Also known as Saxonian amber
Where: Halle, Germany (51.6° N, 12.4° E: paleocoordinates 50.4° N, 8.0° E)
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; lithified amber
Size class: mesofossils
Preservation: soft parts, original chitin, amber
Collected by Manfred Kutscher
• Repository: collection of Manfred Kutscher, some in University of Göttingen (Geowissenschaftlisches Zentrum der Georg-August-Universität GZG)
Primary reference: V. Perrichot. 2009. Long-tailed wasps (Hymenoptera: Megalyridae) from Cretaceous and Paleogene European amber. Paleontological Contributions 1:1-35 [M. Clapham/M. Clapham]more details
Purpose of describing collection: taxonomic analysis
PaleoDB collection 129228: authorized by Matthew Clapham, entered by Matthew Clapham on 22.06.2012
Creative Commons license: CC BY (attribution)
Taxonomic list