Resin-Embedded Insects and Other Organic Remains from Warkalli Formation, Kerala Coast, India

A resin-embedded male Culex mosquito, beetle larvae and dwelling spaces viz., galleries and chambers of Ambrosia beetle were recovered from the shallow shoreline Tertiary sediments of Warkalli Formation exposed along Kerala coast. Lumps and rods of resin are found associated with the impure lignitic clay beds of the sequence. It indicates that the vegetation growing during that time was dominated by resin producing plants and the conditions were favourable for the insects to get entrapped in the gum. Such organic remains are useful in the study of fossil DNA