A Late Cretaceous amber biota from central Myanmar

Zheng, Daran; Chang, Shaohua; Perrichot, Vincent; Dutta, Suryendu; Rudra, Arka; Mu, Lin; Kelly, Richard S.; Li, Sha; Zhang, Qi; Zhang, Qingqing; Wong, Jean; Wang, Jun; Wang, He; Fang, Yan; Zhang, Haichun; Wang, Bo

doi:10.1038/s41467-018-05650-2

Cited by 90 publications

(34 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…Phylogenetic analyses have recovered haidomyrmecines as a stem-group lineage that diverged from modern ants prior to the most common recent ancestor of all living ants (Barden and Grimaldi, 2016;Barden et al, submitted). This phylogenetic placement, molecular divergence estimates (Moreau and Bell 2013) and the presence of crown ants in Cretaceous amber (Grimaldi and Agosti, 2000;McKellar et al, 2013b;Zheng et al, 2018;Perrichot, 2019) indicate that hell ants and early members of extant lineages overlapped for tens of millions of years. The extinction of haidomyrmecines following their diversification remains an outstanding question in ant evolution, as is the function and evolutionary history responsible for this striking expansion into unparalleled phenotypic space.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 90%

New remarkable hell ants (Formicidae: Haidomyrmecinae stat. nov.) from mid-Cretaceous amber of northern Myanmar

Perrichot

Wang

Barden

2020

Cretaceous Research

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466

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This is a PDF file of an article that has undergone enhancements after acceptance, such as the addition of a cover page and metadata, and formatting for readability, but it is not yet the definitive version of record. This version will undergo additional copyediting, typesetting and review before it is published in its final form, but we are providing this version to give early visibility of the article. Please note that, during the production process, errors may be discovered which could affect the content, and all legal disclaimers that apply to the journal pertain.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 90%

New remarkable hell ants (Formicidae: Haidomyrmecinae stat. nov.) from mid-Cretaceous amber of northern Myanmar

Perrichot

Wang

Barden

2020

Cretaceous Research

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466

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“…The material studied here came from amber deposits in the Hukawng Valley (26°21′33.41″N, 96°43′11.88″E), Kachin State of northern Myanmar (Burma). There are several amber‐producing localities in Myanmar, including a newly found amber mine in Tilin, central Myanmar (Zheng et al ., ). However, the Hukawng Valley has been the only commercial source of amber production in Myanmar during the past decade, and these typical mines have been mapped (Grimaldi et al ., ; Cruickshank & Ko, ; Shi et al ., ).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 97%

First and oldest Leptochirini rove beetles illuminate diverse cephalic structures in the Cretaceous (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Osoriinae)

Yamamoto

Takahashi²

2019

Systematic Entomology

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Osoriinae is a highly diverse, globally distributed subfamily of rove beetles (Staphylinidae), but only a single Mesozoic species, Mesallotrochus longiantennatus Cai & Huang, in mid-Cretaceous Burmese amber is known (age c. 99 Ma). Leptochirini, which is primarily found in decaying wood in the tropics, is one of the four tribes of osoriine rove beetles. The diversity of cephalic tooth shapes in adults has attracted special research attention with regard to the evolution and classification of this group. Here, we report two well-preserved fossils of Leptochirini for the first time from Burmese amber. Together with M. longiantennatus, they represent the oldest osoriines, highlighting the palaeodiversity of the subfamily in Burmese amber. Based on our observations and phylogenetic analyses, a remarkable new genus and species, †Cretochirus newtoni Yamamoto gen. et sp.n., is described. Additionally, a new species, †Priochirus thayerae Yamamoto sp.n., is also described and placed in the extant genus Priochirus Sharp.†Cretochirus gen.n. has a typical body plan of Leptochirini, but it retains several primitive features that have rarely, or never, been known from modern leptochirine taxa, including simple cephalic structures with a largely depressed dorsum, undeveloped cephalic teeth, and the absence of a longitudinal median sulcus of the head, together with the only slightly crenulate external margins of the protibiae. These findings demonstrate the antiquity of Leptochirini rove beetles and even suggest a much older origin of the subfamily. Morphologically diverse leptochirines from Burmese amber also illuminate the remarkable cephalic diversity of the tribe during the Mesozoic. They were already diversified during the mid-Cretaceous in the tropical forests of Myanmar, and possibly living underneath the bark of rotten wood and logs.This published work has been registered in ZooBank, http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid: zoobank.org:pub

