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Amber fossils & their significance for phylogenetic reconstruction
Viktor A. Baranov
I.I.Shmalhausen Institute of Zoology
Department of general and applied entomology
PhD student
Amber & Other fossil resins• Amber is a fossilised natural resin with properties similar to
amorphous polymeric glass (Poinar, 1992). Resins are• Amber a complex mixture of terpenoid and/or phenolic
compounds (Anderson and Crelling, 1995). • The are a lot of different groups of fossil resins differs in
chemical, physical & taphonomical properties • Main groups are: ambers, retinites & copals
Amber in Arts and culture
Types of biological inclusion in fossil resins
Main world amber depositions (Tretiary and Cretaceous)
Main world amber Deposits: Baltic amber (Eocene)
Main world amber Deposits: Rovno (Eocene)
Fig 1. Amber bearing part of Mezhygorje formation (Klesov)
Fig. 2 The amber bearing zone of Rovno and Zhitomir region
Copyright: Perkovsky et. al. 2010
Main world amber Deposits: Hispaniola (Oligocene)
Main world amber Deposits: Myanmar (former Burma)
Lebanese amber (Cretaceous 120-135 MYA)
Methods of amber fossils study
Methods of securing amber pieces and reducing diffractive distortion with oil (Grimaldi, 1993)
Amber cutting and polishing, Sidorchuk 2011
X-Ray computing tomography
X-Ray computing tomography
Principal scheme General wiev
X-Ray computing tomography
X-Ray computing tomography
Unique Cambay amber (Eocene)
From: Mazur et al. 2012
SEM (Cambay amber)
Wing of Insecta I.S.
Larvae of Scale insect From: Mazur et al. 2012
Taphonomy of insects in Amber• Taphonomy –its geological science, which
deals with the incorporation of organic remains in to sediments or other contexts, such as resins, and the fate of these materials after burial.• Its usually divided in to three groups of
processes• 1) necrolysis – for deaths and its causes• 2) biostratinomy –for sedimentary history
before the burial• 3) dyagenesis – for physical and chemical
modification inside the sediments or resin
State of amber fossils preservation
Soft tissues from amber
Termite soft tissue (Baltic amber): Kohring, 1998
Soft tissues from amber
DNA from ambers: true or falls?
From: DeSalle et. All. (1993) Science, 257. P.1933-1937.
DNA: from ambers true or falls?
From: DeSalle et. All. (1993) Science, 257. P.1933-1937.
DNA: from ambers true or falls?
Fossil weevil (Coleoptera: Nemonychidae) from Lebanese amber (120-135 MYA) (lateral view) From Cano, Poniar et. al.
Summary of criteria needed for authenticating claim of geologically ancient DNA (gaDNA) and cultures
• † Specimen well dated• † Properly equipped laboratory facility.• † Daily movement up the contamination gradient.• † Frequent decontamination o f surfaces, reagents and tools in clean• laboratory facility.• † Extensive decontamination o f ancient specimen before• processing.• † Cloning of PCR products and sequencing of multiple clones.• † Intralaboratory reproducibility of results (cultures and DNA).• † Independent reproducibility of results by an other laboratory• (cultures and DNA).• † Passes evolutionary rates tests.• † Ideally, age-dependent pattern in sequence diversity and DNA• damage.
Practical application in phylogenetic: Reptiles
Practical application in phylogenetic: Reptiles
From: Borsuk-Bialynicka et.al. 1999
Practical application in phylogenetic: non-biting midges
Chironomidae: Searching for the Smittia stem group
Sakhalin Amber- searching for the right age and faunistical affinities
References and picture sources
Thanks for Your attention!