Filamentous micro-organisms, inorganic inclusions and pseudo-fossils in the Miocene amber from Totolapa (Chiapas, Mexico): taphonomy and systematics

Resumen

The amber from Totolapa
(Chiapas, Mexico) is thought to have been secreted by Hymenea sp.
during Early to Middle Miocene time, and then reworked during
Pleistocene ash flow events. Most of this amber is preserved within
pyroclastic sediments. Peripheral layers of amber pieces from
Totolapa yield a wealthy microflora including 1) one morpho-species
of filamentous bacterium, 2) a sheathed bacterium Melanothrix
mexicana gen. sp. nov., 3) five morpho-species of Actinobacteria
(actinomycetes), Scopaeopsis verticillata gen. sp. nov.,
Thermomonosporopsis chiapasensis sp. nov., and three left in open
nomenclature, and 4) diverse fungal mycelia. Melanothrix mexicana,
Thermomonosporopsis chiapasensis, Actinobacteria gen. A sp. A and
fungi were early colonizers of the fluid bark exudates of resin, and
they grew either superficially or centripetally, as observed in
modern resinicolous biota.