99 million-year-old beetle found trapped in amber

FoxNews.com/Science ^ | Oct 31, 2018 | Chris Ciaccia | Fox News

[Scythian_Reborn]

99 million year old, ya sure

[a fool in paradise]

“Peace and love and don’t be sending letters or asking for autographs!”

[WKUHilltopper]

I understand the process and ideas of Radiometric dating. Not once in the article did they indicate they dug the bug out and took a specimen and performed this procedure for dating. These “scientists” conjured the date up from the ‘thin air’. They do this all the time...it’s lazy and careless.

[ETL]

"The new beetle, known as Propiestus archaicus, was found in Hukawng Valley in the northern part Myanmar, near China's southern border."

______________________________________________________

Geology of an amber locality in the Hukawng Valley, Northern Myanmar

Abstract

Amber (‘Burmite’) from the Hukawng Valley of Myanmar has been known since at least the 1st century AD. It is currently being produced from a hill known as Noije Bum, which was first documented as a source of amber in 1836.

Several geologists visited the locality between 1892 and 1930.

All of them believed that the host rocks to the amber are Tertiary (most said Eocene) in age, and this conclusion has been widely quoted in the literature.

However, recent work indicates a Cretaceous age. Insect inclusions in amber are considered to be Turonian–Cenomanian, and a specimen of the ammonite Mortoniceras (of Middle-Upper Albian age) was discovered during the authors’ visit.

Palynomorphs in samples collected by the authors suggest that the amber-bearing horizon is Upper Albian to Lower Cenomanian. The preponderance of the evidence suggests that both rocks and amber are most probably Upper Albian.

This determination is significant for the study of insect evolution, indicating that the oldest known definitive ants have been identified in this amber [American Museum Novitates 3361 (2002) 72].

This site occurs within the Hukawng Basin, which is comprised of folded sedimentary (±volcanic) rocks of Cretaceous and Cenozoic age. The mine exposes a variety of clastic sedimentary rocks, with thin limestone beds, and abundant carbonaceous material. The sediments were deposited in a nearshore marine environment, such as a bay or estuary.

Amber is found in a fine clastic facies, principally as disk shaped clasts, oriented parallel to bedding. A minority occurs as runnels (stalactite shaped), with concentric layering caused by recurring flows of resin.

An Upper Albian age is similar to that of Orbitolina limestones known from a number of locations in northern Myanmar. One of these, at Nam Sakhaw, 90 km SW of Noije Bum, has also been a source of amber.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1367912002000445

[WKUHilltopper]

“...Insect inclusions in amber are considered to be Turonian–Cenomanian...”

Yeah. “Considered”. Assumed.

[nitzy]

I have a question that I am hoping a smart biologist or scientist can help me understand.

First, please understand that I believe in evolution and that I am not looking for any young earthers or creationists to answer this.

but....Why is it that this species along with nearly every other species can exist in the same basic form for millions and millions of years while some species (us) dramatically change over the course of a couple hundred thousand years?

I would expect to see a bug that looks nearly identical to this beetle if I were to walk out in the woods today. On the other hand, 99 million years ago there was nothing that even looked remotely similar to a human being.

How is that so?

It seems that these beetles (or crocodiles, or fish, or sharks, or lizards, or birds, or jelly fish, or octopus, or trees, or grass, or mussels, or mushrooms, or bacteria, etc...) are so well adapted and good at survival that they don’t need to change at all (or only slightly) over tens of millions of years. At the same time, we are so terrible at survival that we need to be constantly, radically changing our form just to survive the environment.

Is that the answer?.....We just suck at living?

As a follow up, are there any other species that suck anywhere close to as bad as we do and nothing even similar to their form and function existed just 1 or 2 million years ago?

[ETL]

Re: “...Insect inclusions in amber are considered to be Turonian–Cenomanian...”

Yeah. “Considered”. Assumed.

The amber itself is apparently that age (Turonian–Cenomanian/~99 million years). There is little chance the insects perserved in it are of vastly different ages.

[dangus]

[fieldmarshaldj]

*ping*

[SaveFerris]

It looks pretty good for 99 million years.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks fieldmarshaldj. Another "Look Back in Amber" ping. Good choice for the weekly digest ping, although there were some other great topics this week.

• Mysterious amphibious human-like creature spotted in the Caspian Sea
• The Body on Somerton Beach
• Mary Beard: why ancient Rome matters to the modern world
• We Finally Know How Much the Dino-Killing Asteroid Reshaped Earth
• Three D animated reconstruction of Pompei
• Newfound Dino Looks Like the Creepy Love Child of a Turkey and an Ostrich
• Archaeologists Virtually Recreate House of Caecilius Iucundus in Pompeii
• New Jersey Fossils Shed Light on Theropod Dinosaurs of Eastern United States
• Fungi that live in cockroaches, oil paintings, and other bizarre places come to light in new report
• Amazing giant dinosaur discovery: New dino species identified
• Shallow Waters Allowed Early Fish-Like Creatures to Experiment With Evolution
• King George III speaks to Parliament of American rebellion, 1775
• Tourist from Louisiana..tells of the moment he nabs thief who tried to steal the..Magna Carta [tr]
• Britain's last remaining feudal village complete with 17 working farms and a pub goes on sale [tr
• 5 skeletons found at Pompeii [too late to dial IX-I-I]
• Excavation of King Ramses II shrine in Matariya complete
• Peruvian archeologists discover pre-Columbian statues
• Mary Beard: It doesn't really matter if tourists damage Pompeii
• 3,200-Year-Old Cyclopean Masonry Fortress... Ancient Thrace Was Part of Mycenaean Civilization [tr]
• Paleontologists Discover New Species of Archaeopteryx
• Archaeologists Find 15,500-Year-Old Spear Points in Texas
• On 200th anniversary of her death, meet America's second first lady
• The Surprising Connection Between The Muskogee Language And Whiskey
• New Caledonian Crows Can Combine Objects to Construct New Compound Tools
• The Grand Canyon's Oldest Footprints Are 310 Million Years Old
• We Always Thought This Dinosaur Was a Vegetarian, Then We Found Its Front Teeth
• Wreck of the first US ship to defeat the Royal Navy in home waters before she sank in 1779 [tr]
• This 4,500-Year-Old Ramp Contraption May Have Been Used to Build Egypt's Great Pyramid

[Ken H]

I shouldn’t admit this, but I recognize the guy in the bottom picture with John Cleese. He was in Revenge of the Pink Panther. He was the guy who blew raspberries at Clouseau in the mental institution.

[right way right]

Did they let the bug out?

[ETL]

I recognize the guy in the bottom picture with John Cleese. He was in Revenge of the Pink Panther. He was the guy who blew raspberries at Clouseau in the mental institution.

His name was Andrew Sachs. He died 2-3 years ago. Didn't recognize him in the Pink Panther film. Will look for him next time I see it. He was great as Einstein in the Nova special, Einstein Revealed.

[ETL]

It looks pretty good for 99 million years.

Sure as heck does. And 99 million is of course within the dinosaur era: ~235 to 65 million. Could possibly be a few "dino flakes" on it.

[SaveFerris]

;)

[Monkey Face]

I thought it was a VW and I was going to alert my son (who is, sadly, not a FReeper.)

What a disappointment! LOL!

;o]

‘Face

[SunkenCiv]

Plus, it floats.

[Monkey Face]

Truth!

;o]