Enrique Peñalver

Instituto Geológico y Minero de España CSIC

Psocids, commonly known as barklice, are insects belonging to the order Psocodea, together with the parasitic lice. They usually inhabit forest litter or the bark of tree trunks and branches, showing grazing herbivorous or detritivorous feeding habits. The Cretaceous psocid record is diverse, containing more than 70 described species. Here, we pres...

This PDF contains the extensive Supplementary Data of the paper "Amber and the Cretaceous Resinous Event" at the end of it

THE PAPER IS IN OPEN ACCESS IN THE URL: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.earscirev.2023.104486 Amber is fossilized resin that preserves biological remains in exceptional detail, study of which has revolutionized understanding of past terrestrial organisms and habitats from the Early Cretaceous to the present day. Cretaceous amber outcrops are more abund...

Hymenoptera are holometabolous insects corresponding to the fourth most diverse insect order. Based on phylogenetic studies, Hymenoptera are placed as sister group to the rest of holometabolous insects. Traditionally, the order Hymenoptera comprises the groups 'Symphyta' and Apocrita. Within the Apocrita, 'Parasitica' and Aculeata are considered. H...

Resins are substances produced by specialized plant cells with a composition consisting of a complex mixture of terpenoids, both volatile and non-volatile, phenols and other compounds. Other plants secretions are gums, mucilages, waxes, fats, and latex, some of which are also present in the fossil record. The resin-producing plants are members of t...

Feathers are epidermal structures with different degrees of complexity (e.g., filamentous, pennaceous, and vaned feathers) that are present in avian dinosaurs (birds) and some non-avian dinosaurs, and contentiously in pterosaurs. They are composed of fibrous corneous β-proteins and their microstructure is formed by medulla, cortex, and inner and ou...

Pollination is the process that ensures the reproduction, survival, and evolution of plants through time, which is essential for sustaining life in ecosystems. Different external pollen vectors can carry grains to the female reproductive organs, such as wind, water, animals, or a mixture of these. Unlike today, gymnosperms dominated the land surfac...

Extant terrestrial vertebrates, including birds, have a panoply of symbiotic relationships with many insects and arachnids, such as parasitism or mutualism. Yet, identifying arthropod-vertebrate symbioses in the fossil record has been based largely on indirect evidence; findings of direct association between arthropod guests and dinosaur host remai...

Abstract. Inferring insect pollination from compression fossils and amber inclusions is difficult because of a lack of consensus on defining an insect pollinator and the challenge of recognizing this ecological relationship in deep time. We propose a conceptual definition for such insects and an operational classification into pollinator or presume...

Here we present a state of the art of the Upper Carboniferous insects from the Iberian Peninsula, including new fossils of Panorthoptera (Archaeorthoptera), and of the orders Paoliida, Megasecoptera, and Palaeodictyoptera. These fossils are from Gzhelian deposits of different coalfields in León Province (Castilla y León, NW Spain). Among the insect...

When a vertebrate carcass begins its decay in terrestrial environments, a succession of different necrophagous arthropod species, mainly insects, are attracted. Trophic aspects of the Mesozoic environments are of great comparative interest, to understand similarities and differences with extant counterparts. Here, we comprehensively study several e...

OPEN ACCESS: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/spp2.1478 The colonization of freshwater by insects is one of the milestones in the establishment of continental ecosystems and, thus, of life on our planet. However, several key aspects of this process such as patterns of origination, early adaptations and palaeoecological relationship...

Flint was the most widely used lithic raw material in Europe in Prehistory and, more specifically, was a fundamental resource in the economic and social networks of hunter-gatherer groups in the Cantabrian Spain during the Upper Palaeolithic. The undeniable preference for it compared with other resources was due to a series of factors, such as its...

Insect colonization of continental aquatic ecosystems and their immediate surroundings was paramount for the establishment of complex trophic nets and organic‐matter recycling in those environments. True flies and other insects such as mayflies developed crucial ecological roles in early continental aquatic ecosystems, as early as the Triassic. How...

The previous issue of Palaeoentomology brought the first set of papers honoring David A. Grimaldi on the occasion of his 65th birthday. With the current one, it is continued, in recognition of his impact on the fields of amber studies, palaeontology, palaeo- and neoentomology, and evolutionary biology. After the success of Jurassic Park (both the M...

Glaphyrophlebia victoiriensis sp. nov. (Paoliida: Blattinopsidae) is the third Gzhelian representative of the genus and is described based on a beautiful forewing from the Var department in Southern France. Together with the description of another forewing fragment of a Glaphyrophlebia sp. from the Province of León in NW Spain, they improve our kno...

