Orthoclads in Sakhalinian Amber

Chironomids (Diptera: Chironomidae)in Sakhalinian Amber - first results 

Viktor Baranov1,3, Trond Andersen2

1Leibniz Institute of  Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries(IGB), 2Bergen University Museum, Deparment of Natural History , 3I.I. Shmalhausen Institute  Of  Zoology  NAS Ukraine

Introduction• Sakhalinian amber is

fossil resin which was first collected during an expedition to Sakhalin in 1972 by the Paleontological Institute, Academy of Science of the USSR.

• Numerous traces of flourishing ecosystem of the past, including fossil insects was found.

Taphonomy of Sakhalinian Amber

• Taphonomy from Greek “taphos” – dead and “nomos” – law, order – is a science studying principles of organism preservation as fossils.

• Amber from Sakhalin belongs to the rumanite-type amber. • Such ambers is a highly polymerized, and insects inside of

them are often deformed.• Thus taxonomic placement of the Sakhalinian amber

insect inclusions is difficult.• We have try to do our best without producing new genera

with poor diagnosis, that’s why all new species placed in existing genera.

Chironomidae in Sakhalinian amber• 840 inclusions of arthropods are known from

the Sakhalinian amber • 350 chironomids have been found, all of them

belonging to the subfamily • Orthocladiinae • 81 inclusions of Chironomidae males have

been examined • 9 males where selected for description being

reasonably well preserved.• 5 sp.n. has been described in the 5 genera

Species account

Chironomidae in Sakhalinian amberSpecies described

Heterotrissocladius naibuchi Baranov et Andersen, 2014Paraphaenocladius nadezhdae Baranov et Andersen, 2014Pseudorthocladius zherikhini Baranov et Perkovsky, 2013

Pseudosmittia kodrulae Baranov et Andersen, 2014Smittia sukachevae Baranov et Andersen, 2014

Generically placed Antillocladius sp

Orthocladiinae  incertae sedisOrthocladiinae sp AOrthocladiinae spBOrthocladiinae spC

Heterotrissocladius naibuchi

Paraphaenocladius nadezhdae

Pseudorthocladius zherikhini

Antillocladius sp.

Pseudosmittia kodrulae

Smittia sukachevae

Orthocladiinae sp. A

General remarks• All midges recorded are

belongs to the Orthocladiinae• All specimens are small, wing

length less than 1,0 mm and much smaller than recent Palaearctic representatives of the respective genera

• All species are belongs (suppose to belong) to recent genera which could inhabits (at larval and pupal stage) standing waters or terrestrial and semiaquatic habitats…

• So…. Is it means something?

Completing the puzzle• Saether and Andersen (1996) has shown that

wing and body length is decreasing in widespread Chironomidae genera  from North to South 

• Kodrul (1999) shown that flora of Sakhalin in the late Paleocene – Eocene resembles subtropical to warm-moderate flora

• Could we combine paleobotanical and paleoentomology data to reconstruct the climate?

Acknowledgments• Viktor Baranov express his sincere thanks to IGB and EU

“Interfaces” project, for funding his attendance on this conference

• We are indebted to Alexandr Rasnitsyn, for kindly loaning us the inclusions from Sakhalin, to Irina Sukacheva, for her indispensable help with amber studies. We are also grateful to Elena Lukashevich and Tatiana Kodrul and Patrick Ashe for discussions on nematoceran paleontology, biogeography and the age of the Sakhalin amber. V.B.’s work in the collection at the University Museum of Bergen was supported by an Ernst Mayr travel grant from Harvard Museum of Comparative Zoology.

• And I want also to express my gratitude to two very special people who are not with us any longer…

Dr. Vladimir Zherikhin Dr. Nadezhda  Kalugina

Thanks for attention!