Эрдэмтэд Өмнөд Америкийн нутаг дэвсгэрээс анх удаа хув дотор хадгалагдсан эртний шавжийн олдворуудыг олсноор үлэг гүрвэлүүдийн үеийн экосистемийг судлах шинэ боломж нээгдлээ.
Эквадорын Женовева карьераас олдсон 60 ширхэг хувны дээжид хийсэн судалгаагаар 112 сая жилийн өмнө амьдарч байсан 21 төрлийн шавж, түүний дотор ялаа, цох, чийгний хорхой болон аалзны торны хэлтэрхий илэрчээ. Эдгээр олдворын дийлэнх нь ялаа байсан бөгөөд судлаачид “Microphorites” бүлгийн ялааны өмнө нь олдож байгаагүй шинэ зүйл болохыг тогтоосон байна. Мөн шимэгч хорхойнууд олдсон нь тухайн үеийн экосистемийн харилцан хамаарлыг ойлгоход чухал ач холбогдолтой юм.
Барселоны их сургуулийн судлаач Хавьер Делклосын тэмдэглэснээр, 70 см-ийн зузаантай давхаргаас ийм их хэмжээний хув олдсон нь судлаачдын хувьд гэнэтийн үйл явдал болжээ. Энэхүү олдвор нь Гондвана супер тивийн эртний ой модны бүтэц, орчныг тодорхойлоход тусалдаг. Тухайн үед уг бүс нутаг нь одоогийнхоос илүү чийглэг, ой модтой байсныг тус хувнууд болон ойролцоох ургамлын үлдэгдлүүд гэрчилж байна.
Өмнөд Америкийн хувны олдворууд нь Лавразийн тивийн (одоогийн Европ, Ази, Хойд Америк) олдворуудтай харьцуулахад харьцангуй бага судлагдсан байдаг. Энэхүү нээлт нь Өмнөд Америк болон Африк тивүүд хоорондоо салж эхлэх үеийн бүс нутгийн өөрчлөлт, палеобиогеографын асуудлыг ойлгоход шинэ түлхэц болж байна.
Дэлгэрэнгүйг эх сурвалжаас харах
↓Эх сурвалжийг нээх ↓
A collection of insects that lived 112 million years ago has been discovered trapped in amber in Ecuador, giving scientists a rare look at a prehistoric forest that existed during the age of dinosaurs. The find is the first known example of insects preserved in amber from South America.
The fossils were found in amber pieces recovered from the Genoveva quarry in Ecuador. Once sticky tree resin, the amber preserved tiny creatures in remarkable detail, effectively freezing a small part of an ancient ecosystem in time.
The discovery is especially significant because amber containing terrestrial life is common in some parts of the world but has remained largely absent from South America’s fossil record. According to research published in Communications Earth & Environment, the newly studied specimens help fill that gap and offer fresh insights into life on Gondwana, the ancient southern supercontinent.
Scientists say the fossils also reveal what the environment looked like more than 100 million years ago, at a time when Earth’s forests were undergoing major changes.
Tiny Creatures Preserved For 112 Million Years
Researchers examined 60 amber samples from the Ecuadorian deposit and found 21 different bioinclusions, the name given to organisms trapped inside amber. Flies were by far the most common, accounting for more than half of the discoveries.
Among them was a specimen thought to belong to a previously unknown species of Microphorites, an extinct group of flies known only from amber fossils. The team also identified a beetle, a springtail, a caddisfly, fragments of a spider web, and several parasitic insects.
Two parasitoid wasps were preserved in the resin. These insects lay their eggs inside other organisms, making them valuable clues to the ecological relationships that existed in the ancient forest. Researchers also found a male midge from a group of blood-feeding insects. The lead author Xavier Delclòs of the University of Barcelona said that the sheer amount of amber at the site came as a surprise.
“We never expected to find such a rich deposit, with thousands of amber pieces within a layer just 70 centimetres thick. Seeing so much amber in situ was truly thrilling, and it’s much richer than any other known Cretaceous amber deposit in the northern hemisphere.”
A Very Different South America
The insects provide more than a list of species. They also offer hints about the landscape they lived in. One particularly useful discovery was the caddisfly. Modern ones spend their larval stage in water, which suggests that freshwater habitats existed close to the trees that produced the resin. Streams, ponds, or other wet environments were likely part of the ecosystem.
Evidence from plant fossils found in the same rock layers paints a picture of a lush landscape dominated by ferns and fern-like vegetation. Flowering plants and conifers were also present.
The team reported this environment appears to have been much wetter than many other South American regions during the same period. Rather than dry, open landscapes, the area around the Genoveva quarry was covered by a dense and humid forest filled with invertebrate life. Those conditions may explain why so much resin was produced, ultimately giving rise to extensive amber deposits.
A Missing Piece Found
The amber dates to the Cretaceous Resinous Interval, a period between 125 and 72 million years ago when large amber deposits appeared in different parts of the world.
Most famous Cretaceous amber sites are located in areas that once formed Laurasia, the northern supercontinent that included much of present-day Europe, Asia, and North America. The research, published in Communications Earth & Environment found that these deposits have preserved everything from dinosaur feathers to ancient fungi.
Gondwana‘s amber record has been much less understood. Although amber has been found in South America before, researchers had never reported terrestrial organisms preserved inside it.
“There are several reasons why amber with terrestrial bioinclusions hasn’t been found in South America until now,” Xavier said in a statement released by The Natural History Museum. “On the one hand, it’s likely that the search for amber in this continent is not as advanced as in the northern hemisphere so it may be due to limited sampling.”
The Ecuador discovery shows that such deposits did exist. More importantly, it provides a direct glimpse of a thriving forest ecosystem that flourished 112 million years ago, preserving insects, ecological interactions, and traces of a world that disappeared long before humans appeared on Earth.
“This will give a better idea of how the region was changing as the two great southern continents, South America and Africa, began to drift apart. Studying the fauna and flora of these ancient ecosystems is essential for understanding the palaeobiogeography of many groups both living and dead,” he added.
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