The Burmese amber thread

Adam Khor

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5821991/Never-known-frog-species-time-dinosaurs-discovered-99mn-year-old-amber.html



Now we only need some dinosaur DNA to fill the gaps in the sequence...

Adam Khor

Seeing as the news of creatures found preserved in 99 million year old Burmese amber are becoming more and more frequent, I thought instead of posting them separately it would be cool to create a thread exclusively for these discoveries.

Because all of these little creatures lived at the same time in the same place, it should give us a very interesting glimpse of what was scurrying around in this particular Cretaceous forest.

Chances are high that eventually, a small dinosaur or pterosaur will be found at this site, so keep an eye on this one!

Aethiocarenus, possible nymph of a mantis-like insect:



Apternoperissus, a flightless wasp adapted for jumping and armed with a venomous stinger:



Astreptolabis, an earwig:



Burmaleon, a neuropteran (related to lacewings, antlions)



Burmapogon, an assassin fly:



Burmesarchea, an assassin spider (fed on other spiders):



Ceratomyrmex, a probably solitary, predatory ant:

Adam Khor

Camelomecia, a primitive ant:



Caputoraptor, a member of a now extinct order of insects, Alienoptera:





Cascoplecia, a fly:



Chimerarachne, a tailed spider:



Ektatotricha, an ant-like beetle:



Electrorana, a frog:





Gerontoformica, a primitive ant:

Adam Khor

Haidomyrmex, a predatory ant with crazy mandibles:



Melittosphex, one of the oldest known bees:



Enanthiornithine chick:

Adam Khor

Xiaophis, a snake:



Mushrooms:



Mushroom-eating beetles:



Feathered tail of a small coelurosaurian dinosaur:





X-Ray of the tail:



Tick found along with dinosaur feather:



Cretotrichopsenius, a termitophilous insect (lived in termite nests):



Archaeomalthodes, a soldier beetle:



Cretoparacucujus, a pollinating beetle (would've polinated cycads):

Adam Khor

Diverse lizards:



Two different Gerontoformica species apparently locked in battle:



Krishnatermes, a termite:



Reconstructions of Gigantotermes rex soldier (left) and Krishnatermes alate, worker and soldier:



Camelomecia ant queen:



Diminutive bird wing:

Adam Khor

Chrysopoid larvae with camouflage:





Linguamyrmex, the so called "vampire ant", and beetle larva:



Detail of Linguamyrmex' head:



Flowers:



Kekveus jason, a diminutive featherwing beetle, as small as the period at the end of this sentence.



Electroblemma, a spider:



Pseudoperla (stick insect nymphs):





Diverse antlion larvae:



Allostrophus, a beetle:

Adam Khor

Burmacader, a true bug (Hemipteran):



Nodosigalea, a cockroach:



Another specimen (a female) of the bizarre leaping, flightless wasp Aptenoperissus:





Lapisperla, a stonefly:



Primitive beetle:



Dacochile, a fly:



Molliberus, a soldier beetle:



Burmusculus, a pompiloid wasp:



Burmantis, a praying mantis:



Chilamnestocoris, a burrower bug (Hemipteran):

Adam Khor

Hirtidiplatys, an earwig:



Haploberotha, a neuropteran (lacewings):



Euthema, a land snail:



Multispinus multispinosus, a beetle:



Tumefactipes, a stick insect:



Glaresis murmitica, a beetle:



Zorotypus, an "angel insect":



Phyllochrysa, a lacewing (larval form):



Tick wrapped up in spider silk:



Bittacus, a "hangingfly"

Adam Khor

Another bird (most likely an enantiornithine, although without the full skull is hard to be sure):





Yijenplatycnemis huangi, a damselfly, has been suggested to have performed a mating dance aided by those extravagant ornaments:



life reconstruction:



Cascomastigus, a predatory beetle apparently specialized for catching springtails with its antennae:



Cockroach:



Pedanoptera arachnophila, a predatory neuropteran. Apparently the larva was adapted as a spider predator (with long legs to walk on the web without getting suck)





Bird wing:

Adam Khor

Cushingia, a camel spider (solpugid)



Manipulator modificaputis, a predatory cockroach:



Bloodsucking fly (probably fed on dinosaur blood!):



Bird feathers:



A leaf that had been chewed on by insects:



Neuropteran larva:

Wibbs

Incredible. Love the dinosaur feathers.

Adam Khor

Incredible indeed! I am fascinated by this fossil site, if you couldn´t tell. :B Have high hopes for it, too.

