Amber fossils & their significance for phylogenetical reconstruction

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!