is provided. Additionally, a chemical analysis was performed for three of the newly reported fossils as well as for the amber piece containing the rhopalosomatid larva described by Lohrmann and Engel (2017) to ascertain their amber vs. copal nature and their affinities with each other and previously described Burmese amber.
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Tilgner, Erich. "The fossil record of Phasmida (Insecta: Neoptera)." Insect Systematics & Evolution 31, no. 4 (2000): 473–80. http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/187631200x00507.
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AbstractA review of the Phasmida fossil record is provided. No fossils of Timema Scudder are known. Euphasmida fossils include: Agathemera reclusa Scudder, Electrobaculum gracilis Sharov, Eophasma oregonense Sellick, Eophasma minor Sellick, Eophasmina manchesteri Sellick, Pseudoperla gracilipes Pictet, Pseudoperla lineata Pictet and various unclassified species from Grube Messel, Baltic amber, and Dominican Republic amber. The oldest documented Euphasmida fossils are 44-49 million years old; molecular clock dating underestimates the origin of the sister group Timema by at least 24 million years.
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Carbuccia, Benjamin, Hannah M. Wood, Christine Rollard, Andre Nel, and Romain Garrouste. "A new Myrmecarchaea (Araneae: Archaeidae) species from Oise amber (earliest Eocene, France)." BSGF - Earth Sciences Bulletin 191 (2020): 24. http://dx.doi.org/10.1051/bsgf/2020023.
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Extant Archaeidae, also known as pelican or assassin spiders, have an Austral distribution (South Africa, Madagascar and Australia), but were present in Eurasia during the Mesozoic and Cenozoic, as attested by fossils from Cretaceous Burmese amber (Ross A. 2019. Burmese (Myanmar) amber checklist and bibliography 2018. Palaeoentomology 2(1): 22–84) and Eocene European ambers (Wunderlich J. 2004. Fossil spiders in amber and copal: conclusions, revisions, new taxa and family diagnoses of fossil and extant taxa. Hirschberg-Leutershausen: Ed. Joerg Wunderlich, 1893 p.). They have been known to occur in Oise amber (Ypresian, early Eocene, MP7), from northern France. However, they are not abundant in Oise amber, and have been the subject of few studies until now. Here, we describe the only well-preserved, almost complete, archaeid fossil specimen. This adult male is described as Myrmecarchaea antecessor sp. nov, based on the presence of unique morphological features. The elongate petiolus and extremely long legs are characteristic of the genus Myrmecarchaea from the Middle Eocene Baltic amber. However, unique traits such as the thick, stout petiolus and the extremely elongated, posteriorly tapering cephalothorax distinguish it from the other species of Myrmecarchaea. This specimen is of high interest, as besides being a new species, it is also the first documented adult male in the genus, allowing us to observe sexual characters for the first time. Furthermore, it is the first occurrence of this genus outside Baltic amber, showing affinities between Oise and Baltic ambers, which are, otherwise, very different in their faunistic compositions, and further extends the known past range of the archaeid spiders.
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FALIÈRES, ELSA, and ANDRÉ NEL. "A new scelionine genus from the earliest Eocene Oise amber (Hymenoptera: Platygastroidea: Scelionidae)." Palaeoentomology 2, no. 5 (October 31, 2019): 418–24. http://dx.doi.org/10.11646/palaeoentomology.2.5.3.
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‘Scelionid’ wasps are rather frequent in Cretaceous and Cenozoic amber. The Cenozoic fossils generally belong to extant genera. Among these, Talamas & Buffington (2015) listed and figured a female and a male Calliscelio sp. from the Miocene Dominican amber. Antropov et al., (2014) placed Macroteleia veterna Cockerell, 1921 from the latest Eocene of the Isle of Wight in the genus Calliscelio under the name Calliscelio veternus (Cockerell, 1921), but in the same paper they also indicate that ‘The latter comprise 12 fossils, including “Macroteleia” veterna Cockerell, 1921a = Calotelea, a widespread genus of orthopteran parasites’. Lastly Calliscelio caudatus (Brues, 1940), Calliscelio prolepticus (Brues, 1940), and Calliscelio succinophilus (Brues, 1940) from the mid Eocene Baltic amber were never revised. Here we describe new fossil scelionids from the earliest Eocene amber of Oise (France), closely related to Calliscelio.
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MARCHAL, LORENE, ERIC GUILBERT, PATRICK BRISAC, and ANDRE NEL. "A new record and a new species of Aradidae fossils ( Hemiptera: Heteroptera)." Zootaxa 2832, no. 1 (April 26, 2011): 56. http://dx.doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.2832.1.4.
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Calisius balticus, previously known from the Middle-Late Eocene Baltic amber, is recorded for the first time in the Lowermost Eocene French amber. It is the second case of an insect species present in both these two ambers, representing a morphological stasis of ca. 10 Ma. It is the oldest record of the genus Calisius. Aradus andancensis n. sp. in Upper Miocene sedimentary deposit from France is also described.
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Nel, André, and Romain Garrouste. "First semi-aquatic bugs Mesoveliidae and Hebridae (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Gerromorpha) in Miocene Dominican amber." Insect Systematics & Evolution 41, no. 2 (2010): 93–102. http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/187631210x496822.
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AbstractTwo new semiaquatic bugs of the families Mesoveliidae and Gerridae are described from the Middle Miocene Dominican amber, Mesovelia dominicana sp.n. and Miohebrus anderseni gen.n., sp.n. The former is the first fossil record of the extant genus Mesovelia and the second described fossil of the family Mesoveliidae (the first mesoveliid fossil record was from undescribed fossils in French Cretaceous amber). The latter is the second described fossil Hebridae.
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Sánchez-García, Alba, André Nel, Antonio Arillo, and Mónica M. Solórzano Kraemer. "The semi-aquatic pondweed bugs of a Cretaceous swamp." PeerJ 5 (September 5, 2017): e3760. http://dx.doi.org/10.7717/peerj.3760.
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Pondweed bugs (Hemiptera: Mesoveliidae), considered a sister group to all other Gerromorpha, are exceedingly rare as fossils. Therefore, each new discovery of a fossil mesoveliid is of high interest, giving new insight into their early evolutionary history and diversity and enabling the testing of their proposed relationships. Here, we report the discovery of new mesoveliid material from Spanish Lower Cretaceous (Albian) amber, which is the first such find in Spanish amber. To date, fossil records of this family only include one species from French Kimmeridgian as compression fossils, two species in French amber (Albian-Cenomanian boundary), and one in Dominican amber (Miocene). The discovery of two males and one female described and figured asGlaesivelia pulcherrimaSánchez-García & Solórzano Kraemer gen. et sp. n., and a single female described and figured asIberovelia quisquiliaSánchez-García & Nel, gen. et sp. n., reveals novel combinations of traits related to some genera currently in the subfamily Mesoveliinae. Brief comments about challenges facing the study of fossil mesoveliids are provided, showing the necessity for a revision of the existing phylogenetic hypotheses. Some of the specimens were studied using infrared microscopy, a promising alternative to the systematic study of organisms preserved in amber that cannot be clearly visualised. The new taxa significantly expand the fossil record of the family and shed new light on its palaeoecology. The fossils indicate that Mesoveliidae were certainly diverse by the Cretaceous and that numerous tiny cryptic species living in humid terrestrial to marginal aquatic habitats remain to be discovered. Furthermore, the finding of several specimens as syninclusions suggests aggregative behaviour, thereby representing the earliest documented evidence of such ethology.
