Burmese amber

Late Cretaceous amber from Northern Myanmar From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Burmese amber
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Burmese amber, or Burmite or Kachin amber, is amber from the Hukawng Valley in northern Myanmar. It is important for its fossils from the earliest part of the Upper Cretaceous, in the Cenomanian age, 99 million years ago. The amber has been commercially exploited since the first century AD. Research on the deposit may fund internal conflict in Myanmar.

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Holotype specimen of Burmomyrma rossi, showing typical dark-red colouration and opacity

The amber has flora and fauna especially arthropods such as insects and arachnids. There are also birds, lizards, snakes, frogs and fragments of dinosaur remains.

The fossils arachnids in the amber include:

15 families of myriapods are in the amber

8 families of Entognatha are known

29 orders of insects are known, including:

And 16 more smaller families.

Other groups of invertebrates include:

There are some vertebrates:

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CT scan of mummified bird wing in amber
  • A well preserved theropod dinosaur tail, with preserved feathers.[1]
  • Fossils of enantiornithine birds including juveniles[2][3] and partial wings and preserved feet,[4][5][6][7] including a diagnostic taxon, Elektorornis.[8]
  • A complete skull of the bizarre avialan or lizard Oculudentavis is known.[9]
  • Electrorana is a well preserved frog known from the amber.[10]
  • Other notable specimens include an embryonic snake.[11]
  • Several species of lizard were described from the deposit including a gecko with preserved toe pads (Cretaceogekko).[12][13]
  • One of the specimens was initially described to be a chamelonid, actually turned out to be an albanerpetonid amphibian.[14]
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References

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