2025-10-15 北海道大学,中川町教育委員会
中川琥珀に保存されたハチ(左上)とダニ(右上)、琥珀を含む地層が露出する下中川採石場(下)。スケールバー:0.1 mm
<関連情報>
- https://www.hokudai.ac.jp/news/2025/10/post-2088.html
- https://www.hokudai.ac.jp/news/pdf/251015_pr3.pdf
- https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0195667125001594
日本の下部白亜系から発見された琥珀化石鉱脈 A new amber Lagerstätte from the Lower Cretaceous of Japan
Aya Kubota, Ryo Taniguchi, Yoshinori Hikida, Yasuhiro Iba
Cretaceous Research Available online: 15 September 2025
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cretres.2025.106236
Highlights
- We report the first Aptian amber Lagerstätte in Asia.
- The amber preserves arthropods, fungi, and plants with exquisite anatomical details.
- Records of Aptian amber are scarce both temporally and geographically.
- This discovery fills a paleogeographic gap in amber deposit records.
- Bio-inclusions reveal terrestrial micro- and meso-biota during the early angiosperm rise.
Abstract
During the Early Cretaceous, terrestrial ecosystems underwent a critical transition driven by the emergence and diversification of angiosperms. Amber-rich deposits from this period are crucial for understanding the diversity, interactions, and evolution of terrestrial biota. However, their occurrences are limited both geographically and stratigraphically. Here, we report a new amber Lagerstätte from the upper Aptian (116–114 Ma) in northern Hokkaido, Japan. The abundant amber occurs within deep-sea deposits and is rich in bio-inclusions: arthropods (hymenopterans, mites), fungi, and plant remains (tracheids, stellate hairs, pollen grains), with submicron-scale morphological details. This is the first report of fossiliferous amber-rich deposits from the Aptian in Asia. It is also recognized as one of the older amber-rich localities with bio-inclusions following those in northeastern Italy (Carnian, Upper Triassic), the Levantine area (Tithonian, Upper Jurassic; Barremian), Austria (Hauterivian), the United Kingdom (lower Barremian), and southern Congo (upper Aptian). This finding fills a paleobiogeographical gap in fossil record and provides anatomical and ecological insights into a critical interval marked by the rise of modern-type forest ecosystems.