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Doyen, John T., and George O. Poinar. "Tenebrionidae from Dominican amber (Coleoptera)." Insect Systematics & Evolution 25, no. 1 (1994): 27–51. http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/187631294x00027.
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AbstractOnly few fossil Tenebrionidae have been described, mostly from Baltic amber (see Spahr 1981). The only fossils described from the New World appear to be a few species from Florissant shales (Wickham 1913; 1914a, b), those from the California asphalt deposits (Doyen & Miller 1980) and a single species from Dominican amber (Kaszab & Schawaller 1984). Based on Wickham's description and illustrations, the fragmentary fossils he placed in or near extant genera may be ascribed to Tenebrionidae only with uncertainty. In contrast, the Tenebrionidae from the California asphalts all clearly represent species which occur in the immediate area today, and are probably best regarded as subfossils. Screening of many thousands of Dominican amber inclusions has gradually resulted in the accumulation of 29 species of Tenebrionidae, represented by 50 specimens. The account which follows possibly represents the most comprehensive taxonomic survey of any large insect family known to occur in Dominican amber.
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Breton, Gérard, and George Poinar. "Synopsis of rare fossil animal spermatozoa in amber and sedimentary deposits." BSGF - Earth Sciences Bulletin 191 (2020): 31. http://dx.doi.org/10.1051/bsgf/2020014.
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Fossil spermatozoa are extremely rare. Among the eight cases reported here, including two cases of spermatophores without visible sperm cells, six are fossils preserved in amber. All six concern animals with indirect sperm transfer by means of spermatophores or spermatodesmids. Preservation of subcellular organelles shows once again that amber is an extraordinary preservation medium.
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SZWEDO, JACEK, and MÓNICA M. SOLÓRZANO KRAEMER. "Fossils X3 for the 8th time and IPS Meeting in Santo Domingo, April 2019." Palaeoentomology 2, no. 3 (June 24, 2019): 205–10. http://dx.doi.org/10.11646/palaeoentomology.2.3.1.
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The Fossil Insect Network was created 33 years ago in 1996 in Strasbourg, France, under the auspices of the European Science Foundation. Since then, several meetings were organised: 1998—First International Palaeoentomological Conference in Moscow, Russia; 1998—World Congress on Amber Inclusions in Vitoria-Gasteiz, Basque Country, Spain; 2000—Brazilian Symposium on Palaeoarthropodology in Ribeirão Preto, Brazil; 2001—Second International Congress on Palaeoentomology, Fossil Insects, Kraków, Poland. This Congress in Kraków was also the origination of the International Palaeoentomological Society. The year 2005 was very important as three meetings, i.e. the Palaeoentomological Conference, the World Congress on Amber Inclusions, and the International Meeting on Palaeoarthropodology were decided to merge together as Fossils X3. This decision was made in Pretoria, South Africa. Following the International Congresses on Fossil Insects, Arthropods and Amber, Fossils X3 continued in 2007—Vitoria-Gasteiz, Basque Country, Spain, 2010; in Beijing, China, 2013—Byblos, Lebanon; and 2016—Edinburgh, Scotland, where ‘International Fossil Insects Day’ was declared and is now celebrated on each 1st of October.
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Waggoner, Benjamin M. "Fossil actinomycete in Eocene-Oligocene Dominican amber." Journal of Paleontology 68, no. 2 (March 1994): 398–401. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0022336000022964.
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Actinomycetes are Gram-positive prokaryotes that tend to form branching and fragmenting filaments, which in some groups form a sizable mycelium. They make up a large and important part of modern terrestrial microfloras but are not known extensively as fossils, although they have a long fossil history. Actinomycete-like fossils appear several times in the Precambrian: in the middle Precambrian Gowganda Formation of Ontario (Jackson, 1967), in the 2.0 Ga Gunflint Chert of Ontario (Lanier, 1987), and possibly in a lichen-like symbiosis in the 2.8 Ga Witwatersrand rocks of South Africa (Hallbauer and Van Warmelo, 1974), among others. Direct fossil evidence of actinomycetes is very rare in the Phanerozoic, and some “fossil” actinomycetes may be later contaminants (Knoll, 1977; Smoot and Taylor, 1983). Hyphae identified as actinomycetes are known from rod-like bodies identified as nematodes inside a decaying scorpion from the lower Carboniferous of Scotland (Stoermer, 1964), and from the interior of fern phloem cells from the Pennsylvanian (Smoot and Taylor, 1983). Unmineralized Actinomyces-like cells are known from calcite in bituminous lake-bed sediments from the early Cretaceous of Nevada (Bradley, 1963), and similar, poorly preserved fossils of a form called Actinomycites have been reported from the Jurassic of Scotland (Ellis, 1915). Actinorhizal nodules, formed by actinomycetes symbiotic with plant roots, have been described from the late Pleistocene (Baker and Miller, 1980).
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Lohrmann, Volker, Michael Ohl, Peter Michalik, James P. Pitts, Laurent Jeanneau, and Vincent Perrichot. "Notes on rhopalosomatid wasps of Dominican and Mexican amber (Hymenoptera: Rhopalosomatidae) with a description of the first fossil species of <i>Rhopalosoma</i> Cresson, 1865." Fossil Record 22, no. 1 (May 15, 2019): 31–44. http://dx.doi.org/10.5194/fr-22-31-2019.
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Abstract. Rhopalosomatidae are a family of aculeate wasps that are ectoparasitoids of crickets as larvae and are predominantly distributed pantropically. The published fossil record of the family is scarce. Here, we report three new fossil rhopalosomatid wasp specimens from Dominican and Mexican amber. Rhopalosoma hispaniola Lohrmann sp. nov. is described and documented from Dominican amber by two separate inclusions – one of each sex. An additional fossil female Rhopalosoma is described and documented from Mexican amber but is not named due to the insufficient preservation of the fossil. The new fossils, which are morphologically intermediate between Townes' isopus and poeyi species groups, do not only represent the first fossil records of an extant genus of this peculiar family but also the first records of the family in Dominican and Mexican amber.
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Moser, Marina, Roger A. Burks, Jonah M. Ulmer, John M. Heraty, Thomas van de Kamp, and Lars Krogmann. "Taxonomic description and phylogenetic placement of two new species of Spalangiopelta (Hymenoptera: Pteromalidae: Ceinae) from Eocene Baltic amber." PeerJ 9 (May 25, 2021): e10939. http://dx.doi.org/10.7717/peerj.10939.
