Adolf Peretti | |
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| Born | 1957 (age 66–67) Switzerland |
| Education | Doctor of Philosophy [1] |
| Alma mater |
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| Occupations |
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| Title | CEO of GRS Gemresearch Swisslab [2] |
Adolf Peretti (born 1957) is a Swiss gemologist, mineralogist, and collector of minerals, amber, and fossils. [3] He discovered the eponymously named mineral Perettiite-(Y) and the holotype specimen of the prehistoric amphibian species Yaksha perettii , making Peretti the only living person to have both an animal and a mineral named after him. [4] Perettiite is also the name of a mineral group comprising Perettiite-(Y) and Badakhshanite-(Y). [5]
Adolf Peretti was born in Switzerland in 1957. [6] He and his twin brother were raised in Cazis and Chur, in Grisons. [4] [7] Peretti began collecting minerals in his youth, accompanying his father on trips to mountains and rivers and using a small hammer to break stones. In the sixth grade, his teachers asked him to exhibit his collection of quartz from Calanda. In 1979, he was recognized by the Swiss Youth Research Foundation (SJf) for his work on minerals in the shist lustre of the Grisons. [3]
Peretti attended the University of Zurich and ETH Zurich (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology), where he was awarded the title Doctor of Sciences (Dr. sc. ETH Zurich). [8] [9] His field research was focused on the areas of the Forno Glacier, Grisons, and the Muretto Pass, and he visited Puschlav and Valtellina Malenco (Italy) to study ore formations in serpentine minerals for his doctorate. [3] He received scholarships from the Swiss National Science Foundation in 1983 and 1985. [3] The European Federation of Geologists awarded him the title EurGeol on September 7, 2000.
Peretti is a gemologist, mineralogist, and researcher who collects amber and fossils. [10] [11] He discovered the mineral Perettiite-(Y) in Momeik, Myanmar, [12] as well as the prehistoric amphibian species Yaksha perettii (which are named after him) [13] and two new species of lizards. [14] He and other scientists identified the new mineral pezzottaite [15] and corrected the crystal structure of painite and johachidolite. [16] [17]
In 2023, he was the only living person to have both an animal and a mineral named after him. [4] [18] Peretti was also involved discovery of the specimen of extinct lizard species Oculudentavis naga , [14] and was among the authors of the papers describing the lizard species Retinosaurus hkamtiensis and Electroscincus zedi . [19] [20]
Peretti heads GRS laboratories, including GRS GemResearch Swisslab AG, GRS (Thailand) Co., Ltd., GRS Lab USA LLC, GRS Lab (Paris) SAS and GRS Lab (Hong Kong) Limited, private laboratories that specialize in determining the origins and treatment of gems and precious stones. [21] In 2020, he founded and continues to serve as director of the Dr Peretti Museum Foundation, [22] a nonprofit organization in Meggen that showcases Peretti's collection of approximately 2,000 fossils, gems, and minerals, [23] [24] including the holotypes of the lizards Retinosaurus hkamtiensis, [19] Oculudentavis naga, [14] Electroscincus zedi, [20] and the amphibian Yaksha perettii, (all of which originate from amber found in different mining areas in Myanmar, including Burmese amber from the Hukawng Valley) and minerals such as pezzottaite, [15] painite, [16] johachidolite, [17] and Perettiite-(Y). [25]
Research on Burmese amber has attracted controversy due to the involvement of the Burmese army and (historically) armed rebel groups like the Kachin Independence Army in its procurement. Peretti has defended collecting Burmese amber in contrast to groups like the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology who have called for a partial moratorium on research on amber collected after 2017 (when the Burmese army took control of the area containing the amber mines), arguing that the amber production collapsed after the Burmese army took over the area, the profits obtained by the Burmese army and rebel groups from amber are limited, and that restrictions only hurt the local miners. However, Peretti has warned that his assessment was made before the ongoing military coup and the recent conflicts with civil society that have emerged since 2021. He emphasizes that significant future developments in internally displaced persons (IDP) camps and mines will likely need careful monitoring. [26]
A gemstone is a piece of mineral crystal which, when cut or polished, is used to make jewelry or other adornments. Certain rocks and occasionally organic materials that are not minerals may also be used for jewelry and are therefore often considered to be gemstones as well. Most gemstones are hard, but some softer minerals such as brazilianite may be used in jewelry because of their color or luster or other physical properties that have aesthetic value. However, generally speaking, soft minerals are not typically used as gemstones by virtue of their brittleness and lack of durability.
