Menat (Olivier collection) (Paleocene of France)

Where: Auvergne, France (46.1° N, 2.9° E: paleocoordinates 40.3° N, 0.7° E)

• coordinate stated in text

• outcrop-level geographic resolution

When: Menat Formation, Selandian (61.6 - 59.2 Ma)

• The estimated age of the Menat site varies. It was previously dated by pollen analysis, mammal stratigraphy, and an unpublished radiometric K/Ar analysis as late Paleocene (see Kedves & Russell 1982). However, several lines of more recent evidence indicate an older, middle Paleocene (Selandian) age, of about 60-61 Ma. Paleomagnetic studies reveal that the eruption took place during a reversed interval (Kedves & Russell 1982). Fossils of the mammal Plesiadapis from Menat enable the locality to be connected to the biostratigraphic framework established in the Western Interior USA that relies extensively on this genus (Gingerich 1976; Secord et al. 2006). The abundance of the genus, its rapid evolution, and its Holarctic dispersal history allow species of Plesiadapis to play an important role in the zonation of Paleocene continental sediments and in correlation of faunas on both sides of the North Atlantic (e.g., Gingerich 1976). Two remarkable skeletons of P. insignis, one of them nearly complete, have been found in lake deposits at Menat, and this species closely compares to P. praecursor / P. anceps in North America (pers. comm. P. Gingerich August 2008). This suggests an early Selandian age, equivalent to the early Tiffanian Ti-1/Ti-2 land mammal biozonation sensu Secord et al. (2006) (see also Gingerich 1976; Russell 1967, 1975). In North America, the Ti1 and Ti2 biozones occur within magnetic polarity Chron 26r (Secord et al. 2006), consistent with the reversed polarity of the Menat sediments.

Environment/lithology: crater lake; diatomite

• Volcanic Paleolake (maar) deposit
• spongo-diatomitic

Size classes: macrofossils, mesofossils

Preservation: mold/impression

Collected by Olivier; reposited in the MNHN

Primary reference: A. Nel. 1989. Les Gyrinidae fossiles de France (Coleoptera). Annales de la Société Entomologique de France 25(3):321-330 [M. Clapham/J. Karr/M. Clapham]more details

Purpose of describing collection: taxonomic analysis

PaleoDB collection 120579: authorized by Matthew Clapham, entered by Jered Karr on 18.11.2011, edited by Matthew Clapham

Creative Commons license: CC BY (attribution)

Taxonomic list

Insecta
 Orthoptera - Elcanidae
Cenoelcanus menatensis n. gen. n. sp.5
Cenoelcanus menatensis n. gen. n. sp.5 Schubnel et al. 2020 grasshopper
MNHN.F.A71198
 Orthoptera -
Caelifera "indet. A"5 Ander 1936 grasshopper
MNHN.F.A71197
 Mantodea - Chaeteessidae
Arvernineura insignis4 Piton 1940 mantis
MNHN-LP R 10427
 Hymenoptera - Siricidae
Urocerus ligniticus3 Piton 1940 horntail
MNHN IPM-R07722
 Hymenoptera - Formicidae
Tyrannomecia inopinata n. gen. n. sp.1
Tyrannomecia inopinata n. gen. n. sp.1 Jouault and Nel 2021 bulldog ant
MNHN.FA71374
 Coleoptera - Gyrinidae
Orectochilus sp. Dejean 1833 whirligig beetle
MNHN IPM-R07723
 Coleoptera - Cupedidae
Cupedinae "indet. 4"2, Cupes manifestus2, "Mesocupes (Cainomerga) spp." = Cainomerga2, "? Mesocupes (Cainomerga) "sp. 2"" = Cainomerga2, "? Mesocupes (Cainomerga) "sp. 3"" = Cainomerga2, "Mesocupes (Cainomerga) ponti n. sp." = Cainomerga ponti2, "Mesocupes (Cainomerga) palaeocenicus n. sp." = Cainomerga palaeocenica2
Cupedinae "indet. 4"2 Lacordaire 1857 reticulated beetle
MNHN.F.A57529, 57530
Cupes manifestus2 Kirejtshuk et al. 2010 reticulated beetle
MNHN.F.A57526, 57527
"Mesocupes (Cainomerga) spp." = Cainomerga2 Kirejtshuk et al. 2016 reticulated beetle
MNHN.F.A57520, 57521
"? Mesocupes (Cainomerga) "sp. 2"" = Cainomerga2 Kirejtshuk et al. 2016 reticulated beetle
MNHN.F.A57522
"? Mesocupes (Cainomerga) "sp. 3"" = Cainomerga2 Kirejtshuk et al. 2016 reticulated beetle
MNHN.F.A57523
"Mesocupes (Cainomerga) ponti n. sp." = Cainomerga ponti2 Kirejtshuk et al. 2016 reticulated beetle
MNHN.F.A51116
"Mesocupes (Cainomerga) palaeocenicus n. sp." = Cainomerga palaeocenica2 Kirejtshuk et al. 2016 reticulated beetle
MNHN.F.A51117