Fossiliferous Cretaceous Amber from Myanmar (Burma): Its Rediscovery, Biotic Diversity, and Paleontological Significance
Fossiliferous Cretaceous Amber from Myanmar (Burma): Its Rediscovery, Biotic Diversity, and Paleontological Significance
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DOI：
10.1206/0003-0082(2002)361
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发表时间：
2002-03
期刊：
影响因子：
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通讯作者：
D. Grimaldi;M. Engel;Paul c. Nascimbene
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
D. Grimaldi;M. Engel;Paul c. Nascimbene
来自缅甸北部克钦的琥珀在中国被用于雕刻装饰物至少有一千年的历史，但在伦敦自然历史博物馆（NHML）唯一的科学收藏的包裹体化石是大约90年前制作的。这些物质的年代不确定，但可能是白垩纪。根据美国自然历史博物馆（AMNH）新出土的含有3100种生物的材料，在这块琥珀中出现了许多新的记录和分类群。虽然没有对所有类群进行研究，但迄今为止重要的新记录和分类群包括以下（†指已灭绝的分类群）：植物：被子植物花（白垩纪琥珀中仅存的第三种），一种不寻常但常见的真菌的孢子和明显的孢子囊，Marchantiaceae的肝植物菌体和一种颈卵孢子体，水杉（松柏科）的叶状芽。水杉可能是琥珀的来源。动物类：绵虫科和其他线虫类；最古老的粘蜱（一种幼虫）；鸟的羽毛;以及唯一的中生代绒虫记录，描述为†cretooperipatus burmiticus， n. gen., n. sp.（绒虫科）。波因纳尔对Onychophora的分类进行了实质性的修订。螨虫（蜱螨目）和蜘蛛（蜘蛛目）的动物群在很大程度上仍未被研究，它们似乎是中生代已知的最多样化的动物群。昆虫类：昆虫类。(翼片段);Plecoptera indet。皮翅目、刺翅目和刺翅目新属（后两目是该目唯一确定的中生代化石）。在半翅目昆虫中，有翅蛾科、水虻科、刺虻科、裂虻科、刺虻科（异翅目）的原始新属，也有刺虻科（蚜总科）、刺虻科的原始新属。成年蛇蝇（蛇翅目：中蚜科）是该目中最小的种，在神经翅目：刺翅目、绢翅目和绢翅目中出现了新属，并出现了明显的刺翅目幼虫。鞘翅目在很大程度上尚未被研究，但可能是白垩纪以来已知的最多样化的组合，尤其是葡萄球菌科。在中生代的第一个记录中，发现了一种成年lymexylid，它是attroctocerus中最原始的物种。膜翅目有原始蚁（蚁科：蜂蚁科n. gen.和†球蚁科]），其中有最古老的球蚁科记录，并有重要的†绢蚁科和†绢蚁科新记录。双翅目种类最丰富，有最古老的确定蠓科和蚊科（库蚊科），以及蠓科、蠓科、蠓科的新属；一个接近神秘的Valeseguya属的新属，以及一个不寻常的Archizelmiridae中的新属。†Chimeromyia（双翅目：Eremoneura），以前在下白垩纪的琥珀中已知，也有代表。对缅甸琥珀中中生代节肢动物的地层分布进行了评述，认为该材料的年龄可能在Turonian-Cenomanian （90-100 Ma）。讨论了NHML和AMNH收藏之间的古动物差异，以及原始生物群的独特热带性质。缅甸琥珀可能是白垩纪琥珀中生物群最多样化的琥珀，也是目前已知的中生代微生物群最多样化的琥珀之一。
Abstract Amber from Kachin, northern Burma, has been used in China for at least a millennium for carving decorative objects, but the only scientific collection of inclusion fossils, at the Natural History Museum, London (NHML), was made approximately 90 years ago. Age of the material was ambiguous, but probably Cretaceous. Numerous new records and taxa occur in this amber, based on newly excavated material in the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) containing 3100 organisms. Without having all groups studied, significant new records and taxa thus far include the following (a † refers to extinct taxa): For Plants: An angiosperm flower (only the third in Cretaceous amber), spores and apparent sporangia of an unusual but common fungus, hepatophyte thalli and an archegoniophore of Marchantiaceae, and leafy shoots of Metasequoia (Coniferae). Metasequoia is possibly the source of the amber. For Animals: Mermithidae and other Nematoda; the oldest ixodid tick (a larval Amblyomma); bird feathers; and the only Mesozoic record of the Onychophora (“velvet” worms), described as †Cretoperipatus burmiticus, n. gen., n. sp. (Peripatidae). Poinar's classification of the Onychophora is substantially revised. Still largely unstudied, the fauna of mites (Acari) and spiders (Araneae) appears to be the most diverse ones known for the Mesozoic. For Insecta: Odonata indet. (wing fragment); Plecoptera indet.; new genera of Dermaptera, Embiidina, and Zoraptera (the latter two as the only definitive Mesozoic fossils of their orders). Within Hemiptera, there are primitive new genera in the Aradidae, Hydrometridae, Piesmatidae, Schizopteridae, and Cimicomorpha (Heteroptera), as well as in †Tajmyraphididae (Aphidoidea), and †′otopsyllidiidae. An adult snakefly (Raphidioptera: †Mesoraphidiidae) is the smallest species in the order, and new genera occur in the Neuroptera: Coniopterygidae, Berothidae, and Psychopsidae, as well as larvae of apparent Nevrorthidae. Coleoptera are largely unstudied, but are probably the most diverse assemblage known from the Cretaceous, particularly for Staphylinidae. An adult lymexylid, the most primitive species of Atractocerus, is the first Mesozoic record of the family. In Hymenoptera there are primitive ants (Formicidae: Ponerinae n. gen., and †Sphecomyrma n.sp [Sphecomyrminae]), the oldest record of the Pompilidae, and significant new records of †Serphitidae and †Stigmaphronidae, among others. Diptera are the most diverse and abundant, with the oldest definitive Blephariceridae and mosquito (Culicidae), as well as new genera in the Acroceridae, Bibionidae, Empidoidea; a new genus near the enigmatic genus Valeseguya, and an unusual new genus in the †Archizelmiridae. †Chimeromyia (Diptera: Eremoneura), known previously in ambers from the Lower Cretaceous, is also represented. The stratigraphic distribution of exclusively Mesozoic arthropods in Burmese amber is reviewed, which indicates a probable Turonian-Cenomanian age of this material (90–100 Ma). Paleofaunal differences between the NHML and AMNH collections are discussed, as is the distinct tropical nature of the original biota. Burmese amber probably harbors the most diverse biota in amber from the Cretaceous, and one of the most diverse Mesozoic microbiotas now known.