Lebanese amber, Ain Dara, Caza Aley (LU AD collection): Early/Lower Barremian, Lebanon

List of taxa
Where & when
Geology
Taphonomy & methods
Metadata & references
Taxonomic list
Insecta - Diptera - Psychodidae
Protopsychoda leoi n. sp. Azar and Maksoud 2020
Azar and Maksoud 2020 1 specimen
AD 65 (2 measurements)
Insecta - Odonata
Libanolestes flecki n. gen., n. sp. Azar et al. 2010
Azar et al. 2010 1 specimen
AD-48A
Insecta - Hemiptera - Aleyrodidae
Aretsaya therina n. gen., n. sp. Drohojowska and Szwedo 2015
Drohojowska and Szwedo 2015 1 specimen
AD25 (2 measurements)
Insecta - Hemiptera - Apticoccidae
Apticoccus longitenuis n. sp. Vea and Grimaldi 2015
Vea and Grimaldi 2015 1 specimen
AD-20 (2 measurements)
Insecta - Blattodea
Balatronis libanensis n. sp. Sendi and Azar 2016
Sendi and Azar 2016 1 specimen
nomen dubium belonging to Blattaria
AD-48H
Insecta - Hymenoptera - Bethylidae
Lancepyris opertus n. gen., n. sp. Azevedo and Azar 2012
1 specimen
AD-39 (2 measurements)
see common names

Geography
Country:Lebanon
Coordinates: 33.8° North, 35.7° East (view map)
Paleocoordinates:9.3° North, 31.9° East
Basis of coordinate:based on nearby landmark
Geographic resolution:outcrop
Time
Period:Cretaceous Epoch:Early/Lower Cretaceous
Stage:Barremian 10 m.y. bin:Cretaceous 2
Key time interval:Early/Lower Barremian
Age range of interval:125.77000 - 121.40000 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,soft parts,original chitin,amber
Size of fossils:macrofossils,mesofossils
Collection methods and comments
Reason for describing collection:taxonomic analysis
Collection method comments: Repository: Natural History Museum of the Lebanese University, Fanar, Lebanon.
Metadata
Database number:138801
Authorizer:M. Clapham Enterer:M. Clapham
Modifier:M. Clapham Research group:paleoentomology
Created:2013-01-27 14:16:21 Last modified:2023-06-03 16:15:05
Access level:the public Released:2013-01-27 14:16:21
Creative Commons license:CC BY
Reference information

Primary reference:
44485. C. O. Azevedo and D. Azar. 2012. A new fossil subfamily of Bethylidae (Hymenoptera) from the Early Cretaceous Lebanese amber and its phylogenetic position. Zoologia 29:210-218 [M. Clapham/M. Clapham]

Secondary references:

83666 D. Azar and S. Maksoud. 2020. A new species of Protopsychoda Azar et al., 1999 from the Lower Cretaceous Lebanese amber (Diptera: Psychodidae). Palaeoentomology 3:352-356 [M. Clapham/M. Clapham]
48321 D. Azar, J. Prokop, and A. Nel. 2010. The first damselfly from the Early Cretaceous Lebanese amber (Odonata, Zygoptera, Lestomorpha). Alavesia 3:73-79 [M. Clapham/M. Clapham]
53699 J. Drohojowska and J. Szwedo. 2015. Early Cretaceous Aleyrodidae (Hemiptera: Sternorrhyncha) from the Lebanese amber. Cretaceous Research 52:368-389 [M. Clapham/M. Clapham]
61289 H. Sendi and D. Azar. 2016. New aposematic and presumably repellent bark cockroach from Lebanese amber. Cretaceous Research 72:13-17 [M. Clapham/M. Clapham]
54107 I. M. Vea and D. A. Grimaldi. 2015. Diverse new scale insects (Hemiptera: Coccoidea) in amber from the Cretaceous and Eocene with a phylogenetic framework for fossil Coccoidea. American Museum Novitates 3823:1-80 [M. Clapham/M. Clapham]