
12-15 mil. year old insect fossils discovered inside Peruvian amber rocks
Peru |
29 August, 2006
They were trapped for over 12 million years: Paleontologists discovered phorid flies, booklice and
mites enclosed in amber rocks lying on the shores of the Amazon River. The pre-historic animals
were preserved in very good condition.
Amber can be found in Europe - the Baltic Sea coastline in Germany and Scandinavia and the Alps
for example-, in the near orient, and in quite a few jewelry boxes. In the southern hemisphere how-
ever this fossil resin is pretty rare. Now paleontologists stumbled over such a treasure in Peru.
A team led by Pierre-Olivier Antoine of the French "Centre national de la recherche scientifique" '
found the amber rocks with insect and spiders inside near the Peruvian Amazon city Iquitos. The
tiny animals lived 12-15 million years ago he scientists told the US journal "Proceedings of the
National Academy of Sciences".
After examining the rocks with the help of optical microscopes, members of 13 different hexapod species were found (arachnid class), next to pollen, tiny fungi and algae.
All fossils stem from the Miocene epoch that extends from about 23 to 5.3 million years before the present. "In South America there are only three locations where amber from the Miocene was found", Antoine and his colleagues from Patagonia, Brazil and French-Guiana explained.
Their discovery is not only important because of its rarity but also because its variety of fossils and organisms. In addition, the findings are proof that the tropical rain forest was a timely eco-system
with high biodiversity during the Miocene era.
http://www.livinginperu.com/news/2374