Mintaja 1 outcrop, Hill River region (Jurassic of Australia)

Where: Western Australia, Australia (30.3° S, 115.2° E: paleocoordinates 39.3° S, 56.2° E)

• coordinate estimated from map

• outcrop-level geographic resolution

When: Cattamarra Coal Measures Formation, Toarcian (182.7 - 174.1 Ma)

• group of beds-level stratigraphic resolution

Environment/lithology: interdistributary bay; lithified siltstone

• Due to a lack of flow-indicative sedimentary structures, the Mintaja fossil layer is thought to have been deposited in a quiescent, subaqueous environment with no or little fluvial influence, although the coarse silt grain-size and common, highly fragmented plant material suggests a shallow depth for this water body. A lack of coaly or lignitic layers within the fossil-bearing sediments indicates oxygenated conditions at the sediment–water interface, so that organic material decayed rather than being preserved, preventing any build-up of organic material. This suggests deposition in a shallow pool, as opposed to a mire or swamp. The hypothesized conditions fit well with the overall interpretation of the Cattamarra Coal Measures as a delta-plain deposit, with fine-grained sediments (such as at Mintaja) representing deposition in interdistributary bay environments (Mory, 1994).

Size class: macrofossils

Collected by AJ Mory in 1989; reposited in the WAM

Primary reference: S. K. Martin. 2008. A new protorhyphid fly (Insecta: Diptera: Protorhyphidae) from the Lower Jurassic of the Perth Basin, Western Australia. Alavesia 2:253-257 [M. Clapham/M. Clapham]more details

Purpose of describing collection: taxonomic analysis

PaleoDB collection 114239: authorized by Matthew Clapham, entered by Matthew Clapham on 12.08.2011

Creative Commons license: CC BY (attribution)