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Spalangiopelta is a small genus of chalcid wasps that has received little attention despite the widespread distribution of its extant species. The fossil record of the genus is restricted to a single species from Miocene Dominican amber. We describe two new fossil species, Spalangiopelta darlingi sp. n. and Spalangiopelta semialba sp. n. from Baltic amber. The species can be placed within the extant genus Spalangiopelta based on the distinctly raised hind margin of the mesopleuron. 3D models reconstructed from µCT data were utilized to assist in the descriptions. Furthermore, we provide a key for the females of all currently known Spalangiopelta species. The phylogenetic placement of the fossils within the genus is analyzed using parsimony analysis based on morphological characters. Phylogenetic and functional relevance of two wing characters, admarginal setae and the hyaline break, are discussed. The newly described Baltic amber fossils significantly extend the minimum age of Spalangiopelta to the Upper Eocene.
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Schmidt, Alexander R., Christina Beimforde, Leyla J. Seyfullah, Sarah-Elena Wege, Heinrich Dörfelt, Vincent Girard, Heinrich Grabenhorst, et al. "Amber fossils of sooty moulds." Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology 200 (January 2014): 53–64. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.revpalbo.2013.07.002.
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Vorontsov, Dmitry D., Vasiliy B. Kolesnikov, Elena E. Voronezhskaya, Evgeny E. Perkovsky, Marielle M. Berto, Joseph Mowery, Ronald Ochoa, and Pavel B. Klimov. "Beyond the Limits of Light: An Application of Super-Resolution Confocal Microscopy (sCLSM) to Investigate Eocene Amber Microfossils." Life 13, no. 4 (March 23, 2023): 865. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/life13040865.
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Amber is known as one of the best sources of fossil organisms preserved with exceptional fidelity. Historically, different methods of imaging have been applied to amber, including optical microscopy and microtomography. These methods are sufficient to resolve millimeter-scaled fossils. However, microfossils, such as microarthropods, require another resolution. Here, we describe a non-destructive method of super resolution confocal microscopy (sCLSM) to study amber-preserved microfossils, using a novel astigmatid mite species (genus Histiogaster, Acaridae) from Eocene Rovno amber as a model. We show that the resolution obtained with sCLSM is comparable to that of scanning electron microscopy (SEM) routinely used to study modern mites. We compare sCLSM imaging to other methods that are used to study amber inclusions and emphasize its advantages in examination of unique fossil specimens. Furthermore, we show that the deterioration of amber, which manifests in its darkening, positively correlates with its increased fluorescence. Our results demonstrate a great potential of the sCLSM method for imaging of the tiniest organisms preserved in amber.
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MITOV, PLAMEN G., EVGENY E. PERKOVSKY, and JASON A. DUNLOP. "Harvestmen (Arachnida: Opiliones) in Eocene Rovno amber (Ukraine)." Zootaxa 4984, no. 1 (June 10, 2021): 43–72. http://dx.doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4984.1.6.
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Six species of harvestman (Arachnida: Opiliones) are documented from the Eocene Rovno amber in Ukraine. From the suborder Eupnoi we record Caddo dentipalpus (C. L. Koch & Berendt, 1854) (Caddidae), Amilenus deltshevi Dunlop & Mitov, 2009 (Phalangiidae) and Dicranopalpus ramiger (C. L. Koch & Berendt, 1854) (family incertae sedis). To these we add a new phalangiid, Metaphalangium martensi sp. n., which is the oldest representative of the Recent genus Metaphalangium Roewer, 1911 and new genus for the amber fauna. From Dyspnoi we record Sabacon claviger (Menge, 1854) (Sabaconidae) and propose Parahistricostoma gen. n. (Nemastomatidae), to accommodate Nemastoma tuberculatum C. L. Koch & Berendt, 1854, yielding Parahistricostoma tuberculatum (C. L. Koch & Berendt, 1854) comb. n. The Rovno harvestman fauna is briefly compared to both Baltic and Bitterfeld amber. The fossil species, C. dentipalpus, A. deltshevi, D. ramiger and P. tuberculatum occur in all three ambers, and S. claviger is found in Baltic and Rovno amber. The only genus and species unique to Rovno amber is thus our new taxon M. martensi. The composition of the Rovno opilionid fauna is discussed in the context of late Eocene palaeoenvironment and ecological preferences and the fossils are compared to the distribution of extant harvestman taxa. The oribatid mite Platyliodes ensigerus Sellnick, 1919 (Acari: Neoliodidae) is reported from Rovno amber for the first time.
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Kaasalainen, Ulla, Jouko Rikkinen, and Alexander R. Schmidt. "Fossil Usnea and similar fruticose lichens from Palaeogene amber." Lichenologist 52, no. 4 (July 2020): 319–24. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0024282920000286.
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AbstractFruticose lichens of the genus Usnea Dill. ex Adans. (Parmeliaceae), generally known as beard lichens, are among the most iconic epiphytic lichens in modern forest ecosystems. Many of the c. 350 currently recognized species are widely distributed and have been used as bioindicators in air pollution studies. Here we demonstrate that usneoid lichens were present in the Palaeogene amber forests of Europe. Based on general morphology and annular cortical fragmentation, one fossil from Baltic amber can be assigned to the extant genus Usnea. The unique type of cortical cracking indirectly demonstrates the presence of a central cord that keeps the branch intact even when its cortex is split into vertebrae-like segments. This evolutionary innovation has remained unchanged since the Palaeogene, contributing to the considerable ecological flexibility that allows Usnea species to flourish in a wide variety of ecosystems and climate regimes. The fossil sets the minimum age for Usnea to 34 million years (late Eocene). While the other similar fossils from Baltic and Bitterfeld ambers cannot be definitely assigned to the same genus, they underline the diversity of pendant lichens in Palaeogene amber forests.
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Dunlop, Jason A., Ulrich Kotthoff, Jörg U. Hammel, Jennifer Ahrens, and Danilo Harms. "Arachnids in Bitterfeld amber: A unique fauna of fossils from the heart of Europe or simply old friends?" Evolutionary Systematics 2, no. 1 (February 22, 2018): 31–44. http://dx.doi.org/10.3897/evolsyst.2.22581.
