Parschlug near Steiermark (Ettinghausen coll) (Miocene of Austria)

Where: Steiermark, Austria (47.5° N, 15.3° E: paleocoordinates 47.0° N, 14.9° E)

• coordinate based on nearby landmark

• outcrop-level geographic resolution

When: Badenian (13.7 - 12.7 Ma)

• Considered to be late Karpatian to early Badenian (late Early to early Middle Miocene)

• group of beds-level stratigraphic resolution

Environment/lithology: pond; lithified lithology not reported

• In the Parschlug basin, sands and sandstones overlie the basement. A 4-8 m thick coal seam ("Parschlug seam") follows in the section. Towards the east and northwest the seam thickness decreases, and the seam splits up and wedges out. Therefore, mining activity was focussed formerly on the southwestern part of the depression. Clays and marls with up to 10 cm thick marlstone-ironstone intercalations (German: Toneisensteinbänke) overlie the seam. At certain levels they bear plant remains known as the famous flora of Parschlug (and presumably the insects). The ash content of the coal is relatively high (up to 40 %). The sulphur content of 4 to 7 % and the preservation of gastropod shells (Planorbis aplanatis) in an inter-seam indicate a relatively high pH-value (around 7) of the mire.

Size classes: macrofossils, mesofossils

Preservation: mold/impression, adpression

Collected by Ettinghausen in 1878; reposited in the NHMW

Primary reference: M. Beier. 1952. Miozäne und oligozäne Insekten aus Österreich und den unmittelbar angrenzenden Gebieten. Sitzungsberichte der Akademie der Wissenschaften Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Klasse 161:129-134 [M. Clapham/M. Clapham]more details

Purpose of describing collection: taxonomic analysis

PaleoDB collection 139945: authorized by Matthew Clapham, entered by Matthew Clapham on 25.02.2013, edited by Jered Karr

Creative Commons license: CC BY (attribution)

Taxonomic list

Show authors, comments, and common names
Insecta
 Diptera - Bibionidae
"Lithobibio styriacus n. gen. n. sp." = Bibio styriacus
"Lithobibio styriacus n. gen. n. sp." = Bibio styriacus Beier 1952 march fly
NHMW 1878 VI 2641 (coll. Ettingshausen 638)
 Coleoptera - Elateridae
Elateridae indet.
Elateridae indet. Leach 1815 click beetle
NHMW 1878 VI 2641, found near Lithobibio styriacus