Discovery of perfectly preserved insects in amber from a lignite mine in Gujarat has challenged the assumption that India was an isolated island continent about 52 million years ago.
A team of German, Indian and US scientists have found a trove of insects in a newly-excavated amber deposit from the Vastan lignite mine, 30km northeast of Surat, in a geological zone called the Cambay Shale.
The arthropods -- bees, termites, spiders, and flies -- found in the Cambay deposit are not unique as would be expected on an island but rather have close evolutionary relationships with fossils from other continents, said the scientists detailing their findings in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
A team of German, Indian and US scientists have found a trove of insects in a newly-excavated amber deposit from the Vastan lignite mine, 30km northeast of Surat, in a geological zone called the Cambay Shale.
The arthropods -- bees, termites, spiders, and flies -- found in the Cambay deposit are not unique as would be expected on an island but rather have close evolutionary relationships with fossils from other continents, said the scientists detailing their findings in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
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