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Bitterfeld amber, sometimes referred to as Saxon or Saxonian amber, is a potentially significant but poorly known source of arthropod data for the Palaeogene of northern Europe. An important aspect is a long-standing controversy about the age of this amber: namely whether it is equivalent to, and perhaps merely a southerly extension of, the better-known Baltic amber, or whether it is a unique and geological younger deposit sampling a different fauna. Here, we briefly review the Bitterfeld arachnids with particular emphasis on how these data could be used to elucidate the age of this deposit. Five arachnid orders have been recorded from Bitterfeld amber: spiders (Araneae), acariform mites (Acariformes), parasitiform mites (Parasitiformes), harvestmen (Opiliones) and pseudoscorpions (Pseudoscorpiones). This is a lower diversity than Baltic amber, where scorpions (Scorpiones) and camel spiders (Solifugae) have also been recorded. Spiders are the most comprehensively studied group, with more than 75 described species. Other groups such as pseudoscorpions and mites appear to be very diverse, but are virtually undescribed. Morphological overlap is apparent in the arachnid fauna and 40 species are currently shared between Baltic and Bitterfeld amber whilst 50 species are unique to the Bitterfeld deposit. At the family level overlap is even higher, but in all groups Baltic amber appears more diverse than Bitterfeld. This overlap may be interpreted as evidence for temporal conspecifity of the Baltic and Bitterfeld ambers, albeit with the Bitterfeld and Baltic ambers possibly representing independent localities within a larger Eocene European amber area which also included the Rovno amber from the Ukraine. However, caution should be exercised because the taxonomic foundation for such assumptions is far from comprehensive, most of the material remains to be studied in detail using modern techniques of morphological reconstruction. There are further issues with date estimates because some arachnid groups show extraordinary morphological stasis over time, even at species level, which may bias the analyses available. Here, we review the available knowledge on Bitterfeld arachnids and discuss how a detailed assessment of this fauna, and other arthropod taxa, could be generated. Several natural history museums – including Hamburg and Berlin – as well as private collectors host major assemblages of Bitterfeld fossils which may help to clarify the debate about the age and provenance of the material, and the extent to which (morpho)-species were maintained both over geographical distances and potentially geological time.
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Haug, Carolin, Gideon T. Haug, Viktor A. Baranov, Mónica M. Solórzano-Kraemer, and Joachim T. Haug. "An owlfly larva preserved in Mexican amber and the Miocene record of lacewing larvae." Boletín de la Sociedad Geológica Mexicana 73, no. 3 (December 1, 2021): A271220. http://dx.doi.org/10.18268/bsgm2021v73n3a271220.
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Neuroptera (lacewings) is today a rather small lineage of Holometabola. These representatives of Insecta have mostly predatory larvae with prominent venom-injecting stylets formed by upper and lower jaws. These impressive larvae can be found not only in the modern fauna, but sometimes also as fossils, predominantly preserved in amber. Here we report a new specimen of a lacewing larva from Miocene Mexican amber, most likely a larva of an owlfly (Ascalaphidae) with large prominent stylets, each with three teeth. These stylets arise from a more or less square-shaped head (in dorsal view) that has distinct eye hills with at least three simple eyes (stemmata) each. The trunk is rather short. Trunk segments possess finger-like protrusions carrying numerous setae, which could have been used to attach camouflaging debris to it. Remarkably, the specimen represents only the second report of a lacewing from Miocene Mexican amber, and the first larva. Additionally, we review the Miocene record of lacewing larvae. It includes otherwise only fossils preserved in Dominican amber and remains rather scarce, with only eight specimens in the literature so far. While there seem to be additional specimens in private collections, the overall number is astonishingly low compared to the numbers in Eocene and Cretaceous ambers. Ecological and taphonomic factors possibly explaining the rarity of lacewing larvae in Miocene amber are discussed here.
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SIDORCHUK, EKATERINA A., and ROY A. NORTON. "Redescription of the fossil oribatid mite Scutoribates perornatus, with implications for systematics of Unduloribatidae (Acari: Oribatida)." Zootaxa 2666, no. 1 (November 3, 2010): 45. http://dx.doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.2666.1.3.
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The monotypic oribatid mite genus Scutoribates Sellnick, 1918 has been based only on fossil specimens of the type species—S. perornatus Sellnick, 1918—from Baltic amber. The type specimen is lost, and the genus has been assumed to be a junior subjective synonym of Eremaeozetes (Eremaeozetidae). Herein, we redescribe S. perornatus based on stereoand compound-microscopy of embedded fossils at magnifications up to 1000X, and both direct observation and electron microscopy of removed cuticular fragments. Specimens included 52 non-type adult fossils from Eocene (Baltic and Rovno) amber, several of which had been studied and identified by Sellnick. One of the latter, housed in the Kaliningrad Museum of Amber (KMA; № 197-07), is designated neotype. A presumed tritonymph is also described. While Scutoribates and Eremaeozetes share certain aspects of facies, the genera are clearly not synonyms. Rather, Scutoribates is a senior subjective synonym of two monotypic extant genera currently included in different families: Kunstella Krivolutsky, 1974 in Oribatellidae and Koreoribates Choi, 1994 in Unduloribatidae (new synonymies). We show that Unduloribatidae is the appropriate family and list characters that distinguish the three known species of Scutoribates: S. perornatus Sellnick, S. foliatus (Choi) n. comb. and S. foveolatus (Krivolutsky) n. comb. The transfer of Scutoribates from Eremaeozetidae removes the only presumed tropical element from the oribatid fauna of Baltic amber. We also designate a neotype (№197-24 in the KMA) for the amber fossil species Tectoribates parvus Sellnick 1931; however, the currently used combination of Unduloribates parvus needs confirmation.
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CAMIER, MARIE, and ANDRE NEL. "A fossil black fungus gnat from the lowermost Eocene amber of France (Diptera: Sciaridae)." Palaeoentomology 2, no. 4 (August 30, 2019): 316–21. http://dx.doi.org/10.11646/palaeoentomology.2.4.3.
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The extant fly family Sciaridae currently comprises a great quantity of fossil species (Evenhuis, 1994; Röschmann & Mohrig, 1995; fossilworks Gateway to the Paleobiology Database). Many of them were originally attributed to the genus Sciara, the oldest one being Sciara burmitina Cockerell, 1917 from the mid-Cretaceous Burmese amber. Mohrig & Röschmann (1994) revised several Sciara species described from the Middle Eocene Baltic amber and transferred them to different extant sciarid genera. From France, only compression fossils have been described by Théobald (1937), one from the Late Eocene and seven from the Oligocene. Here we describe the first Sciaridae from the Lowermost Eocene Oise amber (France). Blagoderov et al. (2010) previously described a Lygistorrhinidae sciaroid from the same amber.
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Baranov, Viktor A., Yinan Wang, Rok Gašparič, Sonja Wedmann, and Joachim T. Haug. "Eco-morphological diversity of larvae of soldier flies and their closest relatives in deep time." PeerJ 8 (November 27, 2020): e10356. http://dx.doi.org/10.7717/peerj.10356.
