Also known as Saxonian amber

Where: Halle, Germany (51.6° N, 12.4° E: paleocoordinates 50.4° N, 8.0° E)

• local area-level geographic resolution

When: Priabonian (38.0 - 33.9 Ma)

• Bitterfeld amber occurs in the "Bernsteinschluff" Horizon, i.e. a part of the Upper "Bitterfelder Glimmersand" in the upper part of the Cottbus Formation. Detailed biostratigraphic investigations favor an uppermost Chattian age for the unit. Originally assigned a Miocene age, and then thought to be redeposited Baltic amber. The chemical composition of Bitterfeld amber is distinct from true Baltic amber (e.g., Sodhi et al., 2013). Hydrogen isotopes indicate that Baltic and Bitterfeld ambers have distinct geographic sources, but carbon isotopes and insects suggest Baltic and Bitterfeld ambers are coeval in age (Wolfe et al., 2016).

Environment/lithology: terrestrial; amber

Size classes: macrofossils, mesofossils, microfossils

Preservation: amber

Collection methods: surface (float)

• Repository: Goitzsche Bernstein GmbH

Primary reference: M. Balke, M. Toledo, C. Gröhn, I. Rappsilber, and L. Hendrich. 2019. †Electruphilus wendeli gen.n., sp.n. - the first diving beetle recorded from Saxonian (Bitterfeld) amber (Coleoptera: Dytiscidae: Laccophilinae). Russian Entomological Journal 28:350-357 [M. Clapham/M. Clapham]more details

Purpose of describing collection: taxonomic analysis

PaleoDB collection 207248: authorized by Matthew Clapham, entered by Matthew Clapham on 02.01.2020

Creative Commons license: CC BY (attribution)