Amber

Jumping bristletails (order Archaeognatha), the basalmost order of extant insects, include some of the earliest fossil records among hexapods, yet their overall geological occurrence remains sparse and has provided little insight into their evolution. The earliest representatives of crown-group bristletails are those in Lebanese amber (Cretaceous), hitherto known only from a single species. Here we significantly expand the known fossil record of Archaeognatha, and from the prolific Lower Cretaceous (Barremian) deposits of Lebanon. One new genus and species, Glaesimeinertellus intermedius gen. et sp. nov., and one new species, Macrop-sontus bachae sp. nov., are described and figured from Hammana amber, whereas one additional Macropsontus species , M. azari sp. nov., and one meinertellid morphotype are described and figured from Al-Rihan amber. The new taxa are compared with their modern and fossil relatives. Collectively , the new taxa render the Archaeognatha fauna from Lebanese amber the earliest with sufficient preservation to provide character data comparable to modern forms, highlighting the considerable morphological conservatism within the order.

The first find of Trichoceridae in the Mesozoic of Gondwana and in Cretaceous ambers worldwide, Ewaurista pusilla gen. et sp. nov. is separated into Ewauristinae subfam. nov. demonstrating some venational traits in common with Limoniidae (R2+3 transformed into terminal crossvein; crossvein sc-r subterminal) and an inverted sexual dimorphism (males larger with larger pedicel and broader wings). With the wing length below 2 mm, E. pusilla is the smallest trichocerid. The new genus represents the lowest latitude record for the family (ca. 9° paleoN) and a very warm and humid paleoenvironment; it was probably distinct from other trichocerids in its life mode no less than structurally. The diagnosis of Trichoceridae is emended, and relationships of the family are discussed. In our opinion, Trichoceridae are the most primitive living Diptera, survivors from the group basal for the order (archaic Tipulomorpha), sharing most of the adult characters with their immediate derivatives, Limoniidae and other Tipuloidea, and at the same time many immature characters with Anisopodoidea and their allies (including Brachycera).

The purpose of the article is to reveal the popular idea in ancient world of amber as a healing and protecting amulet. This meaning was indirectly transmitted to the Western Baltic territories. Comparing the chronological prevalence of amber artifacts in different territories of Barbarianicum there is an obvious spread of new shapes of the articles and new ideas from the ancient world to the Baltic territories. The antique written sources and archaeological material reveal the similarities in use of amber in the cultures that are far away from each other. In both cultures being of a different development level amber was equally appreciated. Its origin was related with the mythology of these cultures and it was understood as capable of healing and protecting against enemies, sinister eye, diseases etc.

Цель статьи — раскрыть распространенную в античном мире идею о янтаре, как исцеляющем, предохраняющем амулете, а также показать ее косвенную передачу на территории западных балтов. Сравнивая хронологию янтарных предметов, которые появились на разных территориях Барбарикума, очевидно движение новых форм изделий, в том числе и новых идей, из античного мира к территории балтов. Античные письменные источники и археологические материалы показывает сходство применения янтаря в обеих, далеких друг от друга, культурах. Янтарь, в культурах разного развития одинаково высоко ценился, его происхождение связывали с мифологией, его воспринимали как оберег и лечебное средство.

Amber artefacts in the communities of West Balts played role not only as a fashion jewellery but keeps also mythological meaning, expressed people's worldview. Legend, myths, folktales are common to every culture. They all aim to provide explanations for significant phenomena that were important to the person at that time and amber was one of those. Amber attracted man since prehistoric times. Glorified in songs and legends, made famous by poets and scholars of Antiquity, it became part of the history of human culture. Just as long ago, also nowadays amber is called sun-stone, pearl of the Baltic Sea.
The aim of the article is to compare mythological meaning of amber artefacts belonging to one of the Western Balts tribes, Curonians (kuršiai), and similar heritage of other communities’ folklore.

The research on the prehistoric amber trade in Europe has always been a
traditional field of investigation of the modern archaeology (i.e. the debate on the so called “Kakovatos” spacers and the Tiryns type amber beads).
Amber trade topic is frequently considered as part of the phenomenon of the long distance exchanges, which connected, in the II millennium B.C., the Aegean and the Levant Mediterranean to the Northern Europe. Moreover for some scholars the appearance in Europe of vitreous materials beads of Mediterranean origin is traditionally linked to the “commerce” of the Baltic amber.
In Italy, in the last two decades, multidisciplinary research have allowed the first archaeological and archaeometrical characterization of vitreous materials beads of the Bronze Age (Bellintani 2011) and the implementation of the analytical data regarding the provenance of the archaeological amber (Angelini, Bellintani 2005).
At Campestrin di Grignano Polesine (Salzani 2011) – a site chronologically and geographically close to Frattesina – has been recently discovered a workshop dedicated to the amber production which sheds new light in the debate concerning the production of the Tiryns type amber beads and the role of Northeastern Italy as a sort of bridging point from the Mediterranean to central and northern Europe (Bellintani et al. in press).
During the Late Bronze Age, in North-eastern Italy, there are three other
important questions related to the long-distance trading topic: the presence of Mycenaean and Italo-Mycenaean pottery sherds in several sites of the Lower Adige Plain (Jones et al. 2014); the exploitation of the copper resource of the Central-eastern Alpine region (Cierny 2008); the diffusion, north of the Alps, of vitreous materials beads of Aegean or Levantine origin.
The main aims of our speech will concern:
- An updated framework of the research on amber and vitreous materials in the North-eastern Italy between the Late and Final Bronze Age (between the thirteenth and tenth centuries BC), and a more specific relative chronology of the glass beads of Aegean and/or Levantine origin recovered in Northern Italy;
- The cultural interactions observed through the different use of amber and glass ornaments in the central Mediterranean and in the Aegean;
- The role of the Central-eastern Alpine region in the diffusion of Levantine, Aegean and Italian glass ornaments in central and northern Europe.