Taxonomic list

Insecta
 Dicondylia -
Coleoptera "body sp. 1 cf. Ademosyne"2 Linnaeus 1758 beetle
WAM 08.191, 08.192, 08.193, 08.65, 08.209, and 5 other abdominal sclerites
Coleoptera "body sp. 2"2 Linnaeus 1758 beetle
WAM 08.194, 08.195, 08.197 and 1 abdominal sclerite, 08.196, 08.96, 08.97, 08.141, 08.196, 08.198, 08.223 and 103 other elytra
Coleoptera "body sp. 3"2 Linnaeus 1758 beetle
WAM 08.199, 08.200, and 12 other metasternites
Coleoptera "elytra sp. 1"2 Linnaeus 1758 beetle
WAM 08.201 and 26 other elytra
Coleoptera "elytra sp. 2"2 Linnaeus 1758 beetle
WAM 08.202, 08.203, and 23 other elytra
Coleoptera "elytra sp. 3"2 Linnaeus 1758 beetle
WAM 08.204, 08.69, 08.96, 08.131, 08.190, 08.203, 08.205, and 29 other elytra
Coleoptera "elytra sp. 4"2 Linnaeus 1758 beetle
WAM 08.206, 08.207, 08.72, 08.98, 08.159, 08.220, and 37 other elytra
Coleoptera "elytra sp. 5"2 Linnaeus 1758 beetle
WAM 08.208, 08.196, 08.170, 08.223, and 93 other elytra
Coleoptera "elytra sp. 6"2 Linnaeus 1758 beetle
WAM 08.209, and 3 other elytra
Coleoptera "elytra sp. 7"2 Linnaeus 1758 beetle
WAM 08.210
Coleoptera "head sp. 1"2 Linnaeus 1758 beetle
WAM 08.211, 08.212
Coleoptera "head sp. 2"2 Linnaeus 1758 beetle
WAM 08.213, 08.214, and 12 other pronota
Coleoptera "promotum sp. 1"2 Linnaeus 1758 beetle
WAM 08.215
Coleoptera "pronotum sp. 2"2 Linnaeus 1758 beetle
WAM 08.192
Coleoptera "metasternite sp. 1"2 Linnaeus 1758 beetle
WAM 08.216
Coleoptera "ventrite sp. 1"2 Linnaeus 1758 beetle
WAM 08.217
Coleoptera "abdomen sp. 1"2 Linnaeus 1758 beetle
WAM 08.218, 08.219, and 4 other associated abdominal sclerites
Coleoptera "abdomen sp. 2"2 Linnaeus 1758 beetle
WAM 08.222, and 3 other associated abdominal sclerites
Coleoptera indet.2 Linnaeus 1758 beetle
WAM 08.192, 08.211, 08.58, 08.69, 08.78, 08.131, 08.207, 08.225, 08.95, 08.131, 08.76, and unregistered specimens
 Coleoptera - Trachypachidae
cf. Ademosynoides sp.2 Dunstan 1923 false ground beetle
WAM 08.186, 08.187, and 52 others
 Coleoptera -
Zygadenia westraliensis2 Riek 1968 beetle
WAM 08.172
Zygadenia martinae n. sp.1 Jarzembowski et al. 2015 beetle
WAM 08.173, 08.47 and 11 others
Tillyardiopsis sp.2 Dunstan 1923 beetle
WAM 08.189, 08.226, and 3 others
 Coleoptera - Schizocoleidae
Mesolobites sp.2 Carpenter 1986 beetle
WAM 08.183, 08.184, and 5 others
Reeveana sp.2 Dunstan 1923 beetle
WAM 08.185 and 23 otheres
 Coleoptera - Ommatidae
Ommatidae "head sp. 1"2 Sharp and Muir 1912 beetle
WAM 08.178
Tetraphalerus sp.2 Waterhouse 1901 beetle
WAM 08.174, 08.175, 08.177, 08.224, 1 body, 7 abdominal sclerites, 40 elytra
 Coleoptera - Elateridae
Elateridae "pronotum sp. 1"2 Leach 1815 click beetle
WAM 08.181 and 2 others
Elateridae "pronotum sp. 2"2 Leach 1815 click beetle
WAM 08.182
Lithomerus wunda n. sp.2 Martin 2010 click beetle
WAM 08.179, 08.180
 Coleoptera - Permosynidae
Platycrossos sp.2 Dunstan 1923 beetle
WAM 08.188 and 5 others
 Coleoptera -
Ulomites sp.2 Tillyard 1916 beetle
WAM 08.114, 08.190, and 3 others
 Blattaria - Caloblattinidae
Caloblattinidae "indet. 1"3 Vršanský and Ansorge 2000 cockroach
WAM 08.80-87
Caloblattinidae "indet. 2"3 Vršanský and Ansorge 2000 cockroach
WAM 08.76
Caloblattinidae "hind wing sp. 1"3 Vršanský and Ansorge 2000 cockroach
WAM 08.78, 79
Rhipidoblattina boya n. sp.3 Martin 2010 cockroach
WAM 08.75, 125, 77
 Dicondylia -
Blattodea "hind wing sp. 1"3 Latreille 1810 cockroach
WAM 08.120
Blattodea "clavus sp. 1"3 Latreille 1810 cockroach
WAM 08.124, 126-129
Blattodea "clavus sp. 2"3 Latreille 1810 cockroach
WAM 08.130-147, 157
Blattodea "clavus sp. 3"3 Latreille 1810 cockroach
WAM 08.149, 150
Blattodea "clavus sp. 4"3 Latreille 1810 cockroach
WAM 08.151-156
Blattodea "clavus sp. 5"3 Latreille 1810 cockroach
WAM 08.158-163
Blattodea "pronotum sp. 1"3 Latreille 1810 cockroach
WAM 08.164, 35, plus 3 unregistered
Blattodea indet.3 Latreille 1810 cockroach
 Blattodea - Blattulidae
Blattula willmotti n. sp.3 Martin 2010 cockroach
WAM 08.117, 118, 119
 Blattodea - Liberiblattinidae
Elisamoides cantabillingensis n. sp.3 Martin 2010 cockroach
WAM 08.113, 116, 114
Kurablattina mintajaensis n. gen. n. sp.3 Martin 2010 cockroach
WAM 08.88, 93-112, 115, 165
 Diptera - Protorhyphidae
Austrorhyphus moryi n. gen. n. sp.
Austrorhyphus moryi n. gen. n. sp. Martin 2008 fly