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Stratiomyomorpha (soldier flies and allies) is an ingroup of Diptera, with a fossil record stretching back to the Early Cretaceous (the Barremian, about 125 MYA). Stratiomyomorpha includes at least 3,000 species in the modern fauna, with many species being crucial for ecosystem functions, especially as saprophages. Larvae of many stratiomyomorphans are especially important as scavengers and saproxyls in modern ecosystems. Yet, fossil larvae of the group are extremely scarce. Here we present 23 new records of fossil stratiomyomorphan larvae, representing six discrete morphotypes. Specimens originate from Cretaceous amber from Myanmar, Eocene Baltic amber, Miocene Dominican amber, and compression fossils from the Eocene of Messel (Germany) and the Miocene of Slovenia. We discuss the implications of these new records for our understanding of stratiomyomorphan ecomorphology in deep time as well as their palaeoecology.
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Pohl, Hans. "Die Stammgruppe der Fächerflügler (Insecta, Strepsiptera)." Archiv Natur- und Landeskunde Mecklenburg-Vorpommern 58 (November 19, 2021): 58–70. http://dx.doi.org/10.30819/anlk.58.06.
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Die Fächerflügler (Strepsiptera) sind mit nur ca. 600 beschriebenen rezenten Arten eine kleine, parasitische Gruppe der holometabolen Insekten. Fossilfunde sind selten, aber in den letzten Jahren hat sich die Kenntnis der Stammgruppe der Strepsiptera durch die Entdeckung gut erhaltener Arten aus kreidezeitlichem burmesischem Bernstein und eozänem baltischen Bernstein stark vermehrt. Bis auf ganz wenige Ausnahmen, wie eine fossile Primärlarve aus burmesischem Bernstein und ein spätes weibliches Larvenstadium der †Mengeidae aus baltischem Bernstein, sind nur Männchen bekannt. Diese Bernsteinfossilien haben wesentlich zum Verständnis der Evolution der Strepsiptera im späten Mesozoikum und Känozoikum beigetragen. Die Stammgruppenvertreter der Fächerflügler werden vorgestellt und in einen evolutiven Kontext eingeordnet. The stem-group of the twisted-winged parasites (Insecta, Strepsiptera) Abstract: With only about 600 described extant species, the twisted-winged parasites (Strepsiptera) are a small, parasitic group of holometabolous insects. Fossil records of Strepsiptera are rare, but in the last years the knowledge of the stem group has greatly increased with the discovery of well-preserved species from Cretaceous Burmese amber and Eocene Baltic amber. With very few exceptions, such as a fossil primary larva from Burmese amber and a late female larval stage of the †Mengeidae from Baltic amber, only males are known. These amber fossils have greatly contributed to the understanding of the evolution of Strepsiptera in the late Mesozoic and Cenozoic. The stem group representatives of the twisted-winged parasites are described and placed in an evolutionary context.
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Brysz, Alicja Magdalena, and Jacek Szwedo. "The fossil record of the planthopper family Achilidae, with particular reference to those in Baltic amber (Hemiptera: Fulgoromorpha)." Earth and Environmental Science Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 107, no. 2-3 (June 2016): 279–88. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s175569101700041x.
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ABSTRACTThe family Achilidae (Hemiptera, Fulgoromorpha, commonly called planthoppers) is one of the least known and least understood groups, due to their cryptic lifestyle. They appear in the fossil record in the Lower Cretaceous, with a single genus and two species from the Crato Formation of Brazil. The oldest amber inclusion is reported from the earliest Late Cretaceous amber of Burma. Surprisingly, Achilidae are relatively common among the larger inclusions that can be found in Eocene Baltic amber. The first description of a fossil species was in the mid-19th Century. Currently, there are 13 genera and 16 species known from fossils, of which nine genera and 11 species are from Baltic amber. However, many of them need reconsideration, revisionary studies and placement in the phylogenetic context of the family. Former studies on inclusions in this amber revealed several unique forms (extinct tribes Ptychoptilini and Waghildini), or taxa ascribable to the sparse Recent tribe Achilini. This paper provides an overview of the knowledge of fossil Achilidae, particularly those from Baltic amber. The Eocene appears to be the heyday of the family; however, this hypothesis should be tested with further detailed studies.
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Riquelme, Francisco, and Miguel Hernández-Patricio. "The millipedes and centipedes of Chiapas amber." Check List 14, no. 4 (August 10, 2018): 637–46. http://dx.doi.org/10.15560/14.4.637.
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An inventory of fossil millipedes (class Diplopoda) and centipedes (class Chilopoda) from Miocene Chiapas amber, Mexico, is presented, with the inclusion of new records. For Diplopoda, 34 members are enumerated, for which 31 are described as new fossil records of the orders Siphonophorida Newport, 1844, Spirobolida Bollman, 1893, Polydesmida Leach, 1895, Stemmiulida Pocock, 1894, and the superorder Juliformia Attems, 1926. For Chilopoda 8 fossils are listed, for which 3 are new records of the order Geophilomorpha Pocock, 1895 and 2 are of the order Scolopendromorpha Pocock, 1895.
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Szadziewski, Ryszard, and Wojciech Giłka. "A new fossil mosquito, with notes on the morphology and taxonomy of other species reported from Eocene Baltic amber (Diptera: Culicidae)." Polish Journal of Entomology / Polskie Pismo Entomologiczne 80, no. 4 (December 1, 2011): 765–77. http://dx.doi.org/10.2478/v10200-011-0057-5.
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A new fossil mosquito, with notes on the morphology and taxonomy of other species reported from Eocene Baltic amber (Diptera: Culicidae) Males of Culiseta gedanica sp. n. and Culex erikae Szadziewski & Szadziewska, 1985 are described, and an incomplete male of Coquillettidia is reported from Baltic amber for the first time. Aedes perkunas Podenas, 1999 is recognized as a junior synonym of Culex erikae, syn. n.Aedes serafini Szadziewski, 1998 is transferred to the genus Ochlerotatus, comb. n. Mosquitoes are rare fossils in Baltic amber. They represent six species of extant genera with a worldwide distribution: Culiseta, Ochlerotatus, Coquillettidia, Culex and Aedes. A key to the identification of males is also provided.
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POINAR, JR, GEORGE O. "Fossils explained 22: Palaeontology of amber." Geology Today 14, no. 4 (July 1998): 154–60. http://dx.doi.org/10.1046/j.1365-2451.1998.014004154.x.
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Chen, Jun, Bo Wang, and Edmund A. Jarzembowski. "Benefits of trade in amber fossils." Nature 532, no. 7600 (April 2016): 441. http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/532441a.
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Hartl, C., A. R. Schmidt, J. Heinrichs, L. J. Seyfullah, N. Schäfer, C. Gröhn, J. Rikkinen, and U. Kaasalainen. "Lichen preservation in amber: morphology, ultrastructure, chemofossils, and taphonomic alteration." Fossil Record 18, no. 2 (July 17, 2015): 127–35. http://dx.doi.org/10.5194/fr-18-127-2015.