El coleccionismo de fósiles tuvo en la ciudad alicantina de Alcoi de inicios del s. XX el referente del erudito Camilo Visedo Moltó, quien reunió una importante colección de los alrededores de Alcoi que influyó en las investigaciones de paleontólogos españoles y extranjeros. Se muestra el estado actual de este patrimonio mueble, depositado en el Mu...

Peñalver, E. 2022. Evolución de algunos comportamientos en insectos a la luz del estudio del ámbar. eVOLUCIÓN, Boletín de la SESBE, 16 (II): 32- 44. El comportamiento animal es acción, o en ocasiones el cese de la misma. Precisamente, los animales son aquellos seres “que están animados”, cuando se habla de forma muy general y coloquial; este texto...

Glaphyrophlebia victoriensis sp. nov. (Paoliida: Blattinopsidae) is the third Gzhelian representative of the genus and is described based on a beautiful forewing from the Var department in Southern France. Together with the description of another forewing fragment of a Glaphyrophlebia sp. from the Province of León in NW Spain, they improve our know...

A new species, Eltxo grimaldii sp. nov., is described from Spanish Lower Cretaceous (middle Albian) amber from El Soplao, based on a single female. The new species is compared with the other only known species of the genus, Eltxo cretaceus Arillo & Nel, 2000, based on a single male specimen also found in Spanish amber, but slightly younger (Peñacer...

Sysciophlebia ‘sp. form Villablino’, the first Iberian representative of the Palaeozoic–Early Mesozoic family Spiloblattinidae, is described and illustrated. Its forewing colour pattern is strongly similar to those of the Gzhelian–early-middle Asselian species Sysciophlebia euglyptica, Sysciophlebia ilfeldensis, Sysciophlebia rubida, and ‘Sysciophl...

We report a fossil geometrid moth, a male, virtually complete, preserved in a clear piece of Miocene Dominican amber dating from 19 to 16 Mya. Fore- and hindwings appear partially overlapped, and all body characters are visible externally in dorsal and ventral views, including the outer surface of the valvae of the genitalia. The scale pattern on t...

Two new species of the genus Plecia (Diptera: Bibionidae) are described. The only occurrence of the genus Plecia in the Miocene amber of Dominican Republic was formerly identified as P. pristina, a species having previously been described in the Mexican Miocene fauna. The Dominican specimen is hereby studied again and attributed to a new species, P...

Braconid parasitoid wasps are a widely diversified group today, while their fossil record from the Mesozoic is currently poorly known. Here, we describe Utrillabracon electropteron Álvarez-Parra & Engel, gen. et sp. nov. , from the upper Albian (Lower Cretaceous) amber of San Just in the eastern Iberian Peninsula. The holotype specimen is incomplet...

The Cretaceous family Spathiopterygidae (Hymenoptera: Diaprioidea), containing five species in four genera, showed a wide distribution from the upper Barremian to the Turonian. We describe two new representatives of the family from the upper Albian San Just outcrop in the eastern Iberian Peninsula that correspond to Diameneura marveni gen. et sp. n...

Barklice are insects belonging to the order Psocodea. They are herbivorous or detritivorous, and inhabit a wide range of environments. Their oldest fossil record dates back to the late Carboniferous, but it was not until the Cretaceous that they became much more diverse. However, their fossil record could be affected by taphonomic processes due to...

Although specimens in fossil to Recent resins are remarkable for their fidelity of preservation, amber is well known and studied, unlike the younger resins as Pleistocene copal (2.58–0.0117 Ma) and Holocene copal (0.0117 Ma–1760 AD), or Defaunation resin, which is resin produced after 1760 AD. However, the scientific relevance of these younger resi...

Tubuliferan Thysanoptera are extremely uncommon in the fossil record, thus little is our knowledge of their geological history. Here, we describe the first apterous Phlaeothripidae, and the eighth species of Tubulifera, for the entire Mesozoic. It corresponds to a small female preserved in Upper Albian amber of Peñacerrada II outcrop (Álava amber)...

The study of extinct Cretaceous families of Hymenoptera is crucial as it provides unique glimpses into the diversification of the group during a dramatic period in evolutionary history. The †Serphitidae were a family of parasitoid wasps, with representatives distributed worldwide during the Cretaceous, ranging temporally from the Albian through the...

Acercaria is a group of insects comprising the extant orders Psocodea, Thysanoptera, and Hemiptera. The extinct orders †Lophioneurida (late Carboniferous–Late Cretaceous), †Permopsocida (early Permian–Late Cretaceous), †Miomoptera, and †Hypoperlida (both late Carboniferous-late Permian) are also included within Acercaria. †Lophioneurida is grouped...

Spiders are renowned hunters that often efficiently capture prey using a web, the early evolution of which remains obscure as it rarely fossilizes. We report several Cretaceous spider web portions, not single silk strands, preserved in 110- and 105-million-year-old amber (Albian) from five Spanish localities. A partial spider web without prey from...

