A newly-discovered plant, a recently-discovered wasp, and a developing fly larva have been found trapped in amber, in an exquisitely-preserved moment of prehistoric ecology.
, and the first record of the plant genus on the Caribbean island of Hispaniola.Poinar."I could only find one previously known fossil, from sedimentary deposits in Tennessee."tree, which scientists think once grew in a moist tropical forest ecosystem, based on the variety of life forms its resin entombed.There is debate over the age of Dominican amber fossils, with conflicting theories based on the microorganisms used for dating specimens.
Some say that the presence of foraminifera – single-celled protists sometimes referred to as 'armored amoebae' – indicate the amber was formed roughly 20-15 million years ago. Others suggest a date of 45-30 million years ago, based on the presence of coccoliths – plates of calcium carbonate formed by single-celled phytoplankton called coccolithophores.Poinar notes this is further complicated because the amber was swished about and redeposited in turbulent sediment that later solidified into rock. What's more, similar amber specimens discovered in Puerto Rico and Jamaica are dated to the Oligocene and the Maastrichtian-Palaeocene , respectively.
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