0000000000434725
AUTHOR
Ricardo Pérez-de La Fuente
Dinosaur bonebed amber from an original swamp forest soil
AbstractDinosaur bonebeds with amber content, yet scarce, offer a superior wealth and quality of data on ancient terrestrial ecosystems. However, the preserved palaeodiversity and/or taphonomic characteristics of these exceptional localities had hitherto limited their palaeobiological potential. Here we describe the amber from the Lower Cretaceous dinosaur bonebed of Ariño (Teruel, Spain) using a multidisciplinary approach. Amber is found in both a root layer with amber strictly in situ and a litter layer namely composed of aerial pieces unusually rich in bioinclusions, encompassing 11 insect orders, arachnids, and a few plant and vertebrate remains, including a feather. Additional palaeont…
Digitisation as a tool to promote transparency between collections: the case of the Baltic amber from the Königsberg collection at the Museum of Comparative Zoology
A total of 383 Baltic amber samples, including 43 type specimens, held at the Museum of Comparative Zoology (MCZ), Harvard University, for near a century were found to belong to the classic amber collection from the Albertus-Universität of Königsberg. This discovery was greatly facilitated by the public availability online of digital images produced during a four-year project that digitised the over 30,000 samples from the MCZ’s fossil insect collection. The amber samples were hand carried and reincorporated to the portion of the original Königsberg collection that was saved from World War II, held at the Geowissenschaftliches Museum from the Geowissenschaftliches Zentrum of the Georg-Augus…