Here's some more:

Burcobuchonomyia, a midge:



Tarachopteran:



Archiculicoides, another, biting midge:



Palerasnitsynus, a caddisfly:



Myanmariscus, a woodloose:



Tropidogyne (the flower) and a small flea-like insect:



Spider:



Fly:



Scorpion:

Adam Khor

Newly discovered auger beetle:

Adam Khor

On kalligrammatids from Burmese amber (these were lacewing relatives that filled a butterfly-like niche during the Mesozoic)

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-018-06120-5

Kamili

These are absolutely fascinating! thanks so much for sharing

Adam Khor

Here's some cicadas!

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0195667118302325

Rubecula

wow I am impressed

Adam Khor

Extremely rare find; a snail with preserved soft tissue!

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/2018/10/news-snail-found-amber-dinosaurs-cretaceous-paleontology/

Adam Khor

Apparently the mysterious "Alienopterids" found in Burmese amber are cockroaches that mimicked ants and wasps for protection:



Batesian insect-insect mimicry-related explosive radiation of ancient alienopterid cockroaches

Peter Vršanský & Günter Bechly & Qingqing Zhang & Edmund A. Jarzembowski & Tomáš Mlynský & Lucia Šmídová & Peter Barna & Matúš Kúdela & Danil Aristov & Sonia Bigalk & Lars Krogmann & Liqin Li &
Qi Zhang & Haichun Zhang & Sieghard Ellenberger & Patrick Müller & Carsten Gröhn & Fangyuan Xia & Kyoichiro Ueda & Peter Vďačný & Daniel Valaška & Lucia Vršanská & Bo Wang

Batesian #mimicry is a relationship in which a harmful organism (the model) is mimicked by a harmless organism (the mimic), which gains protection because predators mistake it for the model. It is the most widely studied of mimicry complexes and has undoubtedly played an important role in the speciation of various animals especially insects. However, little is known about the early evolution of this important behavior and its evolutionary significance owing to a dearth of paleontological records. Here we report several specialized representatives of the family #Alienopteridae from the Early Cretaceous of Brazil, mid-Cretaceous #Burmite, and the Eocene of the USA. They exhibit unique morphological adaptations for wasp and ant mimicry and represent one of the oldest evidence of Batesian mimicry in the insect fossil record. Our findings reveal at least 65-million-year coevolution between extinct alienopterids and aculeates. Phylogenetic Bayesian network analysis houses Alienopteridae within #Umenocoleidae explosively radiating ~127 Ma. Alienopteridae is the only Mesozoic-type #cockroach family which passed K/Pg.

Evolutionary implications

Batesian mimicry is widespread in modern insects (Quicke
2017; but not in cockroaches – Vidlička 2001). Aculeates,
including bees and ants, are the most frequently mimicked
models for Batesian mimicry (Ruxton et al. 2004). A wasp
mimic Cratomyia mimetica (Zhangsolvidae) is already known (Grimaldi 2016). A case of mimicry in #Burmese #amber is cerambyid Ornatomalthinus interpreted as a putative Batesian mimic of a venomous lycid beetle model proposed by Poinar and Fanti (2016). The new alienopterid adults mimic ancient aculeate wasps, bees and ants respectively. Like other stem-group cockroaches, these new alienopterids had small mandibles, lacked raptorial forelegs and were phytophagous or omnivorous. They would have gained protection by mimicking aculeates. The fossil record of Batesian mimicry in insects is very sparse, and the additional record was from the Paleocene, involving mimicry by a heteropteran based on an aculeate model (Wappler et al. 2013). Our discovery provides the earliest record of Batesian mimicry in insects, extending its occurrence back to the Early Cretaceous.

Adam Khor

Barlochersaurus, a diminutive, extremely well preserved, short-limbed lizard from Burmese amber:

https://mczbase.mcz.harvard.edu/specimen_images/publications/Breviora_563.pdf

Adam Khor

Feathers probably used as a decoy found preserved in Cretaceous amber:

https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2018/12/ancient-bird-fossils-have-weirdest-feathers-i-have-ever-seen?utm_source=64&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=News-from-Science-(@NewsfromScience)&utm_term=SciMag&utm_content=AAAS

Rubecula

fascinating stuff there Adam

Adam Khor

This one is from Java, not Burma, but still amazing because of the rarity of its preservation within opal, rather than amber. Apparently, it hasn´t been formally studied yet, but it may be that the amber became opal over time.

Kamili

Opal is my favourite stone, that's absolutely awesome, I didn't think that could happen

monty_python

It's Myanmar. Not Burma

Wibbs

Oh FFS.

Adam Khor

Wibbs wrote: »

Oh FFS.

Well at least we're getting comments. :rolleyes:

monty_python

Wibbs wrote: »

Oh FFS.

Why ffs?? The country you are referring to is called Myanmar. Your using the wrong name. You don't like to have your mistakes pointed out do you??