Painite is a very rare borate mineral. It was first found in Myanmar by British mineralogist and gem dealer Arthur C.D. Pain who misidentified it as ruby, until it was discovered as a new gemstone in the 1950s. When it was confirmed as a new mineral species, the mineral was named after him.
The Anguimorpha is a suborder of squamates. The group was named by Fürbringer in 1900 to include all autarchoglossans closer to Varanus and Anguis than Scincus. These lizards, along with iguanians and snakes, constitute the proposed "venom clade" Toxicofera of all venomous reptiles.
Albanerpeton is an extinct genus of salamander-like albanerpetontid amphibian found in North America, Europe and Asia first appearing in Cretaceous-aged strata. There are eight described members of the genus, and one undiagnosed species from the Paskapoo Formation, making it by far the most speciose genus in the family. Members of the genus had a robust head and neck which likely allowed them to actively burrow, characteristic of fossorial species, and they lived in a wide range of environments. This genus of amphibian was the last of its order, surviving until into the Early Pleistocene (Gelasian) of northern Italy, and possibly northern Spain, until around 2 million years ago. It likely became extinct when the region developed its present Mediterranean-type climate, having preferred one that was cold and humid. The monophyly of Albanerpeton has recently been questioned, with some authors regarding the genus as paraphyletic.
The Albanerpetontidae are an extinct family of small amphibians, native to the Northern Hemisphere during the Mesozoic and Cenozoic. The only members of the order Allocaudata, they are thought to be allied with living amphibians belonging to Lissamphibia. Despite a superficially salamander-like bodyform, their anatomy is strongly divergent from modern amphibians in numerous aspects. The fossil record of albanerpetontids spans over 160 million years from the Middle Jurassic to the beginning of the Pleistocene, about 2.13–2 million years ago.
Anoualerpeton is an extinct genus of lissamphibian in the family Albanerpetontidae. It is the oldest and most primitive albanerpetontid known. Fossils have been found of two different species, Anoualerpeton priscus from the Middle Jurassic (Bathonian) aged Forest Marble and Kilmaluag formations of England and Scotland, and Anoualerpeton unicus from Late Jurassic-Early Cretaceous (Tithonian-Berriasian) Ksar Metlili Formation of Morocco. A. unicus is the only named albanerpetontid from Gondwana.
Celtedens is an extinct genus of albanerpetontid amphibian from the Early Cretaceous of England, Spain, Sweden and Italy, and the Late Jurassic of Portugal.
Dorsetisaurus is a genus of extinct lizard, known from the Late Jurassic of North America, and the Late Jurassic-earliest Cretaceous of Europe. The genus was first reported from the Early Cretaceous (Berriasian) Lulworth Formation of the Purbeck Group of Durlston Bay, in Dorset. It has also been reported from the Late Jurassic aged Alcobaça Formation of Portugal, the Aptian-Albian Dzunbain Formation of Mongolia, and the Morrison Formation of Western North America present in stratigraphic zones 2, 4, and 5. It is considered the oldest widely accepted member of Anguimorpha. based on the presence of 11 shared synapomorphies.
Paulscherrerite, UO2(OH)2, is a newly named mineral of the schoepite subgroup of hexavalent uranium hydrate/hydroxides. It is monoclinic, but no space group has been determined because no single-crystal study has been done. Paulscherrerite occurs as a canary yellow microcrystalline powdery product with a length of ~500 nm. It forms by the weathering and ultimate pseudomorphism of uranium-lead bearing minerals such as metaschoepite. The type locality for paulscherrerite is the Number 2 Workings, Radium Ridge near Mount Painter, North Flinders Ranges, South Australia, an area where radiogenic heat has driven hydrothermal activity for millions of years. It is named for Swiss physicist Paul Scherrer, co-inventor of the Debye-Scherrer X-ray powder diffraction camera. Study of paulscherrerite and related minerals is important for understanding the mobility of uranium around mining sites, as well as designing successful strategies for the storage of nuclear weapons and the containment of nuclear waste.
Perettiite-(Y) is a complex silicate–borate mineral with the formula Y2Mn4FeSi2B8O24. It was first discovered in 2015 by Adolf Peretti of the Gemresearch Swisslab (GRS). It was found as inclusions in a phenakite crystal from Mogok, Myanmar.