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Abstract. The fossil record of lichens is scarce and many putative fossil lichens do not show an actual physiological relationship between mycobionts and photobionts or a typical habit, and are therefore disputed. Amber has preserved a huge variety of organisms in microscopic fidelity, and so the study of amber fossils is promising for elucidating the fossil history of lichens. However, so far it has not been tested as to how amber inclusions of lichens are preserved regarding their internal characters, ultrastructure, and chemofossils. Here, we apply light microscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), and Raman spectroscopy to an amber-preserved Eocene lichen in order to gain information about the preservation of the fossil. The lichen thallus displays lifelike tissue preservation including the upper and lower cortex, medulla, photobiont layer, apothecia, and soredia. SEM analysis revealed globular photobiont cells in contact with the fungal hyphae, as well as impressions of possible former crystals of lichen compounds. EDX analysis permitted the differentiation between halite and pyrite crystals inside the lichen which were likely formed during the later diagenesis of the amber piece. Raman spectroscopy revealed the preservation of organic compounds and a difference between the composition of the cortex and the medulla of the fossil.
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Solis, M. Alma, Théo Léger, and Christian Neumann. "First pyraloid (Insecta, Lepidoptera) caterpillar from Dominican amber." Nota Lepidopterologica 46 (October 24, 2023): 145–54. http://dx.doi.org/10.3897/nl.46.108745.
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Only three fossils in the Pyraloidea (Insecta, Lepidoptera) have been confirmed to date, two adults and one larva. The first confirmed larva, in the subfamily Pyraustinae (Crambidae), was described from Baltic amber. Recently, another pyraloid larva from Dominican amber has come to our attention. We describe this second confirmed larval fossil as Penestola wichardi Solis, Léger & Neumann, sp. nov., based on larval morphological characters, such as setal patterns and the shape of their sclerotized bases or pinacula, and place it in the subfamily Spilomelinae (Crambidae).
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Labandeira, Conrad C. "Amber." Paleontological Society Papers 20 (October 2014): 163–216. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s1089332600002850.
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The amber fossil record provides a distinctive, 320-million-year-old taphonomic mode documenting gymnosperm, and later, angiosperm, resin-producing taxa. Resins and their subfossil (copal) and fossilized (amber) equivalents are categorized into five classes of terpenoid, phenols, and other compounds, attributed to extant family-level taxa. Copious resin accumulations commencing during the early Cretaceous are explained by two hypotheses: 1) abundant resin production as a byproduct of plant secondary metabolism, and 2) induced and constitutive host defenses for warding off insect pest and pathogen attack through profuse resin production. Forestry research and fossil wood-boring damage support a causal relationship between resin production and pest attack. Five stages characterize taphonomic conversion of resin to amber: 1) Resin flows initially caused by biotic or abiotic plant-host trauma, then resin flowage results from sap pressure, resin viscosity, solar radiation, and fluctuating temperature; 2) entrapment of live and dead organisms, resulting in 3) entombment of organisms; then 4) movement of resin clumps to 5) a deposition site. This fivefold diagenetic process of amberization results in resin→copal→amber transformation from internal biological and chemical processes and external geological forces. Four phases characterize the amber record: a late Paleozoic Phase 1 begins resin production by cordaites and medullosans. A pre-mid-Cretaceous Mesozoic Phase 2 provides increased but still sparse accumulations of gymnosperm amber. Phase 3 begins in the mid-early Cretaceous with prolific amber accumulation likely caused by biotic effects of an associated fauna of sawflies, beetles, and pathogens. Resiniferous angiosperms emerge sporadically during the late Cretaceous, but promote Phase 4 through their Cenozoic expansion. Throughout Phases 3 and 4, the amber record of trophic interactions involves parasites, parasitoids, and perhaps transmission of diseases, such as malaria. Other recorded interactions are herbivory, predation, pollination, phoresy, and mimicry. In addition to litter, amber also captures microhabitats of wood and bark, large sporocarps, dung, carrion, phytotelmata, and resin substrates. These microhabitats are differentially represented; the primary taphonomic bias is size, and then the sedentary vs. wandering life habits of organisms. Organismic abundance from lekking, ant-refuse heaps, and pest outbreaks additionally contribute to bias. Various techniques are used to image and analyze amber, allowing assessment of: 1) ancient proteins; 2) phylogenetic reconstruction; 3) macroevolutionary patterns; and 4) paleobiogeographic distributions. Three major benefits result from study of amber fossil material, in contrast to three different benefits of compression-impression fossils.
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Sadowski, Eva-Maria, Leyla J. Seyfullah, Friederike Sadowski, Andreas Fleischmann, Hermann Behling, and Alexander R. Schmidt. "Carnivorous leaves from Baltic amber." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 112, no. 1 (December 1, 2014): 190–95. http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1414777111.
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The fossil record of carnivorous plants is very scarce and macrofossil evidence has been restricted to seeds of the extant aquatic genus Aldrovanda of the Droseraceae family. No case of carnivorous plant traps has so far been reported from the fossil record. Here, we present two angiosperm leaves enclosed in a piece of Eocene Baltic amber that share relevant morphological features with extant Roridulaceae, a carnivorous plant family that is today endemic to the Cape flora of South Africa. Modern Roridula species are unique among carnivorous plants as they digest prey in a complex mutualistic association in which the prey-derived nutrient uptake depends on heteropteran insects. As in extant Roridula, the fossil leaves possess two types of plant trichomes, including unicellular hairs and five size classes of multicellular stalked glands (or tentacles) with an apical pore. The apices of the narrow and perfectly tapered fossil leaves end in a single tentacle, as in both modern Roridula species. The glandular hairs of the fossils are restricted to the leaf margins and to the abaxial lamina, as in extant Roridula gorgonias. Our discovery supports current molecular age estimates for Roridulaceae and suggests a wide Eocene distribution of roridulid plants.
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Borkent, A., and R. Szadziewski. "The first records of fossil Corethrellidae (Diptera)." Insect Systematics & Evolution 22, no. 4 (1991): 457–63. http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/187631291x00255.
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AbstractThe first fossil Corethrellidae, represented by two male adult Corethrella, are described. One, C. prisca sp. n., is from Saxonian amber collected in East Germany and is of Miocene age (22 Ma). The other, C. nudistyla sp. n., is from Dominican Republic amber and is 15-40 million years old. The family Corethrellidae, because of its phylogenetic position, is presumably of at least Jurassic age. The fossils are typical members of the genus Corethrella and belong to a clade which is the sister group of a single species in New Zealand.
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Mengel, Laura, Simon Linhart, Gideon T. Haug, Thomas Weiterschan, Patrick Müller, Christel Hoffeins, Hans-Werner Hoffeins, Viktor Baranov, Carolin Haug, and Joachim T. Haug. "The Morphological Diversity of Dragon Lacewing Larvae (Nevrorthidae, Neuroptera) Changed More over Geological Time Scales Than Anticipated." Insects 14, no. 9 (September 6, 2023): 749. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/insects14090749.
