Filamentous micro-organisms in Upper Cretaceous amber (Martigues, France)

Simona Saint Martin (1) , Jean-Paul Saint Martin (2) , Vincent Girard (3) , Danièle Grosheny (4) , Didier Néraudeau (1)

1 GR - Géosciences Rennes
2 CR2P - Centre de recherche sur la Paléobiodiversité et les Paléoenvironnements
3 CBAE - Centre de Bio-Archéologie et d'Ecologie
4 EOST - Ecole et Observatoire des Sciences de la Terre

This paper documents for the first time microfossils in Upper Cretaceous (Santonian) amber from Martigues. Filamentous structures assigned to Prokaryotes and Eukaryotes are described. We show that the distribution of these filaments is closely related to the two types of amber encountered: red translucent, drop-shaped pieces and opaque to milky nuggets. The diversity and the constant occurrence of filaments in all studied pieces of amber reflect an exceptional filamentous resinicolous micro-world.

Keywords: Amber; Santonian; SE France; Filamentous microfossils

Domains: Paleontology

Simona Saint Martin, Jean-Paul Saint Martin, Vincent Girard, Danièle Grosheny, Didier Néraudeau. Filamentous micro-organisms in Upper Cretaceous amber (Martigues, France). Cretaceous Research, 2012, 35, pp.217-229. ⟨10.1016/j.cretres.2012.01.003⟩. ⟨insu-00700839⟩