Baltic amber’s popularity and its role in various cultures, from the prehistoric to the contemporary, is a very broad and complex subject. Therefore in this text I present an overview of selected cultural links and ways of using amber in different times.
There were various attempts to explain the origin of the Baltic fossil resin in the beliefs of many cultures. However, if we look closely at the mythological traditions, we will find that those legends are similar to each other. In Greece the origin of amber was associated with the story of Phaeton, the son of Helios the sun god. The story is told for example in Ovid’s Metamorphoses. They were very popular in the 16th and 17th centuries, translated into many languages, including by art theoreticians (Carel van Mander). The fragment concerning the story of Phaeton and the origin of amber was not often visualised by artists (Goltzius, Santi di Tito, Hans van Aachen).
Humankind has been using Baltic amber since time immemorial. The magical function of amber artefacts very quicky began to be combined with an aesthetical role. Early Modern objects made of multicoloured amber were diplomatic gifts, aristocratic wedding presents and an object of desire of dedicated collectors. It became, as it were, a mirabilium or treasure coveted by collectors. Surrounded with a peculiar aura and care, with time it became a collector’s item and finally also an object of research.

Ticks are currently among the most prevalent blood-feeding ectoparasites, but their feeding habits and hosts in deep time have long remained speculative. Here, we report direct and indirect evidence in 99 million-year-old Cretaceous amber showing that hard ticks and ticks of the extinct new family Deinocrotonidae fed on blood from feathered dinosaurs, non-avialan or avialan excluding crown-group birds. A †Cornupalpatum burmanicum hard tick is entangled in a pennaceous feather. Two deinocrotonids described as †Deinocroton draculi gen. et sp. nov. have specialised setae from dermestid beetle larvae (hastisetae) attached to their bodies, likely indicating cohabitation in a feathered dinosaur nest. A third conspecific specimen is blood-engorged, its anatomical features suggesting that deinocrotonids fed rapidly to engorgement and had multiple gonotrophic cycles. These findings provide insight into early tick evolution and ecology, and shed light on poorly known arthropod–vertebrate interactions and potential disease transmission during the Mesozoic.

Parental care in animal evolution has long fascinated biologists, but tracing this complex of behavioural repertoires is challenging, as these transitory states often leave no corporeal traces as fossils. Among modern invertebrates, the tanaidaceans (Malacostraca: Peracarida), a lineage of marsupial crustaceans, show an interesting variety of brooding strategies. Here we report on fossil tanaidaceans from the Cretaceous of Spain and France that provide conclusive evidence for marsupial care of brood-offspring. Two exceptionally preserved female specimens of Alavatanais carabe and A. margulisae from Late Albian Peñacerrada I amber (Spain) possess four pairs of rudimentary oostegites, indicating formation of a marsupium. From Recent data, given the taxonomic distribution of a marsupium of four pairs of oostegites, we hypothesize that this may be plesiomorphic for the Tanaidomorpha. We also report on a peculiar tanaidacean specimen referable to the fossil family Alavatanaidae, Daenerytanais maieuticus gen. et sp. nov., from Early Cenomanian La Buzinie amber (France), preserved with its marsupial pouch and content. Our discoveries provide early evidence of the peracarid reproductive strategy, as seen in modern Tanaidacea, and argue that this form of parental care may have played a role in the diversification of the lineage during this period. The fossil record provides a rich and valuable repository of behavioural and evolutionary developments despite the influence of biases in preservation or density of taxonomic representation. Many behaviours are fleeting, uncommonly leaving behind trace fossils, and are therefore captured by exceptional 'frozen moments' or are inferred indirectly from functional morphology. Nonetheless, the behaviours of extinct species are critical to understanding the totality of their lives; for placing them within broader palaeoecological settings; and for revealing intra-and interspecific interactions that were undoubtedly at play. They are also critical for the documentation of evolutionary novelties and trends, and understanding phylogenetic relationships. The study of parental care is especially important, as its appearance and development are closely linked with other key traits in evolutionary biology 1. The evolution of parental care also has significant implications for understanding the complex interplay between ecology, life history, and the social environment 2. Parental care, traditionally dubbed 'subsociality' , is defined as any trait shown by parents that increases the survival and growth of their offspring, and persists when favouring the survival of the species 1. The degree of parental care differs widely and is exhibited by a broad range of animal taxa; it varies with respect to duration, as well as the form, level, and the extent to which it is provided by the mother, father, or both parents 3. Parental care is thought to have evolved independently numerous times among invertebrates 3–5 , including various lineages of crustaceans 6. A notable example of parental care among the Crustacea is the marsupial Peracarida, a group that includes the order Tanaidacea. As with most of the related amphipods, cumaceans, isopods, and (doubtfully) mysids, female tanaidaceans have a specialized structure in the form of a ventral brood pouch (marsupium) that retains and protects their eggs and embryos until they emerge as mancae, or juveniles (which is also a defining condition of the peracarids) 7 .