Fossil
Amber Weevil
Class Insecta,
Order Coleoptera, Family Curculionidae
Geological
Time: Late Cretaceous, Cenomanian Stage (~ 100 million years ago)
Size: Amber:
15 mm long, 10 mm across, Inclusion: 4 mm
Fossil Site:
Hukawng Valley, Kachin State, Myanmar
Code: MYA25
Price: $795.00
|  Description:
It has been said that the biologist J S B Haldane when asked by
some theologians what he could infer about the Creator he is said
to have replied: He has an inordinate fondness for beetles. Indeed
there are some 400,000 known extant species of beetle, about 40
percent of all known insect species. Of those some 60,000 are weevils.
The oldest amber containing insects comes from the deposits of Lebanon
at some 135 million years of age. Deposits in Myanmar, New Jersey,
and Japan are somewhat younger. Burmite holds the most of the Cretaceous
families with some 28 known as of2002, with19 families known at
that time from Lebanon, and some 10 families from New Jersey. As
of 2017 some 5 genera of weevils have been described as inclusions
in Burmite. This specimen comes with a certificate of authenticity
from the Gem and Jewelry Test Center (China).
Reference:
AMNH Novitates, No. 3361, March 26, 2002. Zoological Systematics,
42 (3) July 2017 pp 249-379. |
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