Burmese amber, also known as Burmite or Kachin amber, is amber from the Hukawng Valley in northern Myanmar. The amber is dated to around 100 million years ago, during the latest Albian to earliest Cenomanian ages of the mid-Cretaceous period. The amber is of significant palaeontological interest due to the diversity of flora and fauna contained as inclusions, particularly arthropods including insects and arachnids but also birds, lizards, snakes, frogs and fragmentary dinosaur remains. The amber has been known and commercially exploited since the first century AD, and has been known to science since the mid-nineteenth century. Research on the deposit has attracted controversy due to the potential role of the amber trade in funding internal conflict in Myanmar and hazardous working conditions in the mines where it is collected.
Shirerpeton is an extinct genus of albanerpetontid amphibian from the Early Cretaceous Kuwajima Formation, which is located in Japan. The type species is Shirerpeton isajii, which was described by Masumoto & Evans in 2018. Shirerpeton represents the first record of Albanerpetontidae in East Asia and the holotype is SBEI 2459, a small block bearing most of a disarticulated but associated skull with some postcranial elements present as well.
Chinlestegophis is a diminutive Late Triassic stereospondyl that has been interpreted as a putative stem caecilian, a living group of legless burrowing amphibians. If Chinlestegophis is indeed both an advanced stereospondyl and a relative of caecilians, this means that stereospondyls survived to the present day; historically the group was thought to have gone extinct by the early Cretaceous. Chinlestegophis jenkinsi, the type and only species, is known from two partial skulls discovered in the Chinle Formation in Colorado.
Paleontology or palaeontology is the study of prehistoric life forms on Earth through the examination of plant and animal fossils. This includes the study of body fossils, tracks (ichnites), burrows, cast-off parts, fossilised feces (coprolites), palynomorphs and chemical residues. Because humans have encountered fossils for millennia, paleontology has a long history both before and after becoming formalized as a science. This article records significant discoveries and events related to paleontology that occurred or were published in the year 2018.
Sartorite is a lead arsenic sulfide with the chemical formula PbAs2S4 and as type locality the Lengenbach Quarry in Legenbach, Binnental, Valais, Switzerland. Historically, sartorite has been thought isomorphic to chalcostibite, emplectite, and zinckenite, but was definitively distinguished from the others in 1939.
Burmese amber is fossil resin dating to the early Late Cretaceous Cenomanian age recovered from deposits in the Hukawng Valley of northern Myanmar. It is known for being one of the most diverse Cretaceous age amber paleobiotas, containing rich arthropod fossils, along with uncommon vertebrate fossils and even rare marine inclusions. A mostly complete list of all taxa described up to the end of 2023 can be found in Ross (2024).
Oculudentavis is an extinct genus of lizard of uncertain taxonomic placement, originally identified as an avialan dinosaur. It contains two known species, O. khaungraae and O. naga. Each species is known from one partial fossil specimen in Burmese amber, which differ in several proportions. Their skulls measure 1.4–1.7 centimetres (0.55–0.67 in) in length, indicating that Oculudentavis would have been comparable in size with the modern bee hummingbird if it were an avialan. Both specimens were retrieved from 99-million-year-old deposits of the Hukawng Basin in Kachin State, northern Myanmar. The type specimen of O. khaungraae is embroiled in controversy regarding its identity and the ethical issues surrounding the acquisition and study of Burmese amber. The original description advocating for an avialan identity was published in Nature, but has since then been retracted from the journal.
Yaksha perettii is an extinct species of albanerpetontid amphibian, and the only species in the genus Yaksha. It is known from three specimens found in Cenomanian aged Burmese amber from Myanmar. The remains of Yaksha perettii are the best preserved of all albanerpetontids, which usually consist of isolated fragments or crushed flat, and have provided significant insights in the morphology and lifestyle of the group.
This list of fossil amphibians described in 2020 is a list of new taxa of fossil amphibians that were described during the year 2020, as well as other significant discoveries and events related to amphibian paleontology that occurred in 2020.
Retinosaurus is an extinct genus of scincomorph lizard from the Early Cretaceous of Myanmar. The genus contains a single species, Retinosaurus hkamtiensis, known from a specimen preserved in amber.