Kamili

monty_python wrote: »

Why ffs?? The country you are referring to is called Myanmar. Your using the wrong name. You don't like to have your mistakes pointed out do you??

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myanmar

Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar and also known as Burma

monty_python

Kamili wrote: »

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myanmar

I've been there 3 times. It's called Myanmar. The people never refer to the county as Burma. Neighboring countries called it Myanmar, never burma

Zadkiel

monty_python wrote: »

Why ffs?? The country you are referring to is called Myanmar. Your using the wrong name. You don't like to have your mistakes pointed out do you??

The irony

Wibbs

monty_python wrote: »

I've been there 3 times. It's called Myanmar. The people never refer to the county as Burma. Neighboring countries called it Myanmar, never burma

I've been to Germany a few times and I wouldn't call it Deutschland here.

monty_python wrote: »

You don't like to have your mistakes pointed out do you??

They happen so rarely I consider it an amusing novelty when they do.

Adam Khor

monty_python wrote: »

Why ffs?? The country you are referring to is called Myanmar. Your using the wrong name. You don't like to have your mistakes pointed out do you??

I am the one who used Burma. If it were a mistake, it would be mine, not Wibbs'.

Adam Khor

New family of cicadomorph hemipterans from Cretaceous Burma. :pac:

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0195667118304476?via%3Dihub

Adam Khor

This Burmese amber millipede proves the Siphonophorida (a millipede group with modified mouthparts) have changed little in 100 million years, and that they appeared much earlier than thought:

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0195667118304087?via%3Dihub

Rubecula

Adam Khor wrote: »

New family of cicadomorph hemipterans from Cretaceous Burma. :pac:

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0195667118304476?via%3Dihub

A looks like a Dr Who warrior

Adam Khor

So it's not a pterosaur, it's not a non-avian dinosaur, but it's still impressive!

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-018-37427-4?fbclid=IwAR2wGlFF4rAe2OlWpz4WSIoGIEd6EDguX-iRI1ppQ-SqFvNlILeTh1dz0Sc

banie01

My 1st time encountering the wonders of Burmese amber!
I am astounded by the variety of creatures found to date!
Thanks for linking these pics.

Adam Khor

Whirligig beetle larva:



Horaielline fly:



Froghopper:



Cretolia cornutus beetle:



Caddisfly:

Adam Khor

Dualula, a scorpionfly:



Reconstruction of the head (male):

Adam Khor

Cretaceous mantis eggcase?

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0195667118305056?via%3Dihub

Rubecula

Adam any idea what the largest thing caught in amber is?

Adam Khor

As far as I know, the largest animal found entirely preserved is this anole lizard found in Dominican amber:





It is about 15-20 million years old and measures almost 9 cm. So, only large when compared to the very tiny lizards and frogs usually found preserved (even the baby enantiornithe found a while ago was only about 6.3 cm).

Interestingly, there's remnants of a dewlap so it is believed to have been a male, although probably not fully grown. It was also tiny compared to today's biggest anole lizard, the knight anole which grows up to 55 cm long:

Rubecula

yes I know about the most famous fossil in amber Adam, I was just a little bit curious on if there was anything bigger.

Adam Khor

Well sorry, I didn´t even know it was that famous...

But other than pieces of larger animals I don´t know of any bigger ones. I'm hoping for something spectacular from the Burmese site. Preferably an archosaur...

Rubecula

Adam Khor wrote: »

Well sorry, I didn´t even know it was that famous...

But other than pieces of larger animals I don´t know of any bigger ones. I'm hoping for something spectacular from the Burmese site. Preferably an archosaur...

:pac:

sorry my friend I didn't mean to sound nasty there

I am waiting to find any Quetzalcoatlus that was trapped in the resin myself rofl

Adam Khor

Myrmecophilous beetle Promyrmister and reconstruction:





Burmaeshnid dragonfly:

Adam Khor

Platygastroid hymenopteran:



Burmanopetalum, a millipede:





Pseudoneliana, a lacewing:

Adam Khor

Corethrella, a frog-biting midge. These midges feed on the blood of anurans, which they seemingly find by hearing, when the frogs sing. Frogs have been found in Burmese amber as well so apparently this relationship has not changed in at least 99 million years.

Adam Khor

Incredible, unexpected find! A small ammonite- an exclusively marine creature- found in Burmese amber (along with a mix of other land and sea creatures).

https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2019/05/extinct-squid-relative-entombed-amber-100-million-years

To explain this unique amber piece, researchers have conjured up three scenarios. Perhaps resin dripped down from a forest next to a beach, catching first land critters and then seashells. Or a tsunami flooded low-lying trees, washing sea creatures into resin pools. Or, possibly, storm winds simply blew seashells into the forest. Regardless, scientists say, it’s a welcome surprise