Paleobiology and taphonomy of amber and its inclusions: theoretical framework of its historical relationships

PETRULEVICIUS J. F.

Pretoria

Congreso; III International Congress on Palaeoentomology, II International Meeting on Paleoarthropodology y III International Congress on amber; 2005

South African National Biodiversity Institute

Over the last few years several articles have been written about the palaeobiology and taphonomy of amber. A new approach to historical relationships between palaeobiological and taphonomical processes concerning amber and its inclusions is presented. Taphonomy is analysed following the methodology and concepts developed by Fernández-López in several publications. The main terms and concepts used in this work are defined as follows: production is the process from which taphonomic entities are originated from palaeobiological entities, this biogenic production implies the death of a palaeobiological entity and/or the realization of remains and/or traces by a palaeobiological entity; biostratinomy is a dispensable discipline of taphonomy that refers to modifications of taphonomic entities from production to burial. Resin is a trace of biological activity and undergoes biostratinomic and/or fossildiagenetic modifications after its production by the plant. Production of fossils preserved in amber may occur immediately after or before their inclusion in resin. Inclusion in resin represents a biostratinomic mechanism that allows the preservation in most cases of the three-dimensional shape and external morphology (with micrometrical detail and sometimes of internal soft tissues) by replication of the original remains. Fossildiagenesis of resin and its inclusions goes from burial in the lithosphere to the present day. Inclusion in resin prevents some mechanisms of taphonomic alteration like mineralisation and distortion by gravity, but not others like decay, dehydration, deformation, and thermal maturation.