Menat (Clermont-Ferrand collection): Selandian, France

List of taxa
Where & when
Geology
Taphonomy & methods
Metadata & references
Taxonomic list
Insecta - Orthoptera - Acrididae
Insecta - Coleoptera - Buprestidae
Lampra gautieri n. sp. Bruyant 1902
Piton 1940 1 specimen
1 Coll. Faculte des Sciences de Clermont-Ferrand
Insecta - Coleoptera - Tenebrionidae
Nabozhenko and Kirejtshuk 2017 1 specimen
D.MHLCLFE.2016.1.1
see common names

Geography
Country:France State/province:Auvergne County:Puy-de-Dôme
Coordinates: 46.1° North, 2.9° East (view map)
Paleocoordinates:35.6° North, 10.4° East (Wright 2013)
Basis of coordinate:stated in text
Geographic resolution:outcrop
Time
Period: Paleogene Epoch: Paleocene
Stage: Selandian 10 m.y. bin: Cenozoic 1
Key time interval: Selandian
Age range of interval: 61.66 - 59.24 m.y. ago
Stratigraphy
Formation:Menat
Stratigraphy comments: 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 It was previously dated by pollen analysis, mammal stratigraphy, and an unpublished radiometric K/Ar analysis as late Paleocene (see Kedves & Russell 1982).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.
Lithology and environment
Primary lithology: diatomite
Lithology description: spongo-diatomitic
Environment:crater lake Tectonic setting:volcanic basin
Geology comments: Volcanic Paleolake (maar) deposit
Taphonomy
Modes of preservation:mold/impression
Size of fossils:macrofossils,mesofossils
Collection methods and comments
Collection methods:survey of museum collection
Reason for describing collection:taxonomic analysis
Metadata
Database number:113750
Authorizer:M. Clapham Enterer:J. Karr, M. Clapham
Modifier:M. Clapham Research group:paleoentomology
Created:2011-08-04 15:33:46 Last modified:2025-02-22 15:12:02
Access level:the public Released:2011-08-04 15:33:46
Creative Commons license:CC0
Reference information

Primary reference:
36944. F. E. Zeuner. 1943. The fossil Acrididae (Orth. Salt. ) Part IV Acrididae incertae sedis and Addendum to Catantopinae. The Annals and Magazine of Natural History, Eleventh Series 11:359-383 [M. Clapham/J. Karr/M. Clapham]

Secondary references:

36979 A. G. Kirejtshuk, A. Nel, and F. Collomb. 2010. New Archostemata (Insecta: Coleoptera) from the French Paleocene and Early Eocene, with a note on the composition of the suborder. Annales de la Société Entomologique de France 46(1-2):216-227 [M. Clapham/J. Karr]
63455 M. Nabozhenko and A. Kirejtshuk. 2017. The oldest opatrine terrestrial darkling beetle (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae: Tenebrioninae) from the Paleocene of Menat (France). PalZ 91:307-313 [M. Clapham/M. Clapham]
38896 A. Nel. 2004. New and poorly known Cenozoic sawflies of France (Hymenoptera, Tenthredinoidea, Pamphilioidea). Deutsche Entomologische Zeitschrift 2:253-269 [M. Clapham/J. Karr/M. Clapham]
36994 A. Nel and J. C. Paicheler. 1994. Les Lestoidea (Odonata, Zygoptera) fossiles: Un inventaire critique. Annales de Paléontologie 80(1):1-59 [M. Clapham/J. Karr/J. Karr]
38448 L. Piton. 1940. Paléontologie du Gisement Éocéne de Menat (Puy-de-Dôme) (Flore et Faune) 1-303 [M. Clapham/J. Karr/M. Clapham]