Biodiversity and palaeoecology of Foulden Maar: an early Miocene Konservat-Lagerstätte deposit in southern New Zealand

Abstract

Lee, D.E., Kaulfuss, U, Conran, J.G., Bannister, J.M. & Lindqvist, J.K., August 2016. Biodiversity and palaeoecology of Foulden Maar: an early Miocene Konservat-Lagerstätte deposit in southern New Zealand. Alcheringa 40, xxx–xxx. ISSN 0311-5518.

This paper highlights the biodiversity and palaeoecology of the 23 million year old Foulden Maar, the first Konservat-Lagerstätte deposit described from New Zealand and a key site for reconstructing early Miocene Southern Hemisphere terrestrial ecosystems. The 1000-m-diameter, ca 200-m-deep Foulden Maar volcanic crater lake was a closed system with anoxic bottom waters, capturing and preserving in exquisite detail organisms from the lake and adjacent rainforest. The fossils include numerous leaves, flowers with in situ pollen, fruits, seeds, fish and arthropods. Surrounding Foulden Maar was an evergreen, Lauraceae-dominated notophyll vine forest with a diverse understorey, lianes, epiphytes and mistletoes. Diverse pollination and seed dispersal modes are evident. Fish include larval to adult stages of articulated specimens of Galaxias, some with preserved soft tissue and a species of eel resembling Anguilla. The arthropod fauna comprises ca 20 families in the orders Araneae (spiders), Plecoptera (stoneflies), Odonata (dragonflies), Isoptera (termites), Hemiptera (true bugs), Diptera (true flies), Coleoptera (beetles), Trichoptera (caddis flies) and Hymenoptera (wasps, ants and bees), representing faunas typical of soil, leaf litter, forest floor or freshwater habitats. Many fossil taxa have close relatives in the extant New Zealand biota; others are now locally extinct. Coprolites containing quartz sands sourced from outside the lake indicate the presence of volant birds, presumably waterfowl. The Foulden Maar Lagerstätte is crucial for reconstructing Miocene lake and forest ecosystems in New Zealand, particularly the terrestrial arthropod component.

Daphne E. Lee [[email protected]], Department of Geology, University of Otago, PO Box 56, Dunedin, New Zealand., Uwe Kaulfuss [[email protected]] and Jon K. Lindqvist, [[email protected]], Department of Geology, University of Otago, PO Box 56, Dunedin, New Zealand; John G. Conran [[email protected]], Australian Centre for Evolutionary Biology & Biodiversity and Sprigg Geobiology Centre, School of Biological Sciences, Benham Bldg DX 650 312, The University of Adelaide, SA 5005, Australia; Jennifer M. Bannister [[email protected]], Department of Botany, University of Otago, PO Box 56, Dunedin, New Zealand.

Key words:

• Miocene Lagerstätten
• leaves
• flowers
• fish
• insects
• terrestrial ecosystems
• lacustrine deposits
• volcanism

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Acknowledgements

We thank the Gibson family and Dr A. Walker for kindly allowing us access to the site, as well as the many people who have contributed to this study including A.C. Harris, R.J. Carpenter, R.E. Fordyce, B.R.S. Fox, Daniel Jones, D.T. & W.A. Jones, E.M. Kennedy, W.G. Lee, E. Maciunas, D.C. Mildenhall, J.I. Raine, T. Reichgelt, the late R.M. McDowall and numerous student and other volunteers. The Departments of Geology and Botany, University of Otago, Dunedin and the School of Biological Sciences, The University of Adelaide are thanked for the provision of resources to undertake this research. We thank Liz Girvan, Otago Centre for Electron Microscopy, University of Otago, for help with the Scanning Electron Microscopy. We particularly thank Dr Paula Peeters, Brisbane for her reconstruction of the biota of Lake Foulden. We also thank Dr Stephen Mcloughlin for the invitation to contribute to this Special Issue of Alcheringa and for helpful editorial assistance. Funding for this study was provided by a Marsden Grant from the Royal Society of New Zealand (11-UOO-043).