Shrimp fossils found in Burmese amber for the first time

China News Service, Kunming, June 5 (Reporter Hu Yuanhang) A reporter learned from Yunnan University on the 5th that a team of Chinese and foreign scientists discovered shrimp fossils in Burmese amber for the first time.

The study by the China University of Geosciences (Beijing), Yunnan University, Zhong Keyuan Nanjing Institute of Geology and Paleontology, Zhong Keyuan High Energy Physics, Zhong Keyuan Beijing Research Center, Zhong Keyuan University, and Saskatchewan, Canada An international team composed of scholars from the Royal Museum and Harvard University in the United States took several years to complete.

According to reports, amber records of shrimps are extremely scarce worldwide.

The shrimp amber specimens reported this time were produced in Kachin State in northern Myanmar and kept in the Kunming Longyin and Tiger Soul Museum.

"These four shrimps are all larvae, and their heads are approximately the same, which indicates that they were simultaneously wrapped in resin.

Because the carapace of the second abdominal segment of the specimen is triangular, and the middle part of the abdominal segment has a hinged structure, the researchers classified it into the branch branch under the order of Decapoda.

In addition, about 19 beetle larvae were contained in the amber specimens reported this time, belonging to the family Amygdalidae.

According to researchers, the discovery advances the record of shrimps preserved in amber to the Mesozoic era, and provides specific examples of shrimp families in freshwater environments about 99 million years ago, which is of great significance for studying the distribution and evolution of shrimps.