Paul Nascimbene

Fossil Insect Research, Preparation

Email:

nashSPAMFILTER@amnh.org

Phone:

212-769-5740

Research Interests

Paul C. Nascimbene, Paleoentomological Research Assistant to David A. Grimaldi, heads up the Fossil Insect Lab.  Paul conducts laboratory and field research on ancient organisms preserved in amber and sedimentary rock, as well as on the physicochemical nature of amber as a fossil substance.  He developed the vacuum-embedding method now used for close preparation and long-term conservation of amber specimens in museum collections (Nascimbene and Silverstein, 2001), and he continues to generate sophisticated protocols for studying and processing fossil resins. Paul has recently participated in several AMNH Expeditions to western India (January 2009, 2010 and 2012) to excavate 52 million-year-old Eocene amber from four localities. He also recovered Triassic amber from the Dolomites of northern Italy (June 2011), as well as Late Cretaceous amber from the Hell Creek Formation of South Dakota (June 2010). Paul has previously participated in AMNH paleontological expeditions to Wyoming and to both southern and northern Alaska, and has even excavated Cretaceous amber from the wilds of central New Jersey.  Paul is past President of the New York Paleontological Society.

Publications

Nascimbene, P. C., Bisulca, C., Greenhut, V. A. and Grimaldi, D. A.  The physical nature of fossil resins. Part I: A comprehensive assessment of age and maturity in ambers and copals based on indentation hardness,in prep.

Grimaldi, D.A., Engel, M.S., Nascimbene, P.C., and Singh, H. Coniopteyrigidae (Neuroptera: Aleuropteryginae) in amber from the Eocene of India and the Miocene of Hispaniola.  Submitted toAmerican MuseumNovitateson4 September 2012.

2012

Schmidt, A. R., Jancke, S. R.,  Ragazzi, E., Roghi, G., Lindquist, E. E., Nascimbene, P. C., Schmidt, K., Wappler, T., Grimaldi, D. A. (2012).  Arthropods in Triassic amber. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 109 (37): 14796–14801.

Sadowski, E. M., Beimforde, C., Gube, M., Rikkinen, J., Singh, H., Seyfullah, L.J., Heinrichs, J., Nascimbene, P.C., Reitner, J., Schmidt, A.R. (2012).  The anamorphic genus Monotosporella (Ascomycota) from Eocene amber and from modern Agathis resin. Fungal Biology, 116: 1099-1110.

Bisulca, C., Nascimbene, P. C., Grimaldi, D. A., Elkin, L. (2012). Variation in the Deterioration of fossil resins, and implications for the conservation of fossils in amber.American Museum Novitates,3734:1-19.

Heinrichs, J., Reiner-Drehwald, M. E., Feldberg, K., von Konrat, M., Hentschel, J., Váňa, J., Grimaldi, D., Nascimbene, P. C., Schmidt, A.R. (2012).  The leafy liverwort Frullania (Jungermanniopsida) in the Cretaceous amber forest of Myanmar. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology, 169: 21-28.

2011

Engel, M. S., Grimaldi, D. A., Nascimbene, P. C., and Singh, H. (2011). The termites of Early Eocene Cambay amber, with the earliest record of the Termitidae (Isoptera). ZooKeys 148: 105–123.                        

Engel, M. S., Grimaldi, D. A., Singh, H., and Nascimbene, P. C. (2011). Webspinners in Early Eocene amber from western India (Insecta, Embiodea).  ZooKeys 148: 197–208.

Beimforde, C., Dörfelt, H., Schäfer, N., Nascimbene, P. C., Singh, H., Heinrichs, J., Reitner, J., Rana, R.S., Schmidt, A. R. (2011).Ectomycorrhizae from a Lower Eocene angiosperm forest. New Phytologist. 192: 988–996.

Heinrichs, J., Reiner-Drehwald, M. E., Feldberg, K., Grimaldi, D.A., Nascimbene, P.C., von Konrat, M., and             Schmidt, A.R. (2011). Kaolakia borealisnov. gen. et sp. (Porellales, Jungermanniopsida): a leafy liverwort from the Cretaceous of Alaska.Review of Paleobotony and Palynology, 165 (3-4): 235-240.

2010

Rust, J., Singh, H., Rana, R. S., McCann, T., Singh, L., Anderson, K. B., Sarkar, N., Nascimbene, P. C., Gerdes, F., Thomas, J. C., Solórzano-Kraemer, M., Williams, C. J., Engel, M. S.,  Sahni, A., and Grimaldi, D. A.  (2010).  Biogeographic and Evolutionary Implications of a Diverse Paleobiota in Amber from the Early Eocene of India. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America,107 (43): 18360-18365.      

Grimaldi, D. A., and Nascimbene, P. C.  (2010). Chapter 11: New Jersey Amber.  InBiodiversity of Fossils in Amber from the Major World Deposits.  David Penney, Editor. Siri Scientific Press, UK.

Schmidt, A. R., Perrichot, V., Svojtka, M., Anderson, K. B., Belete, K. H., Bussert, R., Dörfelt, H., Jancke, S., Mohr, B., Mohrmann, E., Nascimbene, P. C., Nel, A., Nel, P., Ragazzi, E., Roghi, G., Saupe, E., Schmidt, K., Schneider, H., Selden, P. A., and Vávra, N. (2010). Cretaceous African life captured in amber. Proceedings of the National

Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 107 (16): 7329-7334.

2006 and earlier

Christiansen, K., and Nascimbene, P. (2006). Collembola (Arthropoda, Hexapoda) from the mid Cretaceous of Myanmar (Burma).Cretaceous Research, 27: 318-363.

