Prehistoric Creatures Preserved in 52 million year old Amber

The remains of hundreds of ancient arthropods have been discovered in a hoard of Palaeogene amber preserved in sediments discovered in a coalmine located in western India.  Researchers have been able to identify over 700 insects, mites and spiders, many of which are remarkably well preserved.  The fossils will help scientists to determine the extent to which Indian fauna and flora was influenced by the sub-continent’s gradual drift away from Africa towards Asia throughout the Mesozoic under the influence of plate tectonics.

Palaeogene Amber

Amber is a sticky, scented resin produced by certain types of trees since Jurassic times as protection against disease and to help seal wounds in the bark.  Occasionally, insects and other small creatures can become trapped in the resin and fossilised when it hardens into amber.

Everything Dinosaur has written extensively on fossil discoveries associated with organic remains preserved in amber, last year for example, we reported on the discovery of elements of a Jurassic spider’s web preserved in fossil amber.

To read more about this discovery: World’s Oldest Cobweb Preserved in Amber.

The international team of researchers excavated something approaching 150 kilogrammes of the light, brown, coloured amber pieces from the coalmine located in Gujarat Province (India).  This is one of the largest finds of amber ever recorded from Asia.  The animals, pollen grains and other items trapped inside the amber are helping to provide scientists with an insight into the Indian eco-system at around the time that the Indian subcontinent collided with Asia to form the Himalayas.

A spokesperson for the research team, palaeontologist Jes Rust, based at Bonn University (Germany) stated that the remarkably well preserved fossils consisted of ancient bees, termites, gnats, flies and ants – in total more than 700 arthropods.

Dr Rust commented:

“They [the organisms] are so well preserved.  It is like having the complete dinosaur, not just the bones.  You can see all the surface details on their bodies and wings.  It’s fantastic.”

The amber itself is helping scientists to understand more about the flora in India during this part of the Palaeogene.  Tests on the fossilised resin indicate that it comes from a type of hardwood tree, that today make up nearly 80% of lowland forest canopies in south-east Asia.  The amber and the fossilised wood found in the same rock strata suggests that India must have been extensively forested at the time the amber was formed.

Reporting in the American based, scientific journal “Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences”, the researchers describe the creatures preserved and theorise on the changes undertaken in Indian flora and fauna as the sub-continent drifted towards Asia under the influence of plate tectonics.

As the Indian plate moved towards the Asian plate,  a chain of islands may have formed.  These would have permitted the interchange and mixing of different floras and faunas as the islands acted as stepping stones for organisms between the two landmasses.

Dr Rust stated:

“We think that, before the final collision between India and Asia, some sort of island arc was established.  Our findings suggest that the mixing of fauna was already so strong, that it was already happening for several million years.”

Once species from India had crossed into Asia, they could have spread further, eventually reaching Australia.  The team has so far recorded 100 different arthropod species.  They are hopeful that the amber will reveal more, some of which are likely to be close relatives of arthropods that live in Africa and Madagascar as the Indian sub-continent was once attached to these areas of land, for much of the Palaeozoic and into the Mesozoic forming the super-continent Gondwanaland.

For models and replicas of Palaeozoic creatures such as trilobites and ammonites: CollectA Prehistoric Animal Models.

Fossils of Ancient Member of the Daisy Family Discovered in Argentina

The Dutch born, post impressionist, artist Vincent Van Gogh famously painted a number of still life pictures of sunflowers.  One such painting was sold at auction in the late 1980s for a little under $40 million USD.  However, researchers at the Argentinian Museum of National Sciences have discovered their own “portrait of sunflowers” with the finding of two exquisitely preserved fossilised flowering heads in southern Patagonia (Argentina).  Sunflowers are members of the Asteraceae (otherwise known as Compositae – we think) Family.  This family of flowering plants (Angiosperms), is one of the most diverse and widespread of all the plant families.  This family includes plants such as the daisy, dandelion and commercially important plants such as the tea bush and sunflowers.

Plant material is rarely preserved as a whole fossil, for instance, a fossil of the entire plant with roots, leaves and flowers all together.  Fossils normally occur as isolated individual parts such as cones, pollen grains, pieces of trunk and such like.  Delicate flowering heads (capitula) are extremely rare in the fossil record.  However, the discovery of a fossil that shows two complete flower heads, winged seeds and the flower stem is helping scientists to understand the evolution of this very important group of plants.

