Aix-en-Provence (Musee Blanchet Coll) (Oligocene of France)

Where: Bouches-Du-Rhone, France (43.5° N, 5.5° E: paleocoordinates 43.3° N, 2.8° E)

• coordinate estimated from map

• local area-level geographic resolution

When: Niveau du gypse d'Aix Formation, Chattian (28.1 - 23.0 Ma)

• "The ‘insect formation’ is 2.5 m thick, divided in two parts that correspond to two very different environmental conditions. The first (lower) episode is remarkable by its lateral monotony of facies on a distance of 6 km at least, in the outcrops observed on the northwest of Aix-en-Provence. This lower episode is distinguished from the rest of the ‘insect formation’ and from the whole formation of Aix-en-Provence by the presence of a very numerous thin limestone laminae. The second (upper) episode is remarkable by the presence of many silici- fied laminae. The fauna in this level is also very well preserved"….This collection consists of unspecified layers

Environment/lithology: lacustrine - large; lithified limestone

• This lacustrine formation was deposited in a very large but shallow-water lake, with variable salinity and near the marine coast (Nury 1990, Nury & Thomassin 1994). Irregular basins formed during extension of the European platform in the Oligocene resulting from the formation of the West-European rift system.
• The deposit presents an alternation of limestone and marls with gypsum.

Size classes: macrofossils, mesofossils

Preservation: mold/impression, adpression

Collection methods: Repository: Musee Blanchet

Primary reference: O. Heer. 1856. Ueber die fossilen Insekten von Aix in der Provence. Vierteljahrsschrift der Naturforschenden Gesellschaft in Zürich 1:1-40 [M. Clapham/M. Clapham/M. Clapham]more details

Purpose of describing collection: taxonomic analysis

PaleoDB collection 152493: authorized by Matthew Clapham, entered by Matthew Clapham on 23.11.2013

Creative Commons license: CC BY (attribution)

Taxonomic list

Insecta
 Hymenoptera - Chalcididae
"Chalcites debilis n. gen. n. sp." = Chalcitiscus debilis
"Chalcites debilis n. gen. n. sp." = Chalcitiscus debilis Heer 1856 chalcid wasp
 Coleoptera - Carabidae
Bembidium infernum n. sp. Heer 1856 ground beetle
 Coleoptera - Latridiidae
Corticaria melanophthalma n. sp. Heer 1856 minute brown scavenger beetle
 Coleoptera - Chrysomelidae
Cassida blancheti Heer 1856 tortoise beetle
 Coleoptera - Curculionidae
"Cleonus asperulus n. sp." = Protainophthalmus asperulus Heer 1856 snout beetle
Hipporhinus heerii Germar 1849 snout beetle
Curculionites parvulus n. sp. Heer 1856 snout beetle
Hylesinus facilis n. sp. Heer 1856 bark beetle
 Diptera - Xylophagidae
Xylophagus pallidus n. sp. Heer 1856 fly