Cretaceous amber of Ecuador unveils new insights into South America’s Gondwanan forests Show others and affiliations
2025 (English) In: Communications Earth & Environment, E-ISSN 2662-4435, Vol. 6, no 1, article id 745Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]
Amber, a fossilised resin, became widespread during the Barremian ( ~ 122 Ma), marking the onset ofthe Cretaceous Resinous Interval (125–72 Ma). While common in the Northern Hemisphere, ambercontaining terrestrial arthropod inclusions had not previously been reported from the Mesozoic ofSouth America. Here, we report the major occurrence of such amber from the early Albian ( ~ 112 Ma)Hollín Formation in Ecuadorian Napo region. Discovered at the Genoveva quarry, the amber isassociated with coeval pollen and plant macrofossils deposited in fluvio-lacustrine environments.Geochemical analyses suggest araucariacean trees as the resin source, while palynological andmacrofloral data indicate moderately diverse forests and the earliest known angiosperm leafassemblage from north-western South America. Arthropods (hexapods and arachnids) representingat least six orders are well preserved. These findings provide direct evidence of a humid, resinousforest ecosystem and its arthropod fauna in equatorial Gondwana during the Cretaceous ResinousInterval.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages 2025. Vol. 6, no 1, article id 745
Keywords [en]
amber, Mid-Cretaceous, South America, insects
National Category
Botany Palaeontology and Palaeoecology
Research subject Ecosystems and species history; The changing Earth
Identifiers URN: urn:nbn:se:nrm:diva-6200 DOI: 10.1038/s43247-025-02625-2 OAI: oai:DiVA.org:nrm-6200 DiVA, id: diva2:2020282
Note We acknowledge to the Instituto Nacional de Patrimonio Cultural, of the Republic of Ecuador Government, to give us the acceptance of the project Reconocimiento y prospección paleontológica en el Cretácico inferior de las canteras Genoveva, Pungarayacu y Río Misahuallí, Cantón Archidona, Provincia de Napo (Ecuador), research code N-113-JR-2022 and authorisation resolution DAAPPS-INPC-Z1/2-026-2022. X.D., D.P., and M.S. also thank the Secretary of Universities and Research (Government of Catalonia) for the project 2021SGR-349 Sedimentary Geology. DP thanks the program RYC2022-037026-I, funded by AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and the FSE + . This work was financially supported by the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades [research agreement PID2022-137316NB, funded by MICIU/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and by ERDF/EU, and research agreement PID2022-138986OB-I00 funded by MICIU/AEI/10.13039/501100011033], and by the Consejería de Industria, Turismo, Innovación, Transporte y Comercio of the Gobierno de Cantabria through the semipublic enterprise EL SOPLAO S.L. [research agreement #20963 with Universitat de Barcelona and research contract Ref. VAPC 20225428 to Instituto Geológico y Minero de España—Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, both 2022–2025], The Anders Foundation (1923 Fund), National Geographic Society, grant (EC-96755R-22) Discovering Early Cretaceous Floras from Northern South America, and the Negaunee Foundation. Synchrotron scanning was possible thanks to the Deutsches Elektronen Synchrotron (DESY) in Hamburg project N. BAG-20210019. MMS-K thanks the DFG project 457837041 (SO 894/6-1). F.H. thanks the National Science Foundation grant DEB-2427396 (PurSUiT: New Discoveries of Early Cretaceous Floras from North-western Gondwana Reveal a Cradle of Plant Diversity), and the Negaunee Foundation.
2025-12-102025-12-102025-12-15 Bibliographically approved