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Nevrorthidae, the group of dragon lacewings, has often been considered a relic group. Today, dragon lacewings show a scattered distribution, with some species occurring in southern Europe, Japan, Australia, and one in China. The idea that this distribution is only a remnant of an originally larger distribution is further supported by fossils of the group preserved in ambers from the Baltic region (Eocene, ca. 35–40 MaBP) and Myanmar (Kachin amber, Cretaceous, ca. 100 MaBP). Larvae of the group are slender and elongated and live mostly in water. Yet, larvae are in fact very rare. So far, only slightly more than 30 larval specimens, counting all extant and fossil larvae, have been depicted in the literature. Here, we report numerous additional specimens, including extant larvae, but also fossil ones from Baltic and Kachin amber. Together with the already known ones, this sums up to over 100 specimens. We analysed quantitative aspects of the morphology of these larvae and compared them over time to identify changes in the diversity. Despite the enriched sample size, the data set is still unbalanced, with, for example, newly hatched larvae (several dozen specimens) only known from the Eocene. We expected little change in larval morphology over geological time, as indicated by earlier studies. However, on the contrary, we recognised morphologies present in fossils that are now extinct. This result is similar to those for other groups of lacewings which have a relic distribution today, as these have also suffered a loss in diversity in larval forms.
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Poinar, George, and Royce Steeves. "Virola dominicana sp. nov. (Myristicaceae) from Dominican amber." Botany 91, no. 8 (August 2013): 530–34. http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/cjb-2013-0019.
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The Myristicaceae is a member of the early diverging angiosperm order Magnoliales; however, the family is poorly represented by fossil collections. We describe Virola dominicana sp. nov. (Myristicaceae), the first record of fossilized Myristicaceae flowers, from mid-Tertiary (45–15 million years ago) Dominican amber. The description is based on 24 male flowers in 17 pieces of amber, thus providing some indication of intraspecific variation, including a two-tepaled flower. Diagnostic characters of the new species are the long-simple or few-branched trichomes on the perianth margins, the small pollen grains, and a short staminal column. These fossils also show co-occurring insects, some of which could be Virola pollinators. It is speculated that V. dominicana disappeared from Hispaniola during the Pliocene–Pleistocene cooling events leaving no native members of the Myristicaceae in this region today. Additionally, these fossils demonstrate that Myristicaceae was present in the Western Hemisphere during the mid-Tertiary.
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Popov, Yuri, Barbara Kosmowska-Ceranowicz, Aleksander Herczek, and Janusz Kupryjanowicz. "Review of true bugs (Insecta: Hemiptera, Heteroptera) from the amber collection of the Museum of the Earth of PAS in Warsaw with some remarks on heteropteran insects from Eocene European amber." Polish Journal of Entomology / Polskie Pismo Entomologiczne 80, no. 4 (December 1, 2011): 699–728. http://dx.doi.org/10.2478/v10200-011-0054-8.
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Review of true bugs (Insecta: Hemiptera, Heteroptera) from the amber collection of the Museum of the Earth of PAS in Warsaw with some remarks on heteropteran insects from Eocene European amber From all the information available on Heteroptera in the Palaeogene (European Eocene) amber found in the amber deposits of the Baltic and the Ukrainian (Rovno amber) regions, Central France (Oise), and also the Leipzig area (Saxonian amber), we can conclude that many representatives of true bugs (mainly Miridae, Microphysidae, Anthocoridae and Aradidae) known to us were associated mainly with coniferous vegetation (Early Tertiary European amber forests) and, consequently, were in constant contact with resin. The main findings regarding the taxonomy, number of species, a brief biology, palaeogeography and palaeontology, as well as a review of current literature sources, are given for every family contained in the amber collection of the Museum of the Earth of PAS in Warsaw. A summary table is also included. So far, over 160 genera and more than 240 species belonging to 41 families from all known ambers have been described. About 160 species and 100 genera from 25 modern heteropteran families, described from succinite - Baltic and Ukrainian (Rovno, Klesov) ambers - belong mostly to Miridae, Anthocoridae, Cimicoidea (Electrocoris), Microphysidae, Nabidae, Tingidae and Reduviidae. 12 families (120 inclusions) are represented in the collection of the Museum of the Earth: Saldidae (1), Ceratocombidae (1), Anthocoridae (9), Microphysidae (4), Miridae (73), Reduviidae (2), Nabidae (5), Thaumastocoridae (1), Tingidae (4), Aradidae (2), Piesmatidae (1), Lygaeidae (2), Cimicoidea (7) and Heteroptera incertae sedis (9). About 70% of fossils belong to the plant bugs (Miridae): 26.5% of these are represented by the Isometopinae and 43% by the Cylapinae subfamilies.
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Yu, Tingting, Richard Kelly, Lin Mu, Andrew Ross, Jim Kennedy, Pierre Broly, Fangyuan Xia, Haichun Zhang, Bo Wang, and David Dilcher. "An ammonite trapped in Burmese amber." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 116, no. 23 (May 13, 2019): 11345–50. http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1821292116.
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Amber is fossilized tree resin, and inclusions usually comprise terrestrial and, rarely, aquatic organisms. Marine fossils are extremely rare in Cretaceous and Cenozoic ambers. Here, we report a record of an ammonite with marine gastropods, intertidal isopods, and diverse terrestrial arthropods as syninclusions in mid-Cretaceous Burmese amber. We used X-ray–microcomputed tomography (CT) to obtain high-resolution 3D images of the ammonite, including its sutures, which are diagnostically important for ammonites. The ammonite is a juvenile Puzosia (Bhimaites) and provides supporting evidence for a Late Albian–Early Cenomanian age of the amber. There is a diverse assemblage (at least 40 individuals) of arthropods in this amber sample from both terrestrial and marine habitats, including Isopoda, Acari (mites), Araneae (spiders), Diplopoda (millipedes), and representatives of the insect orders Blattodea (cockroaches), Coleoptera (beetles), Diptera (true flies), and Hymenoptera (wasps). The incomplete preservation and lack of soft body of the ammonite and marine gastropods suggest that they were dead and underwent abrasion on the seashore before entombment. It is most likely that the resin fell to the beach from coastal trees, picking up terrestrial arthropods and beach shells and, exceptionally, surviving the high-energy beach environment to be preserved as amber. Our findings not only represent a record of an ammonite in amber but also provide insights into the taphonomy of amber and the paleoecology of Cretaceous amber forests.
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Tarasov, Sergei, Fernando Z. Vaz-de-Mello, Frank-Thorsten Krell, and Dimitar Dimitrov. "A review and phylogeny of Scarabaeine dung beetle fossils (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Scarabaeinae), with the description of twoCanthochilumspecies from Dominican amber." PeerJ 4 (May 11, 2016): e1988. http://dx.doi.org/10.7717/peerj.1988.
