A microworld in Triassic amber |
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Authors: | Schmidt Alexander R Ragazzi Eugenio Coppellotti Olimpia Roghi Guido |
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Institution: | Museum für Naturkunde der Humboldt-Universit?t zu Berlin, 10115 Berlin, Germany. alexander.schmidt@museum.hu-berlin.de |
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Abstract: | Amber provides an effective medium for conservation of soft-bodied microorganisms, but finds older than 135 million years are very rare and have not so far contained any microbial inclusions. Here we describe 220-million-year-old droplets of amber containing bacteria, fungi, algae and protozoans that are assignable to extant genera. These inclusions provide insight into the evolution and palaeoecology of Lower Mesozoic microorganisms: it seems that the basal levels of food webs of terrestrial communities (biocoenoses) have undergone little or no morphological change from the Triassic to the Recent. |
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