Seyfullah Leyla J, Szwedo Jacek, Schmidt Alexander R, Prestianni Cyrille
Department of Palaeontology, University of Vienna, Josef-Holaubek-Platz 2, 1090, Vienna, Austria.
Laboratory of Evolutionary Entomology and Museum of Amber Inclusions, Department of Invertebrate Zoology and Parasitology, University of Gdańsk, 59, Wita Stwosza Street, 80308, Gdańsk, Poland.
Sci Rep. 2024 Jun 14;14(1):13705. doi: 10.1038/s41598-024-64286-z.
Of the early Eocene amber deposits known across the world, Belgian amber has been mostly absent from the relevant literature. We reinvestigated amber held in the palaeobotanical collection of the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, Brussels, which derived from three localities in Belgium that originated from two geographical areas (Leval-Trahegnies and Orp-le-Grand). Using Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy we show the close chemical relationship of Belgian amber to the early Eocene Oise amber from the Paris Basin, and highlight the potential effect of weathering on the amber chemistry. The amber derives from a very similar botanical source as the Oise amber (Combretaceae or Leguminosae-Caesalpinioideae), but from different coeval basins. The two Leval-Trahegnies localities provided amber that exhibit different stages of weathering (heavily fissured and crazed, darkened) and lacking any inclusions. The Orp-le-Grand locality provided the least weathered amber, with one amber piece containing two inclusions: a mite and a new genus and species of hemipteran (Cativolcus uebruum gen. et sp. nov.), and a second one that preserved the impression of insect wings pressed into the surface.
在世界各地已知的始新世早期琥珀矿床中，比利时琥珀在相关文献中大多未见记载。我们重新研究了保存在布鲁塞尔比利时皇家自然科学研究所古植物学收藏中的琥珀，这些琥珀来自比利时的三个产地，分属两个地理区域（勒瓦尔 - 特拉埃尼和奥尔普 - 勒 - 格兰德）。通过傅里叶变换红外光谱（FTIR）分析，我们发现比利时琥珀与巴黎盆地始新世早期的瓦兹琥珀在化学性质上密切相关，并强调了风化对琥珀化学性质的潜在影响。该琥珀与瓦兹琥珀来源于非常相似的植物源（使君子科或豆科 - 云实亚科），但来自不同的同期盆地。勒瓦尔 - 特拉埃尼的两个产地提供的琥珀呈现出不同的风化阶段（严重开裂、出现裂纹、颜色变深），且没有任何内含物。奥尔普 - 勒 - 格兰德产地提供的琥珀风化程度最低，其中一块琥珀含有两种内含物：一只螨虫和一种新的半翅目属种（新属新种卡蒂沃尔库斯琥珀虱，Cativolcus uebruum gen. et sp. nov.），另一块则保留了压印在表面的昆虫翅膀印记。
