Geology

Biology

Cretaceous

Paleontology

Ecology

Limpet

Ammonite

Gastropoda

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

Significance Aquatic organisms are rarely found in amber, but when they occur they provide invaluable evidence for the better understanding of amber taphonomy and past ecosystems. We report an ammonite and several marine gastropods alongside a mixed assemblage of intertidal and terrestrial forest floor organisms in mid-Cretaceous Burmese amber. Our discovery indicates that the Burmese amber forest was living near a dynamic and shifting coastal environment. The ammonite also provides supporting evidence for the age of the amber, which is still debated, and represents a rare example of dating using fossils present inside the amber.

An ammonite trapped in Burmese amber