Dinosaur bonebeds with amber content, yet scarce, offer a superior wealth and quality of data on ancient terrestrial ecosystems. However, the preserved palaeodiversity and/or taphonomic characteristics of these exceptional localities had hitherto limited their palaeobiological potential. Here, we describe the amber from the Lower Cretaceous dinosau...

Specimens in fossil to Recent resins are remarkable for their fidelity of preservation. Amber is well known and studied, contrary to younger resins as Pleistocene copal (2.58-0.0117 Ma) and Holocene copal (0.0117 Ma—1760 AD), or Defaunation resin, which is resin produced after 1760 AD. The scientific relevance of these younger resins preserving art...

Dinosaur bonebeds with amber content, yet scarce, offer a superior wealth and quality of data on ancient terrestrial ecosystems. However, the preserved palaeodiversity and/or taphonomic characteristics of these exceptional localities had hitherto limited their palaeobiological potential. Here we describe the amber from the Lower Cretaceous dinosaur...

The Ribesalbes–Alcora Basin (Castelló Province, Spain) contains two lower Miocene units that are rich in fossils. The Unit B contains oil-shale and laminated bituminous dolomicrite related to a palaeolake, whereas the Unit C is composed of sandstone and mudstone beds from distal deltaic and shallow lacustrine environments. The La Rinconada and San...

Terrestrial isopods (Crustacea: Oniscidea) are a model group for studying the colonization of land. However, their fossil record is remarkably scarce and restricted to amber inclusions, and therefore amber deposits represent valuable windows to their past diversity and morphology. Here we present a new collection of 11 terrestrial isopod specimens...

During the Early–Middle Triassic, the biosphere was recovering from the most severe mass extinction event of multicellular life, in the Permian–Triassic transition. Continental basins corresponding to present-day Mallorca (Balearic Islands, western Mediterranean) were located in the equatorial region of the supercontinent Pangaea, in the western pe...

Chemical analysis of amber, copal, and resin is a valuable tool for interpreting the botanic origin of amber and the ecological role of resin in ancient forests. Here we investigated for the first time the volatile and semi-volatile composition of Cretaceous amber, as well as copal and Defaunation resin produced by trees of the family Araucariaceae...

Australian Anglesea amber, late middle Eocene in age, has been recently reported. It occurs in coal deposits formed in a meandering river system on an Austral subpolar coastal plain during a late Greenhouse Earth event, and contains well-preserved bioinclusions of plants, arthropods and microorganisms. Six specimens of biting midges have been recov...

Five new beaded lacewings (Neuroptera: Berothidae) are described from ca. 105 Ma Spanish amber. A new genus and species, Cantabroberotha soplaensis gen. et sp. nov., are erected based on a complete amber specimen from the El Soplao outcrop (Cantabria, northern Spain). Four indeterminate berothids based on incomplete specimens are described from Peñ...

The early fossilization steps of natural resins and associated terminology are a subject of constant debate. Copal and resin are archives of palaeontological and historical information, and their study is critical to the discovery of new and/or recently extinct species and to trace changes in forests during the Holocene. For such studies, a clear,...

Fossil records of vertebrate integuments are relatively common in both rocks, as compressions, and amber, as inclusions. The integument remains, mainly the Mesozoic ones, are of great interest due to the panoply of palaeobiological information they can provide. We describe two Spanish Cretaceous amber pieces that are of taphonomic importance, one b...

Past claims have been made for fossil DNA recovery from various organisms (bacteria, plants, insects and mammals, including humans) dating back in time from thousands to several million years BP. However, many of these recoveries, especially those described from million-year-old amber (fossil resin), have faced criticism as being the result of mode...

We describe Psyllipsocus yoshizawai sp. nov., the oldest and first Cretaceous species of the extant genus Psyllipsocus (Psocodea: Trogiomorpha: Psyllipsocidae). This is the fifth genus and sixth species to be identified within the family Psyllipsocidae from the Cretaceous and the third genus and fourth species of psyllipsocids from the Cenomanian a...

Recently, the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology (SVP) has sent around a letter, dated 21st April, 2020 to more than 300 palaeontological journals, signed by the President, Vice President and a former President of the society (Rayfield et al. 2020). The signatories of this letter request significant changes to the common practices in palaeontology....

Fossilized remains preserved in amber provide abundant data on the paleobiota surrounding the resin-producing plants, but relatively scarcer information about the resinous sources themselves. Here, dark pseudoinclusions in kidney-shaped amber pieces from the Early Cretaceous (Albian) amber from Spain are studied. This type of fossilized remain, abu...

Two virtually complete termites in Lower Cretaceous amber from the Peñacerrada I outcrop, Spain, are described and figured, representing the most well-preserved Isoptera yet discovered from the Albian stage. The material is described as Ithytermes montoyai gen. et sp. nov., and is similar in many details to the slightly younger Krishnatermes yoddha...