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Despite the increasing rate of systematic research on scarabaeine dung beetles (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Scarabaeinae), their fossil record has remained largely unrevised. In this paper, we review all 33 named scarabaeine fossils and describe two new species from Dominican amber (Canthochilum allenisp.n.,Canthochilum philipsivieorumsp.n.). We provide a catalogue of all fossil Scarabaeinae and evaluate their assignment to this subfamily, based primarily on the original descriptions but also, where possible, by examining the type specimens. We suggest that only 21 fossil taxa can be reliably assigned to the Scarabaeinae, while the remaining 14 should be treated as doubtful Scarabaeinae. The doubtful scarabaeines include the two oldest dung beetle fossils known from the Cretaceous and we suggest excluding them from any assessments of the minimum age of scarabaeine dung beetles. The earliest reliably described scarabaeine fossil appears to beLobateuchus parisii, known from Oise amber (France), which shifts the minimum age of the Scarabaeinae to the Eocene (53 Ma). We scored the best-preserved fossils, namelyLobateuchusand the twoCanthochilumspecies described herein, into the character matrix used in a recent morphology-based study of dung beetles, and then inferred their phylogenetic relationships with Bayesian and parsimony methods. All analyses yielded consistent phylogenies where the two fossilCanthochilumare placed in a clade with the extant species ofCanthochilum, andLobateuchusis recovered in a clade with the extant generaAteuchusandAphengium. Additionally, we evaluated the distribution of dung beetle fossils in the light of current global dung beetle phylogenetic hypotheses, geological time and biogeography. The presence of only extant genera in the late Oligocene and all later records suggests that the main present-day dung beetle lineages had already been established by the late Oligocene–mid Miocene.
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Azar, Dany, Sibelle Maksoud, Di-Ying Huang, Mounir Maalouf, and Chen-Yang Cai. "A new fossil psychodomorphan fly from Lower Barremian Lebanese amber elucidates the relationship of the Tanyderinae stat. nov. within the Psychodidae." Carnets de Géologie (Notebooks on Geology) 24, no. 06 (April 1, 2024): 113–25. http://dx.doi.org/10.2110/carnets.2024.2406.
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A new species, †Nannotanyderus granieri sp. nov., belonging to the Tanyderidae (Diptera, Nematocera), from Lower Barremian amber of Bqaatouta (Lebanon), is characterized, described, figured, and its taxononomic position discussed. The possible confusion regarding the attribution of new fossils to either the Tanyderidae or the Psychodidae, in addition to the results of recent molecular phylogenies, have led us to re-evaluate the taxonomic position of the Tanyderidae and to consider it as a subfamily within the Psychodidae. The fossil described herein is a tiny tanyderine sensu nov. species, and the second one belonging to the genus Nannotanyderus from Lebanese amber. A tentative molecular phylogeny of recent Psychodidae and an exhaustive catalogue of fossil Tanyderinae stat. nov. are provided.
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Grimaldi, David, and Jeyaraney Kathirithamby. "Remarkable stasis in some Lower Tertiary parasitoids: descriptions, new records, and review of Strepsiptera in the Oligo-Miocene amber of the Dominican Republic." Insect Systematics & Evolution 24, no. 1 (1993): 31–41. http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/187631293x00037.
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AbstractKathirithamby, J. & Grimaldi, D.: Remarkable stasis in some Lower Tertiary parasitoids: descriptions, new records, and review of Strepsiptera in the Oligo-Miocene amber of the Dominican Republic. Ent. scand. 24: 31-41. Copenhagen, Denmark. April 1993. ISSN 0013-8711. 25-30 million years of parasite stasis is recorded in amber from the Dominican Republic, by the finding of a species of strepsipteran morphologically indistinguishable from Bohartilla melagognatha Kinzelbach, 1969 (Bohartillidae), and two species very close to Caenocholax fenyesi (Pierce 1909) (Myrmecolacidae). A new record is made of a species previously described from Dominican amber, Myrmecolax glaesi Kinzelbach, 1983. The history of the Tertiary strepsipteran fauna is discussed. Minimal ages of taxa are extrapolated based on these amber and other fossils, higher-level cladistic relationships, and fossil dating of major host groups. These new findings are consistent with Kinzelbach's hypotheses of an ancient, Lower Cretaceous/Jurassic origin of the Strepsiptera.
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Beurel, Simon, Julien B. Bachelier, Jérôme Munzinger, Fuchen Shao, Jörg U. Hammel, Gongle Shi, and Eva-Maria Sadowski. "First flower inclusion and fossil evidence of Cryptocarya (Laurales, Lauraceae) from Miocene amber of Zhangpu (China)." Fossil Record 27, no. 1 (January 4, 2024): 1–11. http://dx.doi.org/10.3897/fr.27.109621.
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Lauraceae have one of the oldest fossil records of angiosperms with the earliest known evidence from the mid-Cretaceous. However, most of these records are based on leaves, especially from the Cenozoic of Asia, which are often challenging to assign to extinct or extant genera or species. In contrast, fossils of reproductive organs are more informative, but remain scarce. We here described the first Cenozoic Lauraceae flower of Asia and confirmed the presence of Cryptocarya in the Miocene Zhangpu flora (Fujian Province, south-eastern China) based on an amber inclusion. We scanned the specimen using synchrotron radiation-based micro-computed tomography (SRμCT) and then compared the fossil with extant flowers of the genus. The present fossil flower is small, bisexual, and polysymmetric, with a whorled and trimerous perianth and androecium along with a hypanthium around the gynoecium. The perianth comprises six undifferentiated tepals, the androecium consists of nine stamens and three innermost staminodes, and the gynoecium of a single carpel with a superior, unilocular (and uniovulate) ovary. Our study also shows that the fossil shares an unusual position of the typical staminal glands and a short androecial tube on the rim of the hypanthium with at least one extant Australian species of Cryptocarya, which have not been reported before. Nowadays, Lauraceae are still present in tropical to subtropical regions, mostly in American and Asian rainforests. The discovery of many Lauraceae leaf fossils in Zhangpu, as well as the amber flower of this study, is consistent with the current reconstruction of the amber source environment as a megathermal seasonal rainforest during the Mid-Miocene.
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NGÔ-MULLER, VALERIE, ROMAIN GARROUSTE, and ANDRÉ NEL. "The oldest long-legged fly of the subfamily Medeterinae (Diptera: Dolichopodidae) from the Early Eocene of France." Palaeoentomology 3, no. 2 (April 30, 2020): 173–79. http://dx.doi.org/10.11646/palaeoentomology.3.2.6.
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We describe Paleothrypticus eocenicus gen. et sp. nov., oldest and first Medeterinae from the Early Eocene Oise amber (France). Representatives of the tribes Medeterini and Systenini are recorded in the Middle Eocene Baltic amber and the Miocene amber of Mexico. These fossils show that this subfamily was already well diversified at the beginning of the Eocene.
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Dierick, M., V. Cnudde, B. Masschaele, J. Vlassenbroeck, L. Van Hoorebeke, and P. Jacobs. "Micro-CT of fossils preserved in amber." Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment 580, no. 1 (September 2007): 641–43. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.nima.2007.05.030.
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