Baltic amber, Cornell collection (Eocene of Russian Federation)

Where: Kaliningrad, Russian Federation (54.9° N, 19.9° E: paleocoordinates 53.9° N, 15.2° E)

• coordinate estimated from map

• local area-level geographic resolution

When: Priabonian (38.0 - 33.9 Ma)

• According to Aleksandrova and Zaporozhets (2008), the higher parts of the Prussian Formation (including the Blaue Erde or Blue Earth) belong to the Charlesdowniea clathrata angulosa dinocyst Zone. Based on its index species, this zone is concurrent to Zone W13 established in the Parisian basin (Châteauneuf and Gruas-Cavagnetto 1978), where it is correlated with nannoplankton zones NP18–NP21 (Powell, 1992) of the Priabonian. In the Paleogene zonation of northwestern Europe, the first occurrence of Thalassiphora fenestrata is designated at the base of the dinocyst Subzone D12b (36.20 +/- 0.1 Ma), which is correlated with zones NP18 (terminal part)–NP20 of the Priabonian (Luterbacher et al., 2004).

Environment/lithology: terrestrial; amber

Size classes: macrofossils, mesofossils, microfossils

Preservation: amber

Collection methods: surface (float)

• C.R Crosby collection at Cornell University

Primary reference: A. Petrunkevitch. 1942. A study of amber spiders. Transactions of the Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sciences 34:119-464 [M. Clapham/A. Louderback/M. Clapham]more details

Purpose of describing collection: taxonomic analysis

PaleoDB collection 147468: authorized by Matthew Clapham, entered by Annabelle Louderback on 09.07.2013, edited by Matthew Clapham

Creative Commons license: CC BY (attribution)

Taxonomic list

Arachnida
 Araneae - Theridiidae
Steatoda succini n. sp. Petrunkevitch 1942 cobweb spider
? Theridion sp. Walckenaer 1805 cobweb spider
 Araneae - Synotaxidae
"Theridiometa robusta n. sp." = Acrometa robusta
"Theridiometa robusta n. sp." = Acrometa robusta Petrunkevitch 1942 spider
 Araneae - Araneidae
"Argiopidae indet." = Araneidae
"Argiopidae indet." = Araneidae Simon 1895 orb-weaving spider
 Araneae - Agelenidae
Inceptor aculeatus n. sp. Petrunkevitch 1942 spider
Agelena tabida Koch and Berendt 1854 spider
 Araneae - Salticidae
Paralinus crosbyi n. sp. Petrunkevitch 1942 spider
 Araneae - Oecobiidae
"Paruroctea blauvelti n. sp." = Mizalia blauvelti
"Paruroctea blauvelti n. sp." = Mizalia blauvelti Petrunkevitch 1942 disc web spider
 Araneae - Oonopidae
Orchestina baltica Petrunkevitch 1942 goblin spider