Baltic Amber



Baltic amber is approximately 46 million years old, having been deposited during the Lutetian stage of the Middle Eocene. The main deposits of Baltic amber are on the southern shores of the Baltic Sea. The Baltic and similar ambers are widespread on the territories of the Central and Eastern Europe and for a long time attracted attention of geologists, entomologists, and other researchers. The age and sources of amber from different regions of Europe have been a subject of discussion for many decades. There is also debate over the plant family which produced the amber, with evidence supporting relatives of either an Agathis or a Pseudolarix (Henderickx et al., 2012). Because amber easily withstands repeated redeposition and because its mineralogical characteristics are variable, an important role in settling these issues is played by organic inclusions, particularly the relatively well-studied inclusions of ants.

Radchenko and Dlussky (2017) - As was already stressed by Wheeler (1915) and supported by modern data (Guénard et al. 2015), the ants from Baltic and other Late Eocene European ambers might be placed into two main zoogeographic complexes: temporary Palaearctic/Holarctic, and tropical, mainly Indomalayan and Australasian.

REFEREENCES

 * [[Media:Dlussky & Rasnitsyn 2009.pdf |Dlussky, G.M. & Rasnitsyn, A.P. 2009. Ants in the Upper Eocene amber of central and eastern Europe. Paleontological Journal 43: 1024-1042. PDF]]
 * [[Media:Dlussky 2008a.pdf| Dlussky, G.M. 2008a. Murav’i triby Formicini pozdneyeotsenovykh yantarei Evropy. Paleontologicheskii Zhurnal 2008 (No. 5): 45-59. [English translation: 2008. Paleontological Journal 42 (5): 500-513.] PDF]]
 * [[Media:Radchenko, Dlussky & Elmes 2007.pdf| Radchenko, A.G., Dlussky, G. & Elmes, G.W. 2007. The ants of the genus Myrmica from Baltic and Saxonian amber. Journal of Paleontology 81: 1494-1501. PDF]]
 * [[Media:Dlussky & Radchenko 2009.pdf| Dlussky, G.M. & Radchenko, A.G. 2009. Two new primitive ant genera from the late Eocene European ambers. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 54: 435-441. PDF]]
 * [[Media:Dlussky 1967b.pdf| Dlussky, G. M. 1967b. Ants of the genus Formica from the Baltic amber. Paleontol. Zh. 1967(2 2: 80-89 PDF]]
 * [[Media:Dlussky Wappler Wedmann 2009.pdf|Dlussky, G. M., T. Wappler and S. Wedmann. 2009. Fossil ants of the genus Gesomyrmex Mayr (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) from the Eocene of Europe and remarks on the evolution of arboreal ant communities. Zootaxa 2031: 1-20 PDF]]
 * Henderickx, H.; Tafforeau, P.; Soriano, C (2012). "Phase-contrast synchrotron microtomography reveals the morphology of a partially visible new Pseudogarypus in Baltic amber (Pseudoscorpiones: Pseudogarypidae)". Palaeontologia Electronica. 15 (2;17A,11p): 1–11.
 * [[Media:Radchenko dlussky 2015.pdf|Radchenko, A. G. & Dlussky, G. M. 2015. First record of fossil species of the genus Tetramorium (Hymenoptera, Formicidae). Vestnik Zoologii 49(4):311-316. PDF]]
 * [[Media:Radchenko, A., Dlussky, G.M. 2017. New species of the extinct ant genus Enneamerus and designation of the neotype of E. reticulatus.pdf|Radchenko, A., Dlussky, G.M. 2017. New species of the extinct ant genus Enneamerus Mayr (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) and designation of the neotype of E. reticulatus. Asian Myrmecology 9, e009012 (DOI: 10.20362/am.009012).]]
 * [[Media:Wheeler 1915i.pdf|Wheeler, W. M. 1915i [1914]. The ants of the Baltic Amber. Schr. Phys.-Ökon. Ges. Königsb. 55: 1-142 PDF]]