San Chils (Miocene of Spain)

Where: Castellon, Spain (40.1° N, 0.3° W: paleocoordinates 40.0° N, 1.9° W)

• coordinate estimated from map

• outcrop-level geographic resolution

When: Early/Lower Miocene (23.0 - 16.0 Ma)

• The mammalian fauna of the basin corresponds to the biozone C of the MN4, early Aragonian in age. Stratigraphically, the unit B is immediately below the unit C, so it could be ca. 19 My old (Peñalver et al., 2016), maybe one or two million years younger.

Environment/lithology: lacustrine - large; lithified, carbonaceous shale

• Eastern Iberian rift system. From the late Oligocene and during the Neogene both strike-slip and extensional regimes alternated and coexisted, giving rise to a number of fault-bounded basins. Deep lacustrine sequences ranging from 100 up to 250 m thick were deposited in all the above mentioned basins. The organic-rich sequences are characterized by thin lamination, absence of bioturbation, rare benthonic fauna (if present, it is supplied from other parts of the basin) and excellent preservation of "exotic" fossils (plant leaves, insects, amphibians). The suitable depth conditions needed for permanent stratification in the water bodies and anoxia in the deeper parts of the lakes, were due essentially to increasing subsidence outstripping deposition.
• Laminated oil shales

Size class: macrofossils

Preservation: mold/impression

Collection methods: Repositories: Museo de Ciencias Naturales de Valencia

Primary reference: S. Álvarez-Parra and E. Peñalver. 2019. Palaeoentomological study of the lacustrine oil-shales of the lower Miocene San Chils locality (Ribesalbes-Alcora Basin, Castellón province, Spain). Spanish Journal of Palaeontology 34:187-204 [M. Clapham/M. Clapham/M. Clapham]more details

Purpose of describing collection: general faunal/floral analysis

PaleoDB collection 225781: authorized by Matthew Clapham, entered by Matthew Clapham on 30.05.2022

Creative Commons license: CC BY (attribution)

Taxonomic list

Show authors, comments, and common names
Branchiopoda
 Cladocera -
Daphnia (Ctenodaphnia) sp.
Daphnia (Ctenodaphnia) sp. Muller 1785 water flea
SC-114A/B, 115A/B
Insecta
 Diptera - Mycetophilidae
Exechia sp.
Exechia sp. Winnertz 1863 fungus gnat
SC-12
 Diptera - Bibionidae
? Bibio sp.
? Bibio sp. Geoffroy 1762 march fly
SC-29
 Diptera - Chaoboridae
Chaoboridae indet.
Chaoboridae indet. Edwards 1920 phantom midge
SC-19, 43, 92, 95, 100A/B, 127
 Diptera - Chironomidae
Chironomidae indet.
Chironomidae indet. Macquart 1838 non biting midge
SC-88, 111
 Hymenoptera - Formicidae
Formicidae indet.
Formicidae indet. Latreille 1802 ant
SC-34, 35
 Hymenoptera - Braconidae
Braconidae indet.
Braconidae indet. Nees ab Esenbeck 1811 wasp
SC-6
 Dicondylia -
Coleoptera indet.
Coleoptera indet. Linnaeus 1758 beetle
SC-26
 Orthoptera - Acrididae
Acrididae indet.
Acrididae indet. Latreille 1802 short-horned grasshopper
SC-85
 Thysanoptera - Thripidae
? Thripidae indet.
? Thripidae indet. Stevens 1829 thrips
SC-1A/1B, 96, 102, 103, 109
 Thysanoptera - Aeolothripidae
? Aeolothripidae indet.
? Aeolothripidae indet. Uzel 1895 thrips
SC-33A/B
 Hemiptera - Corixidae
Corixinae indet.
Corixinae indet. Leach 1815 water boatman
SC-119
 Hemiptera - Pentatomidae
? Sciocoris sp.
? Sciocoris sp. Fallén 1829 stink bug
SC-8A/B