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

Collection methods: Repository: Universität Göttingen (some earlier specimens donated to Geologisch-Paläontologische Institute, Universität Hamburg, GPIH/GPIUH)

Primary reference: J. Wunderlich. 2008. Descriptions of fossil spider (Araneae) taxa mainly in Baltic amber, as well as on certain related extant taxa. Beiträge zur Araneologie 5:44-139 [M. Clapham/M. Clapham/M. Clapham]more details

Purpose of describing collection: taxonomic analysis

PaleoDB collection 147606: authorized by Matthew Clapham, entered by Matthew Clapham on 10.07.2013

Creative Commons license: CC BY (attribution)