Agua de las Avispas, Cerro Cachueta (Triassic of Argentina)

Where: Argentina (33.1° S, 69.1° W: paleocoordinates 49.7° S, 34.8° W)

• coordinate estimated from map

• outcrop-level geographic resolution

When: Potrerillos Formation (Uspallata Group), Carnian (237.0 - 228.0 Ma)

Environment/lithology: fluvial; white shale

• The Cuyo Basin may be characterised as a passive rift basin produced as a result of generalised extension induced by crustal thinning and collapse of the Upper Palaeozoic (Gondwana) orogen (Llambías and Sato, 1990, 1995; Spalletti, 1999). It can be defined as a half graben that shows strong asymmetric structural and depositional features, as well as intrabasinal highs or transference zones that delimit different depocentres (Kokogián et al., 1988, 1993; Ramos and Kay, 1991; López Gamundí, 1994; Spalletti, 1999, 2001).
• "The Potrerillos Formation is composed of thick, coarse conglomerates at its base and by thinner conglomerates, sandstones, bentonites, mudstones, and carbonaceous shales in the middle and upper part of the unit. It represents a mix of braided-river channels, floodplain deposits, and high-sinuosity meandering channels." Martins-Neto et al., 2007 Insects come from the upper part of the formation

Size classes: macrofossils, mesofossils

Preservation: mold/impression

Collected in 1958–; reposited in the MACN

Collection methods: quarrying, surface (in situ),

• specimens housed in MACN

•"The fossil insect described in this paper was collected in I958 in the precordilleran region of Mendoza in Argentina by the joint expedition of the Museum of Comparative Zoology and the Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales of Buenos Aires. The specimen was turned over to me for study by a member of the expedition, Professor Bryan Patterson." Carpenter, 1960

Primary reference: R. G. Martins-Neto, O. F. Gallego, and R. N. Melchor. 2003. The Triassic insect fauna from South America (Argentina, Brazil and Chile): a checklist (except Blattoptera and Coleoptera) and descriptions of new taxa. Acta Zoologica Cracoviensia 46(Suppl):229-256 [M. Clapham/J. Karr/M. Clapham]more details

Purpose of describing collection: taxonomic analysis

PaleoDB collection 123008: authorized by Matthew Clapham, entered by Jered Karr on 10.01.2012, edited by Matthew Carrano

Creative Commons license: CC BY (attribution)

Taxonomic list

Show authors, comments, and common names
Insecta
 Odonata - Triassolestidae
Triassothemis mendozensis n. gen. n. sp.2
Triassothemis mendozensis n. gen. n. sp.2 Carpenter 1960 dragonfly
MACN 18040
Osteichthyes
 Dipnoi - Ptychoceratodontidae
Ptychoceratodus cuyanus n. sp.1
Ptychoceratodus cuyanus n. sp.1 Agnolin et al. 2017 lungfish
IANIGLA-PV 415
1Agnolin et al. 2017; 2Carpenter 1960