Lebanese amber, Sarhmoul (LU collection): Early Barremian, Lebanon

List of taxa
Where & when
Geology
Taphonomy & methods
Metadata & references
Taxonomic list
Insecta - Neuroptera
Tragichrysa ovoruptora n. gen., n. sp. Pérez-de la Fuente et al. 2018
9 specimens
see common names

Geography
Country:Lebanon
Coordinates: 33.8° North, 35.5° East (view map)
Paleocoordinates:3.6° North, 42.6° East (Wright 2013)
Basis of coordinate:based on nearby landmark
Geographic resolution:outcrop
Time
Period: Cretaceous Epoch: Early Cretaceous
Stage: Barremian 10 m.y. bin: Cretaceous 2
Key time interval: Early Barremian
Age range of interval: 125.77 - 121.4 m.y. ago
Stratigraphy
Stratigraphic resolution:group of beds
Stratigraphy comments: Amber found in three intervals in the upper part of the Grès du Liban. The upper interval is above the “Banc de Mrejatt,” the middle interval is between the “Banc de Mrejatt” and a pisolitic interval below, and the lower interval is below the pisolitic beds. The "Banc de Mrejatt" includes one biostratigraphically significant benthic foraminifer: Eopalorbitolina transiens (Cherchi and Schroeder, 1999), which is a zonal marker of the Lower to Upper Barremian transition according to Schroeder et al. (2010). Accordingly the “Banc de Mrejatt” is correlated to the transgression of sequence Ba3 of Clavel et al. (2007) and ascribed a late Early Barremian age. The pisolitic interval or “calcaires à pisolithes” of Heybroek (1942), consists of lacustrine shales and marls, locally with pisolites ranging in size from a hazel nut to an orange. Charophyte remains (thalli, utricles, and gyrogonites) are commonly found in this interval (Grambast and Lorch, 1968; Granier et al., 2015). According to Martín-Closas (2015, personal communication), the charophyte association should refer to the Cruciata-Paucibracteatus biozone of Martín-Closas et al. (2009) that spans the Late Barremian–Early Aptian interval. However, due to its topographic location, this interval is older than the “Banc de Mrejatt” and should be considered at least Early Barremian in age (Maksoud et al., 2017, 2022). The entomofaunal similarity of these three intervals could imply that the age of the amber should be the same, i.e., that of the older/lower interval. Amber pieces found in the middle and upper intervals are rounded and commonly bored by martesiine pholadid bivalves.
Lithology and environment
Primary lithology: lithified amber
Environment:terrestrial indet.
Taphonomy
Modes of preservation:body,amber
Size of fossils:macrofossils
Collection methods and comments
Reason for describing collection:taxonomic analysis
Collection method comments: Repository: Natural History Museum of the Lebanese University, Faculty of Sciences II, Fanar, Lebanon
Metadata
Database number:197640
Authorizer:P. Wilf Enterer:E. Stiles
Modifier:M. Clapham Research group:paleoentomology
Created:2018-11-19 15:46:52 Last modified:2025-02-22 15:12:02
Access level:the public Released:2018-11-19 15:46:52
Creative Commons license:CC0
Reference information

Primary reference:

69275. R. Pérez-de la Fuente, M. S. Engel, D. Azar and E. Peñalver. 2018. The hatching mechanism of 130-million-year-old insects: an association of neonates, egg shells and egg bursters in Lebanese amber. Palaeontology 62:547-559 [M. Clapham/M. Clapham]