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“…However, the Early Cretaceous amber in Myanmar, from which many exceptional fossils have been described (e.g., Grimaldi et al, 2002;Ross et al, 2010;Zheng et al, 2018), were apparently also produced by Araucariaceae and possibly some close relatives of Agathis (Poinar et al, 2007). Interestingly, so far no Agathis derived ambers has been reported from the IAA, even though they are commonly found in the region today (de Laubenfels, 1988;Farjon and Filer, 2013).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Bruneian record of “Borneo Amber”: A regional review of fossil tree resins in the Indo-Australian Archipelago

Kocsis

Usman

Jourdan

et al. 2020

Earth-Science Reviews

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In this study we intend to provide an overview on fossilized tree resins (amber) commonly found in Southeast Asia, more particularly in the Indo-Australian Archipelago (IAA). These remains are often referred in literature as "Indonesian amber", "Borneo amber" or simply as "dammar". They are very common in the region and the Brunei Sultanate is no exception as most of its Neogene sedimentary successions contain amber-rich layers. Although amber is a common fossil in the country and in northern Borneo, to our knowledge it has not been studied in great detail so far. Here we present an account on the "Borneo Ambers" from Brunei, regarding their stratigraphic origin, basic physical properties, their interaction with the biosphere and their botanical origin using Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). Additionally, a number of ambers and modern tree resins were analysed for their carbon isotope composition and a few were tested with gas chromatography. We discuss the results in a regional and global context, in comparison with available data from the IAA. The ambers come from four different lithostratigraphic units with an age range of 12 to 3 million years (middle Miocene to Pliocene). Recently reworked ambers from the coast, ambers from younger alluvial deposits, and several modern tree resins from Dipterocarpaceae and Araucariaceae (Agathis borneensis) were also included in the study. The more than 60 FTIR analyses of modern and fossil specimens suggest that all the Brunei ambers were produced by trees of Dipterocarpaceae. There is no indication of Agathis in the fossil record, in agreement with their lower abundance in the forests of Borneo. Modern and fossil dipterocarp resins were found to be different based on the following criteria: (1) Different reactions to solubility, hot needle and UV tests with faster reaction time and less fluorescence for the modern ones; (2) Clear distinction based on certain FTIR absorbance band ratios, mostly by those that represent carboxylic acids and esters (e.g., ~1700 and 1243 cm-1); (3) Modern resin yielded on an average 3 ‰ lower δ 13 C values, (4) Gas chromatography data reflect maturation differences among the samples. Although there is some overlap in the chemical results between the two groups, generally all these differences reflect different maturation stages of the resinous material and point towards loss of low δ 13 C components from the organic structure of the resin. The minor timewise decreasing trend in average δ 13 C from the late middle Miocene to late Miocene can be explained by (1) gradual changes in local environmental conditions, and/or (2) increased amount of less mature specimens among the younger samples. In contrast, the highest obtained δ 13 C values were found in the youngest Pliocene ambers. Instead of maturation bias this can be linked to environmental factors such as cooler-drier climate with increased seasonality, probably reflecting the onset of the northern hemisphere glaciation.

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A Late Cretaceous amber biota from central Myanmar

Cited by 90 publications

References 26 publications

New remarkable hell ants (Formicidae: Haidomyrmecinae stat. nov.) from mid-Cretaceous amber of northern Myanmar

New remarkable hell ants (Formicidae: Haidomyrmecinae stat. nov.) from mid-Cretaceous amber of northern Myanmar

First and oldest Leptochirini rove beetles illuminate diverse cephalic structures in the Cretaceous (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Osoriinae)

The Bruneian record of “Borneo Amber”: A regional review of fossil tree resins in the Indo-Australian Archipelago

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