Grimaldi, D., Engel, M. and Nascimbene, P.  (2002). Fossiliferous Cretaceous amber from Myanmar (Burma): its rediscovery, biotic diversity, and paleontological significance.American Museum Novitates, No. 3361

Nascimbene, P. and Silverstein, H.  (2001). The preparation of fragile Cretaceous ambers for conservation and study of its organismal inclusions.  In: Studies on Fossils in Amber, with Particular Reference to the Cretaceous of New Jersey, pp. 93-102.  Edited by D. Grimaldi.  Backhuys Publishers, Leiden, The Netherlands.

Grimaldi, D. and Nascimbene, P. (1997). Vacuum embedding and disintegration of the Type ofSphecomyrma freyi. In: D. Grimaldi, Agosti, D. and Carpenter, J. M. New and rediscovered primitive ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in Cretaceous amber from New Jersey, and their phylogenetic relationships.American Museum Novitates,No. 3208:41-43.

Presentations given at scientific conferences / published abstracts         * talk presented by PCN

2012

Schmidt, A. R., Jancke, S., Lindquist, E. E., Ragazzi, E., Roghi, G., Nascimbene, P., Schmidt, K., Wappler, T. and Grimaldi, D. A. (2012).  Arthropods in Triassic amber. In: Witzmann, F. & Aberhan, M. (eds) Centenary Meeting of
the Paläontologische Gesellschaft. Programme, Abstracts, and Field Guides, September 24-29, 2012, Museum für Naturkunde Berlin, Germany. Terra Nostra 2012/3, 153-154.

* Nascimbene, P.C., Bisulca, C., Elkin, L., and Grimaldi, D.A. (2012). The physicochemical characteristics and conservation of fossil resins (amber). SPNCH Conference, Yale University, New Haven, CT. June 11-16, 2012.

* Nascimbene, P.C., Grimaldi, D.A., Anderson, K.B, Schmidt, A.R., Rust, J., and Williams, C. (2012).  Physicochemical characteristics and conservation of a Class II amber from the Lower Eocene of India, and comparisons with other fossil resins. Field Workshop on Vastan Lignite Mine, Palaeontological Society of India, Surat, Gujarat, Jan 17-19, 2012.

2011

Schmidt, A.R.,  C. Beimforde, H. Dörfelt, P.C. Nascimbene, A. Nel, P. Nel, N. Schäfer, H. Singh, T. Wappler. (2011). New Ascomycota from Eocene forests and their interactions with plants and arthropods. In: The World at the Time of Messel: Puzzles in Palaeobiology, Palaeoenvironment, and the History of Early Primates. 22nd International Senckenberg Conference. 15–19 November 2011. Edited by:Lehmann, T. & Schaal, S.F.K.. pp. 149-150 .

2010

* Nascimbene, P. C., Grimaldi, D. A., Schmidt, A. R., Anderson, K. B., Rust, J., and Williams, C. J.  (2010). Physicochemical comparisons and implications of new amber deposits from the Lower Eocene of India and the Mid Cretaceous of Ethiopia.  Fifth International Conference on Fossil Insects, Capital Normal University, Beijing,  China, Aug 20-25, 2010. p. 155.

Rust, J., Singh, H., Rana, R. S., McCann, T., Singh, L., Anderson, K. B., Sarkar, N., * Nascimbene, P. C., Gerdes, F., Thomas, J. C., Solórzano-Kraemer, M., Williams, C. J., Engel, M. S., Sahni, A., and Grimaldi, D. A.  (2010).  Biogeographic and evolutionary implications of a diverse paleobiota in amber from the Early Eocene of India.  Fifth International Conference on Fossil Insects, Capital Normal University, Beijing, China, Aug 20-25, 2010. p. 164.

Schmidt, A. R., Perrichot, V., Svojtka, M., Anderson, K. B., Belete, K. H., Bussert, R., Dörfelt, H., Jancke, S., Mohr, B., Mohrmann, E., Nascimbene, P. C., Nel, A., Nel, P., Ragazzi, E., Roghi, G., Saupe, E., Schmidt, K., Schneider, H., Selden,  P. A., and Vávra, N.  (2010). The Ethiopian amber forest. Fifth International Conference on Fossil Insects, Capital Normal University, Beijing, China, Aug 20-25, 2010. p. 166.

Wappler, T., McCann, T., Singh, L., Rust, J., Sahni, A., Grimaldi, D., Engel, M. S., Nascimbene, P. C., Gerdes, F., Rana, R. S., and Singh, H.  (2010). Chenier plain sedimentation in the Palaeogene of Gujarat, western India – Fossil insects in amber and their depositional setting. The 8th European Palaeobotany - Palynology  Conference, Budapest, Hungary, July 6-10, 2010.

2007and earlier

* Nascimbene, P. C. (2007).  The geological setting, taphonomy and paleoecology of a deltaic Cretaceous (Turonian) amber-bearing deposit in central New Jersey. Geological Association of New Jersey Annual Conference XXIV: East          Stroudsburg, PA, October 12-13, 2007. pp. 7-8.

Bisulca, C., * Nascimbene, P., Elkin, L., and Grimaldi, D. (2007). A detailed study of deterioration in fossil resins, and implications for conservation of amber fossils. Fourth International Conference on Fossil Insects (FOSSILSX3), May 4-9, 2007. p. 68.

* Nascimbene, P., Bisulca, C., and Grimaldi, D. (2007). Physical properties of amber: an analysis and comparison of the density and hardness of samples from various ages and localities. Fourth International Conference on Fossil Insects (FOSSILSX3), May 4-9, 2007. p. 228.

Grimaldi, D., Nascimbene, P., Luzzi, K., and Case, G.  (1998). North American ambers and an exceptionally diverse deposit from the Cretaceous of New Jersey, USA.  World Congress on Amber Inclusions,Museo de Ciencias Naturales  de Alava,Spain, p. 81.