Amber from western Amazonia reveals Neotropical diversity during the middle Miocene.
Tertiary insects and arachnids have been virtually unknown from the vast western Amazonian basin. We report here the discovery of amber from this region containing a diverse fossil arthropod fauna (13 hexapod families and 3 arachnid species) and abundant microfossil inclusions (pollen, spores, algae, and cyanophyceae). This unique fossil assemblage, recovered from middle Miocene deposits of northeastern Peru, greatly increases the known diversity of Cenozoic tropical-equatorial arthropods and microorganisms and provides insights into the biogeography and evolutionary history of modern Neotropical biota. It also strengthens evidence for the presence of more modern, high-diversity tropical rainforest ecosystems during the middle Miocene in western Amazonia.
Antoine
Pierre-Olivier
PO
Laboratoire des Mécanismes et Transferts en Géologie, Unité Mixte de Recherche-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique 5563, 14 Avenue Edouard Belin, F-31400 Toulouse, France. poa@lmtg.obs-mip.fr
De Franceschi
Dario
D
Flynn
John J
JJ
Nel
André
A
Baby
Patrice
P
Benammi
Mouloud
M
Calderón
Ysabel
Y
Espurt
Nicolas
N
Goswami
Anjali
A
Salas-Gismondi
Rodolfo
R
D018647:Amber; D000818:Animals; D001181:Arthropods / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000145:classification; D044822:Biodiversity; D005075:Biological Evolution; D000458:Cyanobacteria / Q000302:isolation & purification; D056890:Eukaryota / Q000302:isolation & purification; D005580:Fossils; D005658:Fungi / Q000302:isolation & purification; D019684:Magnoliopsida / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000145:classification; D010568:Peru; D014329:Tropical Climate
D018647:Amber