Late Cretaceous and Paleocene amber deposits in western Canada

加拿大西部晚白垩世和古新世琥珀矿床

• 批准号: RGPIN-2015-06681
• 负责人: McKellar, Ryan
• 金额: $ 1.46万
• 依托单位: University of Regina
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2015
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2015-01-01 至 2016-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=591219
• 关键词: Late; Cretaceous; Paleocene; amber; deposits

Modern insect faunas are dominated by four hyper-diverse insect orders that grew in diversity alongside the rise of flowering plants, in the Mesozoic or 'Age of Dinosaurs'. These insect groups (beetles, flies, true bugs, plus the order containing ants, wasps, and bees) are major contributors to terrestrial ecosystems, and have significant ecological and economic importance, yet our understanding of their evolutionary relationships and responses to past events is limited by their fossil record. One of the largest gaps in the fossil record of insects stems from a near-absence of data spanning more than ten million years, preceding the end-Cretaceous extinction event and within the subsequent Paleocene epoch. The goal of the proposed research is to fill the so-called Paleocene Gap with well-preserved insect fossils recovered from the numerous fragile ambers of Saskatchewan. The province contains amber deposits in association with many of its coal seams, and amber has also been collected from many of the dinosaur or vertebrate bonebeds that have been excavated within the past decade. Developing amber as a fossil resource will provide insights into the evolutionary relationships and habitat distributions of modern insects. It will also provide a means to assess the impact of Late Cretaceous ecological changes and the end-Cretaceous extinction event on arguably the most important group of terrestrial animals. The outcomes of this work will be of interest to a broad range of scientists, including palaeontologists, evolutionary biologists and geologists, but will also have implications for researchers working on modern insect groups, their relationships, and the application of certain insects as an alternative to pesticides.

现代昆虫区系由四个高度多样化的昆虫目主导，随着开花植物的兴起，它们的多样性也随之增长，这是在中生代，也就是恐龙时代。这些昆虫群(甲虫、苍蝇、真虫，加上蚂蚁、黄蜂和蜜蜂)是陆地生态系统的主要贡献者，具有重要的生态和经济意义，但我们对它们的进化关系和对过去事件的反应的了解受到它们化石记录的限制。昆虫化石记录中最大的空白之一源于几乎没有跨越1000多万年的数据，在白垩纪末期灭绝事件之前和之后的古新世时期。这项拟议的研究的目标是用从萨斯喀彻温省无数脆弱的琥珀中发现的保存完好的昆虫化石来填补所谓的古新世空白。该省蕴藏着与其许多煤层相关的琥珀矿藏，过去十年中挖掘出的许多恐龙或脊椎动物骨床中也发现了琥珀。开发琥珀作为化石资源将为了解现代昆虫的进化关系和栖息地分布提供洞察力。它还将提供一种手段来评估晚白垩世生态变化和白垩纪末期灭绝事件对可以说是最重要的陆地动物群体的影响。这项工作的结果将引起广泛的科学家的兴趣，包括古生物学家、进化生物学家和地质学家，但也将对从事现代昆虫群体、它们的关系以及某些昆虫作为杀虫剂替代品的应用的研究人员产生影响。