The loss of biodiversity during the Anthropocene is a constant topic of discussion, especially in the top biodiversity hotspots, such as Madagascar. In this regard, the study of preserved organisms through time, like those included in "Madagascar copal", is of relevance. “Madagascar copal" originated from the leguminous tree Hymenaea verrucosa, whi...

The Ribesalbes-Alcora Basin is located in the eastern Iberian Peninsula (Castelló, Spain) and corresponds to a complex graben of Neogene age that extends over an area of 150 km2. Two depositional units in this basin are rich in fossils: unit B, which has provided a diverse fossil assemblage including plants, molluscs, insects and amphibians from a...

Psocodea is an insect order including the parasitic lice (Phthiraptera) and the psocids (‘Psocoptera’), counting more than 10,000 living species known to date. The oldest representative dates from the Moscovian (Carboniferous), but their diversification occurs during the Cretaceous, the amber being the main source of this knowledge. Up to now, four...

The Northern Hemisphere dominates our knowledge of Mesozoic and Cenozoic fossilized tree resin (amber) with few findings from the high southern paleolatitudes of Southern Pangea and Southern Gondwana. Here we report new Pangean and Gondwana amber occurrences dating from ~230 to 40 Ma from Australia (Late Triassic and Paleogene of Tasmania; Late Cre...

Three larval neuropterans (Insecta: Neuropterida) with straight mandibulomaxillary stylets are described from Lower Cretaceous (late Albian, ~105 Ma) Spanish amber: a third-instar beaded lacewing (Berothidae) from the Peñacerrada I locality (Burgos, Spain), and two specimens from the San Just locality (Teruel, Spain), i.e., a tentative first-instar...

A new fossil genus of the family Hybotidae is described, based on male and female specimens. The new genus is monotypic: Syneproctus caridadi gen. et sp. nov. It belongs to the subfamily Hybotinae and shares some characters with the extant genera Syneches Walker, 1852, Stenoproctus Loew, 1858 and Chillcottomyia Saigusa, 1986; however, the differenc...

For the first time, the study of the fossil record present in laminated bituminous dolostones from the San Chils locality, lower Miocene in age (ca. 19 Ma), located at the Ribesalbes-Alcora Basin, is addressed. The identification of 11 families and three genera belonging to six insect orders (Orthoptera, Thysanoptera, Hemiptera, Coleoptera, Hymenop...

Los depósitos del paleolago del Mioceno inferior de la Cuenca de Ribesalbes-Alcora se localizan al SE de la Cordillera Ibérica. Pese a que el registro fósil de su entomofauna ha sido intensamente estudiado desde finales del siglo XX, los ejemplares de los órdenes Coleoptera, Mecoptera, Trichoptera y Lepidoptera aún no han sido descritos ni monograf...

Angiosperms and their insect pollinators form a foundational symbiosis, evidence for which from the Cretaceous is mostly indirect, based on fossils of insect taxa that today are anthophilous, and of fossil insects and flowers that have apparent anthophilous and entomophilous specializations, respectively. We present exceptional direct evidence pres...

Multiple predatory insect lineages have developed a raptorial lifestyle by which they strike and hold prey using modified forelegs armed with spine-like structures and other integumentary specialisations. However, how structures enabling the raptorial function evolved in insects remains largely hypothetical or inferred through phylogeny due to the...

Este número de la revista SJP está dedicado a recoger diferentes perspectivas sobre los fósiles y los yacimientos paleontológicos desde el punto de vista del patrimonio. El patrimonio paleontológico comprende aquellos yacimientos y fósiles a los que se ha otorgado un valor cultural, sea de tipo científi co, educativo o recreativo. Como tal patrimon...

A new Cretaceous dustywing, Soplaoconis ortegablancoi gen. et sp. nov. (Neuroptera: Coniopterygidae), is described from four specimens preserved in Early Cretaceous (Albian, ~105Ma) El Soplao amber (Cantabria, northern Spain). Two additional specimens are assigned to this new taxon. A crossvenational abnormality on an area of diagnostic significanc...

The holotypes of the Cenozoic fossil wasps attributed to the family Figitidae, which were described in the first half of the 20 th century by Charles T. Brues and Georg Statz from Florissant (USA) and Rott-am-Siebengebirge (Germany) sites respectively, have been restudied. The following new taxonomic changes are proposed: Palaeogronotoma? sola (Bru...

Ancient protein analysis is a rapidly developing field of research. Proteins ranging in age from the Quaternary to Jurassic are being used to answer questions about phylogeny, evolution, and extinction. However, these analyses are sometimes contentious, and focus primarily on large vertebrates in sedimentary fossilisation environments; there are fe...