Dinosaur bonebed amber from an original swamp forest soil

eLife

Alba Sánchez-García¹  Constanza Peña-Kairath²  David Peris²  Jordi Pérez-Cano²  Carles Martín-Closas²  Xavier Delclòs²  Sergio Álvarez-Parra²  Antonio Arillo³  Nieves Meléndez⁴  Eduardo Espílez⁵  Luis Mampel⁵  Luis Alcalá⁵  Víctor Sarto i Monteys⁶  Rafael P Lozano⁷  Carlos A Bueno-Cebollada⁷  Eduardo Barrón⁷  Ana Rodrigo⁷  Enrique Peñalver⁷  Rafael López Del Valle⁸  Ricardo Pérez-de la Fuente⁹  César Menor-Salván^1,10  Marc Philippe^1,11  Khaled Trabelsi^1,12 

[1] Departament de Botànica i Geologia, Facultat de Ciències Biològiques, Universitat de València, c/ Dr. Moliner 50, Burjassot, Spain;Division of Invertebrate Zoology, American Museum of Natural History, New York, United States;Departament de Dinàmica de la Terra i de l’Oceà and Institut de Recerca de la Biodiversitat (IRBio), Facultat de Ciències de la Terra, Universitat de Barcelona, c/Martí i Franquès s/n, 08028, Barcelona, Spain;Departamento de Biodiversidad, Ecología y Evolución, Facultad de Biología, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, c/ José Antonio Novais 12, Madrid, Spain;Departamento de Geodinámica, Estratigrafía y Paleontología, Facultad de Ciencias Geológicas, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Ciudad Universitaria, Madrid, Spain;Fundación Conjunto Paleontológico de Teruel-Dinópolis/Museo Aragonés de Paleontología, Av. Sagunto s/n, Teruel, Spain;Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals (ICTA), Edifici Z – ICTA-ICP, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain;Museo Geominero (IGME, CSIC), c/ Ríos Rosas 23, Madrid, Spain;Museo de Ciencias Naturales de Álava, c/ Siervas de Jesús 24, 01001, Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain;Oxford University Museum of Natural History, Oxford, United Kingdom;School of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, United States;Departamento de Biología de Sistemas/Instituto de Investigación Química “Andrés del Río” (IQAR), Universidad de Alcalá, 28805, Alcalá de Henares, Madrid, Spain;Univ. Lyon, Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, CNRS, ENTPE, UMR 5023 LEHNA, Villeurbanne, France;Université de Sfax, Faculté des Sciences de Sfax, Sfax, Tunisia;Université de Tunis El Manar II, Faculté des Sciences de Tunis, LR18 ES07, Tunis, Tunisia;Department of Geology, University of Vienna, UZA 2, Vienna, Austria;

关键词: ecology;    palaeobiology;    resin production;    autochthony;    insects;    Cretaceous;    None;   

DOI  :  10.7554/eLife.72477

来源: eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd

【 摘 要 】

Dinosaur 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 mainly composed of aerial pieces unusually rich in bioinclusions, encompassing 11 insect orders, arachnids, and a few plant and vertebrate remains, including a feather. Additional palaeontological data—charophytes, palynomorphs, ostracods— are provided. Ariño arguably represents the most prolific and palaeobiologically diverse locality in which fossiliferous amber and a dinosaur bonebed have been found in association, and the only one known where the vast majority of the palaeontological assemblage suffered no or low-grade pre-burial transport. This has unlocked unprecedentedly complete and reliable palaeoecological data out of two complementary windows of preservation—the bonebed and the amber—from the same site.

【 授权许可】

CC BY