Grube Messel grid square G8, 0.3-0.7 m above alpha marker (Eocene of Germany)

Also known as Messel Pit

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)

• "lower Middle Eocene, lower-most Geiseltalian, Mammal Paleogene level 11... 0.3-0.7 m above local stratigraphic marker Alpha."

• bed-level stratigraphic resolution

Environment/lithology: crater lake; lithified, carbonaceous 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 class: macrofossils

Preservation: adpression, soft parts

Reposited in the SMF

Collection methods: quarrying,

Primary reference: T. Wappler and E. Heiss. 2006. Flatbugs from Paleogene limnic sediments. I. Messel maar (Heteroptera: Aradidae). Polskie Pismo Entomologiczne 75:207-217 [M. Clapham/J. Karr]more details

Purpose of describing collection: taxonomic analysis

PaleoDB collection 144628: authorized by Matthew Clapham, entered by Jered Karr on 14.05.2013

Creative Commons license: CC BY (attribution)

Taxonomic list

Show authors, comments, and common names
Insecta
 Hemiptera - Aradidae
Neuroctenus messelensis n. sp.
Neuroctenus messelensis n. sp. Wappler and Heiss 2006 flat bug
SMF MeI 6113