Mexican amber ( Eng. Mexican amber ) is a type of amber found in southern Mexico ( North America ), mainly in the state of Chiapas , bordering Guatemala.
Description
The existence of Mexican amber was known as early as the 19th century (Bose, 1905), but it was rediscovered only in 1952 during the expedition of American scientists from the University of California at Berkeley (Hurd et al., 1962). The botanical origin of Poinar & Brown (2002) is associated with the extinct species Hymenaea mexicana Poinar & Brown, 2002 ( Leguminoseae , Caesalpinioideae ) and is considered by most scientists close to Hymenaea protera (the main producer of Dominican amber) [1] .
It has a color from clear yellow to red, sometimes very dark. Chemical composition: nitrogen 0.053%, carbon 83.65%, hydrogen 11.24%, sulfur 0.37% and oxygen and other elements 4.74%. The safety of the inclusion in it is not as good as in the Dominican amber. The most important collections of Mexican amber are kept in three museums: Slaatliches Museum fur Naturkunde Stuttgart ( Germany , Germany (SMNS), University of California, Museum of Paleontology ( USA , UCB) and in the Museum of Paleontology in Tuxtla Gutierrez Chiapas ( Mexico , MPCh). In total, they contain about 3000 fossil organisms [1] .
Age
By its age, Mexican amber is comparable to Dominican amber (about 20 million years) [1] . As a result of a comparative analysis of the age of different types of amber, the following data were obtained (in million years) [2] :
- Dominican ( Dominic. Rep. ) - 15-40
- Mexican Amber ( Chiapas ) - 22–26
- Baltic amber - about 40
- Hat Creek ( British Columbia , Canada ) - 50—55
- Canadian ( Alberta , Manitoba ) - 70-80
- New Jersey ( USA ) - 65–95
- Burmese ( Myanmar ) - 97–105
- Taimyr ( Siberia , Russia ) - 78–115
- Spanish ( Alava , San Just) - 100–115
- French ( Maritime Charente provinces) - 100-105
- Lebanese ( Lebanon ) - 130–135
Mexican amber fauna
See also Mexican amber inclusions
The first organisms from Mexican amber were described in 1959. They were the fossil ruthless bee from the tribe Meliponini (Wille, 1959) [3] and the predatory bug of the family Dipsocoridae (Wygodzinsky, 1959) [4] . By 1962, representatives of 92 families of 18 arthropods (Hurd et al. 1962) were described: Araneae , Amblypygi , Coleoptera , Hemiptera , Acari , Collembola , Diptera , Microcoryphia (= Archaeognatha ). By 2004, that number had increased to 176 arthropod families (Engel, 2004). Diptera and hymenoptera predominate in the quantitative ratio of the representatives of the orders account for more than half of all finds. Findings of lizards and frogs are known from vertebrates [1] [5] .
In 2016, a list of 557 arthropods and 13 plant inclusions from 133 pieces of Mexican amber, stored in museums in London and Edinburgh , which increased the diversity of arthropods by 4 orders ( Geophilomorpha , Scutigeromorpha , Odonata , Dermaptera ) and 11 families [11] was published [6] .
- Anbarrhacus adamantis (centipede) [7]
- Hyptia deansi ( Hymenoptera ) [8]
- Maatidesmus paachtun (centipede)
- Piesocorynus elongatus (beetle) [9]
Notes
- ↑ 1 2 3 4 Monica M. Solorzano Kraemer. (2010). Mexican Amber. pp.42-56, in the book: Penney, David (Ed.): Biodiversity of Amber from the Major World Deposits. Siri Scientific Press, 2010: 304 pp. ISBN 978-0-9558636-4-6
- ↑ George Poinar, Jr. Amber // Encyclopedia of Insects / Vincent H. Resh & Ring T. Cardé. - 2nd. - Academic Press , 2009. - P. 8–11. - ISBN 9780123741448 .
- ↑ Wille, A. 1959. A new fossil stingless bee (Meliponini) from the amber of Chiapas, Mexico. J. Paleontol., 33: 849-852.
- ↑ Wygodzinsky, P. 1959. A new hemipteran (Dipsocoridae) from the Mexican amber of Chiapas, Mexico. Paleontol., 33: 853-854.
- ↑ Solorzano Kraemer, MM 2007. Systematic, palaeoecologv. and palaeobiogeography of the insect fauna from the Mexican amber. Palaeontogr. Abl. A, 282 1-133.
- ↑ Andrew J. Ross, Claire JT Mellish, Bill Crighton, Peter V. York. (2016). Scottland, Edinburgh, UK . Boletín de la Sociedad Geológica Mexicana. Volumen 68, núm. 1, 2016, p. 45-55
- ↑ Riquelme F.; Hernández-Patricio, M; Martínez-Dávalos, A; Rodríguez-Villafuerte, M.,; Montejo-Cruz, M; Alvarado-Ortega, J .; Ruvalcaba-Sil, JL; Zúñiga-Mijangos, L. et al. Two Flat-Backed Polydesmidan Millipedes from the Miocene Chiapas-Amber Lagerstätte, Mexico (Eng.) // PLoS ONE : journal. - 2014. - Vol. 9 , no. 8 e05877 . - DOI : 10.1371 / journal.pone.0105877 . - PMID 25162220 .
- ↑ Jennings John T., Lars Krogmann & Priya. Hyptia deansi sp. nov., the first record of Evaniidae (Hymenoptera) from Mexican amber (Eng.) // Zootaxa : Journal. - Auckland, New Zealand: Magnolia Press, 2012. - Vol. 3349. - p. 63–68. - ISSN 1175-5326 .
- ↑ George Poinar Jr. and Andrei A. Legalov. New Anthribidae (Coleoptera: Curculionoidea) in Dominican and Mexican ambers (English) // Palaeontologia Electronica : Magazine. - Coquina Press, 2016. - Vol. 19.2.24A. - P. 1-38.
Literature
- Dunlop, JA, Harms, D., Penney, D., 2008, A fossil tarantula (Araneae: Theraphosidae) from Miocene Chiapas amber, Mexico: Revista Ibérica de Aracnología, 15, 9–17.
- Petrunkevitch, A. 1963. Chiapas amber spiders. Uni. Calif. Pubs. Entomol, 31: 1-40.
- Petrunkevitch, A. 1971. Chiapas amber spiders II. Uni. Calif. Pubs. Entomol. 63: 1-44.
- Petrunkevitch, A. el at. 1963. Studies of fossiliferous amber arthropods of Chiapas, Mexico. Uni. Calif. Pubs. Entomol. 31: 1-60.
- Petrunkevitch, A. el al. 1971. Studies of fossiliferous amber arthropods of Chiapas, Mexico part II. Uni. Calif. Pubs. Entomol. 63: 1-111.
- Poinar. GO Jr. 2001. Fossil puffballs (Gasteromycetes: Lycoperdales) in Mexican amber. Hist. Biol. 15: 119-122.
- Poinar. GO Jr. 2002. Fossil palm flowers in Dominican and Mexican amber. Hot. J. Linn. Soc., 138: 1-57.
- Ross, AJ, 2010, Amber, The Natural Time Capsule, 2nd Edition: London, UK, Natural History Museum. 112 p.
- Monica M. Solorzano Kraemer. (2010). Mexican Amber. pp.42-56, in the book: Penney, David (Ed.): Biodiversity of Amber from the Major World Deposits. Manchester, Siri Scientific Press, 2010: 304 pp. ISBN 978-0-9558636-4-6
Links
- Biodiversity of fossils in amber . depositsmag.com