The fossil has been dated to approximately 47.5 million years ago (Eocene Epoch) and it was found in strata along the Pichi Leufu river.  During the Eocene, this part of the world had a sub-tropical climate with average temperatures of around 19 degrees Celsius.  The dense flower-head would have been attractive to pollinating insects, suggesting that flowers such as these primitive ancestors of the sunflower already had a long established relationship with insect pollinators.

Sunflowers

Dr Viviana Barreda, one of the authors of the paper, the details of which have been published in the journal “Science”, suggests that the finding of this fossil supports the hypothesis that the ancestors of the Asteraceae Family evolved in the southern region of Gondwanaland and spread to most of this super-continent before this landmass began to break up.  This would explain the wide geographical dispersal of related genera.

Scientists believe that the common ancestor to a number of related plant families first evolved in sub-tropical Antarctica, (which was part of Gondwanaland), before migrating to Australia and South America as Antarctica cooled and became an unfavourable climate for most plant species.

Commenting on the discovery, University of Vienna (Austria) botanist, Dr Tod Stuessy stated that this fossil and the related pollen grains were clear evidence of the existence of the sunflower sub-family at the early stages of Asteraceae diversification.  Dr Stuessy wrote an accompanying article to the Argentinian scientific paper.  He went on to add that little is known about the origins of sunflowers and there is much still to learn about how these plants evolved and spread all over the world or indeed how members of the Asteraceae became so “incredibly diverse.”

The scientific paper on which the journal article is based is the culmination of two years of research.

Visit Everything Dinosaur’s award-winning website for models of prehistoric plants: Everything Dinosaur.

Feathered Dinosaurs Inspire Artist (Renaissance Dinosaur)

Melbourne based artist Kate Rohde, a graduate of the Victorian College of the Arts, has been inspired by feathered dinosaurs to create some unique pieces of artwork in support of an Australian fashion event.

Working in collaboration with Sydney based fashion label Romance was born, Kate has helped create an elaborate installation of lurid, feathered, paper mache dinosaurs, prehistoric animals and other creatures inspired by the clothing company’s designs.

Feathered Dinosaurs

Part of the fashion collection is based around a Jurassic colour scheme and Kate’s vibrant sculptures made from synthetic fur, fabric and other modern materials provide an excellent accompaniment to the art/fashion installation.

The exhibition brings together sculpture, clothing, wall-paper, material and other unique objects of interest in a display where a fusion of art and creative activities meets fashion.

Whilst scientists are quite confident that dinosaurs had colour vision and many of them were indeed feathered, no one can be sure for certain what colour dinosaurs were.  Kate’s interpretations certainly paint a picture of bright and colourful creatures from the Mesozoic – but nobody can tell her she is wrong, her interpretation is as good as the most accomplished palaeontologist.

Her characteristic intricate resin detailing is located in a number of pieces and her own fantastical and imaginative use of materials is perfectly combined and complemented in this project.

Photographs show the beautifully crafted pterosaur, whilst one could perhaps point out one or two anatomical inaccuracies there is no denying that this is a striking piece.

The favourite sculpture amongst team members at Everything Dinosaur is the pink Triceratops.  There have been a number of news stories featuring Triceratops recently, most prominent of which is the view that this iconic dinosaur may actually be a immature Torosaurus and therefore not a unique dinosaur genus at all.  However, it is great to see Triceratops featured in the art exhibition, and we do know that some dinosaurs could flush blood into the skin to turn pink and red, so you never know – after all, protofeathers have been found on fossilised skeletons of the ornithischian dinosaur Psittacosaurus, an ancestor of Triceratops.

To read more about the Triceratops/Torosaurus controversy: The Extinction of Torosaurus – Second Time Around.

These amazing prehistoric animal sculptures are on display at an exhibition called “Renaissance Dinosaur” at the KW Gallery (Karen Woodbury Gallery, Richmond, Victoria, Australia) which runs from August 25th until September 18th.

Visit Everything Dinosaur’s award-winning website: Everything Dinosaur.