Also known as Saxonian amber

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

• coordinate based on nearby landmark

• outcrop-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

Preservation: soft parts, original chitin, amber

Collected by C. Hoffeins, H.W. Hoffeins

• Will be deposited in the collection of the Deutsches Entomologisches Institut, Eberswalde, Germany (DEI).

Primary reference: R. Wagner, C. Hoffeins, and H. W. Hoffeins. 2000. A fossil nymphomyiid (Diptera) from the Baltic and Bitterfield amber. Systematic Entomology 25:115-120 [M. Clapham/M. Clapham]more details

Purpose of describing collection: taxonomic analysis

PaleoDB collection 124273: authorized by Matthew Clapham, entered by Matthew Clapham on 10.02.2012, edited by Arram Noshirvan

Creative Commons license: CC BY (attribution)