Grube Messel Pit, grid square F11, 1.0 m above alpha (Eocene of Germany)

Where: Hessen, Germany (49.9° N, 8.8° E: paleocoordinates 46.9° N, 4.8° E)

• coordinate based on nearby landmark

• small collection-level geographic resolution

When: Messel Formation, MP 11 (48.6 - 40.4 Ma)

• ca 1 m above horizon alpha

• bed-level stratigraphic resolution

Environment/lithology: crater lake; lithified claystone

• "A drilling project conducted in 2001 showed that the former Lake Messel was a maar lake, which is a small deep lake that had its origin in an explosive volcanic eruption. The former lake basin had an original diameter of about 1.5 km, and a depth of about 300–400 m (Harms, 2002; Felder & Harms, 2004)."
• "The fossils are embedded in darkly coloured, finely laminated claystone sediments rich in organic substances (‘oil shale’), which were deposited in a meromictic lake (e.g. Goth, 1990)."

Size classes: macrofossils, mesofossils

Preservation: adpression, soft parts

Collected in 1981-1983; reposited in the SMF

Collection methods: quarrying,

Primary reference: G. Tröster. 1994. Neue Arten der Gattung Macropunctum (Insecta, Coleoptera, Elateridae) aus der Olschieferfazies der mitteleozänen Messelformation der Grube Messel bei Darmstadt. Paläontologische Zeitschrift 68:145-162 [M. Clapham/M. Clapham/M. Clapham]more details

Purpose of describing collection: taxonomic analysis

PaleoDB collection 139217: authorized by Matthew Clapham, entered by Matthew Clapham on 09.02.2013

Creative Commons license: CC BY (attribution)

Taxonomic list

Show authors, comments, and common names
Insecta
 Coleoptera - Buprestidae
Buprestinae "indet. 2"1, Buprestinae "indet. 6"1, "Psilopterini "indet. 1"" = Dicercina1, ? Psiloptera "sp. 4"1, "Psiloptera (Damarsila) transversovittata" = Psiloptera transversovittata1
Buprestinae "indet. 2"1 Leach 1815 jewel beetle
SMF MeI 375 (Psiloptera/Dicercomorpha)
Buprestinae "indet. 6"1 Leach 1815 jewel beetle
SMF MeI 242 (Psilopterini/Dicercini)
"Psilopterini "indet. 1"" = Dicercina1 Gistel 1848 jewel beetle
SMF MeI 697
? Psiloptera "sp. 4"1 Dejean 1833 jewel beetle
SMF MeI 626
"Psiloptera (Damarsila) transversovittata" = Psiloptera transversovittata1 Haupt 1950 jewel beetle
SMF MeI 1556
 Coleoptera - Elateridae
Macropunctum senckenbergi n. sp., Macropunctum eocaenicum2, "Macropunctum messelensis" = Macropunctum messelense2, Macropunctum meunieri2, Macropunctum latiscutellum n. sp.
Macropunctum senckenbergi n. sp. Tröster 1994 click beetle
SMF MeI 297, 672, 2549, 3225, 3232
Macropunctum eocaenicum2 Meunier 1921 click beetle
SMF MeI 701, 659 (not 297)
"Macropunctum messelensis" = Macropunctum messelense2 Tröster 1991 click beetle
SMF MeI 675 (not 628, 696)
Macropunctum meunieri2 Tröster 1991 click beetle
SMF MeI 430, 536, 669
Macropunctum latiscutellum n. sp. Tröster 1994 click beetle
SMF MeI 628,2671,5,14,230,244,256,627,696,1055,1399,2591,2882,3411
1Hörnschemeyer and Wedmann 1994; 2Tröster 1991