The French ambers: a general conspectus and the Lowermost Eocene amber deposit of Le Quesnoy in the Paris Basin

Abstract

Aconspectus of the current knowledge on the French ambers is proposed. France is a very rich country with more than seventy localities known after the 'old' literature, especially from the Jurassic, Cretaceous and Paleogene. A more detailed new insectiferous amber locality is given for the amber from Le Quesnoy (Lowermost Eocene, Oise department, Paris Basin, France). After the preliminary survey of the flora and the vertebrate and arthropod faunas, we propose a reconstruction of a fluvio-lacustrine palaeoenvironment with a forest, under a warm and wet seasonal climate. This site is outstanding because of the richness, diversity and the state of preservation of the fossils. The present discovery opens a remarkable window on the terrestrial life during the earliest Eocene. It shows that future researches on the 'old' French amber localities shall be crucial for our knowledge on the evolution and diversity of the insects during the Mesozoic and Early Cenozoic.