An international team of researchers has described a new species of fossil wasp of the genus Cretifania at the amber site of El Soblo, in Cantabria.
The discovery, published in the scientific journal Palaeoentomology, provides key information on insect diversity during the Cretaceous period and reinforces the importance of the Cantabria region as a global reference for the study of fossil amber, the government said on Tuesday.
The new species, called Cretevania orgonomecorum, comes from a piece of amber dating back to the Central Alpine region (about 105 million years ago), and is distinguished by its large size and unique anatomical features, such as the structure of the antennae and the venation of the wings.
According to the authors, it is one of the largest known specimens within this genus, comparable to species found in Myanmar and China.
The study also includes a revision of the classification of the genus Cretifania and provides new diagnostic characteristics that will aid in species identification in future research.
The scientists explained, “This group could serve as a ‘guidance fossil’ for dating Cretaceous sediments, given its wide distribution and diversity.”
The Minister of Culture, Tourism and Sports, Luis Martínez Abad, expressed his appreciation for El Soplao amber as “a wonderful source of scientific information” and expressed his satisfaction with this new discovery “which places El Sopló as one of the most prominent amber deposits worldwide.”
Enrique Penalver, a researcher at the CN Institute of Geology and Mining in Spain (IGME-CSIC) and co-author of the study, noted that this discovery “expands our knowledge about the evolution of false wasps and confirms the exceptional fossil richness of Spanish amber.”
El Soplao is one of the most important amber deposits in the world, containing more than 1,500 documented fossils and 30 described species to date.
The amber was formed in a coastal ecosystem that combines both continental and marine environments, which has favored the exceptional preservation of these specimens.
The research has been in collaboration with institutions such as IGME-CSIC, the University of Barcelona, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Natural History Museum of the University of Oxford, and the University of Valencia, and has been funded through projects from the Government of Cantabria, the Ministry of Science and Innovation and the General State of Valenciana.