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Issue: Vol. 8 No. 3: June 2025
Type: Article
Published: 2025-06-30
DOI: 10.11646/palaeoentomology.8.3.10
Page range: 338–350
Abstract views: 366
PDF downloaded: 14

Newly discovered ammonites in mid-Cretaceous Burmese amber

Frontiers Science Center for Deep-time Digital Earth, China University of Geosciences (Beijing), Beijing 100083, China; School of Earth Sciences and Resources, China University of Geosciences, Beijing 100083, China
School of Earth Sciences and Resources, China University of Geosciences, Beijing 100083, China
Blue Miracle Museum Science Research Studio, Guangzhou 510000, China
Faculty of Geology and Geography, Sofia University, 15, Tzar Osvoboditel, Blvd. 1504 Sofia, Bulgaria
Kunming General Survey of Natural Resources Center, China Geological Survey, Kunming 650111, China
Royal Saskatchewan Museum, Regina, Canada; Biology Department, University of Regina, Canada
fossil resin Myanmar Ammonoidea Arthropoda Albian-Cenomanian

Abstract

Amber is famous for preserving detailed records of terrestrial and soft-bodied organisms that have a low preservation potential elsewhere in the fossil record. Because preservation in amber is biased toward animals such as insects that live in close association with resin-producing trees, inclusions of marine fossils in Mesozoic amber are extremely rare. Here, we report unusual fossil assemblages consisting of ammonites preserved alongside terrestrial arthropods in Burmese amber. Under X-ray microcomputed tomography (CT), we made detailed observations of the preserved septa and sutures in the ammonite samples. On the basis of the suture structure, moderately involute shell, and smooth shell surface without ornamentation, we classified one of the new ammonites within the superfamily Desmoceratoidea. The partial filling of shell chambers with calcite suggests that the ammonites were buried for a short time in the sediment, which started the fossilization process prior to encapsulation in resin. Sand infills within the shell chambers indicate significant weathering and transport within a high-energy environment prior to encapsulation. The arthropod inclusions are represented by terrestrial and possibly aquatic associated forms belonging to Acari (mites); Hemiptera: Cimicomorpha: Vetanthocoridae; and Diptera: Muscomorpha. These insects are surrounded by powdered wood, insect frass, and plant fragments. The combined fossil assemblage seems to suggest that at least some amber-producing trees grew close to the coast, capturing a mixture of forest floor communities and partially fossilized shells redeposited from high-energy coastal waters.

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