Scientists have discovered prehistoric insects preserved in amber for the first time in South America, providing a fresh glimpse into life on Earth at a time when flowering plants were just beginning to diversify and spread around the world.

科学家首次在南美洲发现保存于琥珀中的史前昆虫， 这一发现为研究开花植物刚开始多样化并向全球扩散时期的地球生命提供了新的视角。



Many of the specimens found at a sandstone quarry in Ecuador date to 112 million years ago, said Fabiany Herrera, curator of fossil plants at the Field Museum in Chicago and co-author of the study published Thursday in the journal Communications Earth and Environment.

芝加哥菲尔德博物馆古生物植物馆长、该研究合著者法比安尼·埃雷拉表示，在厄瓜多尔砂岩采石场发现的大量标本可追溯至1.12亿年前， 这项研究于周四发表在《通讯-地球与环境》期刊上。

Almost all known amber deposits from the past 130 million years have been in the Northern Hemisphere, and it's long been "an enigma" that scientists have found few in southern regions that once comprised the supercontinent Gondwana, said David Grimaldi, an entomologist at the American Museum of Natural History who was not involved in the discovery.

过去1.3亿年间几乎所有已知琥珀沉积物都位于北半球，这长期以来都是个“谜题”， 科学家在曾属于冈瓦纳超大陆的南部地区却鲜有发现， 美国自然历史博物馆昆虫学家大卫·格里马尔迪指出，他未参与此次发现。

This marks the first time researchers have identified ancient beetles, flies, ants and wasps in fossilized tree resin in South America, said Ricardo Pérez-de la Fuente, a paleoentomologist at the Oxford University Museum of Natural History, who also was not involved in the new study.

牛津大学自然历史博物馆古昆虫学家里卡多·佩雷斯-德拉富恩特也未参与这项新研究， 他表示这是研究人员首次在南美洲化石树脂中识别出古甲虫、苍蝇、蚂蚁和黄蜂。

"Amber pieces are little windows into the past," Pérez-de la Fuente said, adding that the discovery will help researchers understand the evolving interactions between flowering plants and insects that lived during the era of the dinosaurs.

他说：“琥珀碎片就像通往过去的小窗口”， 并补充道这一发现将帮助研究人员理解恐龙时代开花植物与昆虫之间不断演化的共生关系。

The researchers uncovered hundreds of fragments of amber, some containing ancient insects, pollen and tree leaves, at a sandstone quarry in Ecuador that's on the edge of what is today the Amazon basin.

研究人员在厄瓜多尔一处砂岩采石场发现了数百块琥珀碎片，其中一些含有古昆虫、花粉和树叶化石， 该采石场位于如今亚马逊盆地边缘地带。

But today's rainforest is much different from what dinosaurs roamed through, Herrera said. Based on an analysis of fossils in the amber, the ancient rainforest contained species of ferns and conifers, including the unusual Monkey Puzzle Tree, that no longer grow in Amazonia.

但埃雷拉指出，如今的雨林与恐龙时代大不相同。 根据琥珀中化石的分析，古代雨林生长着蕨类和针叶树， 包括如今不再生长于亚马逊地区的奇特猴谜树。

"It was a different kind of forest," said Herrera.

“那是一种完全不同的森林，”埃雷拉说。

The amber deposits were previously known to geologists and miners who worked at the Genoveva quarry. Study co-author Carlos Jaramillo at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute first heard of them about a decade ago and set out to find the exact location, aided by geology field notes.

地质学家和矿工早已知晓该采石场（热内维瓦采石场）存在琥珀沉积。 研究合著者、史密森尼热带研究所的卡洛斯·哈拉米约约十年前首次听闻此事， 在地质野外笔记的帮助下，他出发寻找确切位置。

"I went there and realized this place is amazing," Jaramillo said. "There's so much amber in the mines," and it's more visible in the open quarry than it would be if hidden under dense layers of vegetation.

“我到那里后发现这个地方太神奇了，”哈拉米约说。 “矿场里到处都是琥珀”，在露天采石场中比被茂密植被覆盖时更容易发现。

Researchers will continue to analyze the amber trove to learn more about Cretaceous-era biodiversity -- including the insects that contributed to evolution by feeding on flowering plants. "Amber tends to preserve things that are tiny," said Grimaldi.

研究人员将继续分析这批琥珀宝藏，以深入了解白垩纪时期的生物多样性——包括通过取食开花植物推动进化的昆虫。 格里马尔迪说：“琥珀往往能保存微小的事物。”

"It's the time when the relationship between flowering plants and insects got started," said Pérez-de la Fuente. "And that turned out to be one of the most successful partnerships in nature."

佩雷斯-德拉富恩特表示：“这正是开花植物与昆虫建立共生关系的时期， 而这也成为了自然界最成功的伙伴关系之一。”

素材来源：iYuba