This note reports on a new locality of Early Jurassic insects in Poland and offers a preliminary
list of its entomofauna

Węgierek, Piotr

Zherikhin, V.V.

Acta Palaeontologica Polonica

English

Repozytorium Uniwersytetu Śląskiego RE-BUŚ

             Title: An Early Jurassic insect fauna in the Holy Cross Mountains  Author: Piotr Węgierek, V.V. Zherikhin  Citation style: Węgierek Piotr, Zherikhin V.V. (1997). An Early Jurassic insect fauna in the Holy Cross Mountains. "Acta Palaeontologica Polonica" (1997, no. 4, s. 539-543).  AffiAPAMEONilCIMGilGAPCIMNilGA Brief reportYol.42, No. 4, pp. 539-543, Warszawa,1997An Early Jurassic insect fauna in the Holy CrossMountainsPIOTR WEGIEREK and WADIMIR V. ZHERIKHINThis note reports on a new locality of Early Jurassic insects in Poland and offers a preliminarylist of its entomofauna.Previously, the only record of fossil insects from the Mesozoic of Poland was based onwings found in middle Early Jurassic fireclays at Grojec, south of Cracow (Raciborski 1894;Fig. 1). Unfortunately, no data on systematic composition of the Grojec insect assemblage werepublished, and the specimens have probably been lost (A. Skalski personal communication).The clay pits there have long since been abandoned, and no new material can be collected.our visits in 1990 and 1991 to another Early Jurassic site, odrowąz (known also asSohyków) near Kielce, Holy Cross Mountains, Poland (Fig. 1)' resulted in the discovery of arelatively rich insect assemblage. The collection of fossil insects from that locality is housed inthe Muzeum Przyrodnicze,Instytut Systematyki i EwolucjiZwierzątPAN in Cracow (abbrevia-ted MPK, collection No 5).The insects have been collected from an old brick-pit situated near the village odrowąz atthe northern edge of the Holy Cross Mountains, between the towns of Skarzysko-Kamienna andKońskie north of Kielce in Central Poland (Fig. 1). The brickyard is abandoned and partlyovergrown at present, but dumps and small temporary outcrops of the early Liassic beds,occasionally excavated for jet, are available for fossil collecting.According to Pier{kowski (1983), early Liassic deposits in the region include three litho-stratigraphic units: theZagajeFormation, the Skłoby Formation and the ore-beartngPrzysuchaFormation. The odrowąz (Sołtyków) section is assigned to theZagaje Formation (Pieńkowski& Gierliński 1987). The formation is composed of non-marine conglomerates, sandstones,siltstones, mudstones, and clays, and is about 150 m in total thickness, overlying Rhaetiansediments. This is a fluvial complex deposited by branching and meandering rivers and ata flood-plain with back swamps and oxbow lakes (Pier{kowski & Gierliński 1987).The odrow4z section, about a dozen or so metres in thickness' represents the lower part oftheZagĄe Formation and is dominated by dark-grey and olive-green mudstones and siltstonesof varied thickness interbeded with thin coal layers. Plant remains, abundant in the section, pointto its early Early Jurassic age (Wcisło-Luraniec 1991b). other fossils that occur here are theinsect remains and isolated scales of palaeoniscid fish.The plant fossils in the odrowąz section are abundant and well preserved, but not verydiverse. The list of plants (Wcisło-Luraniec 1991b) includes Neocalamites (two species), thematoniacean fern Phlebopteris angustiloba,the osmundacean fern Todites princeps, as well assome other indeterminate ferns, pteridosperm Pachypteris sp., bennettitaleans Otozamites sp.and Pterophyllum sp., conifers Hirmeriellamuensteri, Swedenborgia sp., and Po dozamites (twospecies). Stachyopitys preslii, a gymnosperm fructification incertae sedis, is also present.Conifers are the dominating group' Hirmeriellainparticular (Reymanówna 1991)' though insome layers the almost monospecific Neocalarnites assemblage is represented. The presence ofH. muensteri and Ph. angustiloba suggests a Hettangian age for the section (Wcisło-Luraniecs40 Brief reportFig. 1. Localities of Early Jurassic insect fossils in Poland.1991b). Thefloristic assemblageincludes mainly thermophilous taxaindicating awarmclimate(Wcisło-Luraniec I99Ia). The results of the palynological investigations (Ziaja 1991) cone-spond well with the data based on the macroflora. The palynomorph complex includes isoeta-lean spores determined as Artrisporites minimus, an index species for the earliest Jurassic.Al1 insect remains have been collected from a dump, so their precise position within thebrick-pit section cannot be established with any certainty. However, insects seem to be confinedto a few layers, if not a single layer, of a grey to yellowish-grey sandy mudstone with rathersparse plant remains (mainly Hirmeriella shoots); fish scales were collected from the same typeof rock. A single beetle elytron was found in a grey mudstone with abund ant Hirmeriella shootsand Podozamites leaves. The frequency of finds was not high, about 1.}-Lf per man-hour ofwork.Only two insect specimens demonstrate intact body parts: a small beetle with all legsmissing and a large bug pro- and mesothorax with a pair of attached tegmina (Popov 1996).Other specimens are represented by most strongly chitinized disarticulated parts such asabdominal and thoracic segments, roach tegmina (Fig. 28) and particularly beetle elytra (Fig.2A). This state of preservation may suggest either a water current transport or a decay beforeburial. The latter possibility is most probable because the enclosing rock is fine-grained andcontains plant remains in good preservation state. Nevertheless, a transport by a low-energyflow during a flood cannot be excluded. The insect remains, with a few exceptions, are coalifiedso that their microsculpture is hardly or not at all observable. Generally, this type of preservationis typical of insect fossils in many coal-bearing deposits.Fifty-four insect specimens in total have been collected from the odrowąz section, themajority of them (50) representing beetle remains. The following taxa have so far beenidentified:Order Blattodea?Blattulidae I specimen (MPK 5/1XFig. 28)unidentified I specimen (MPK 5154)ACTA PALAEONTOLOGICA POLONIC A (42) (4)..Tr.Śi*lt:!,tit;*Fig.f. lt.2Artematopodites sp.; MPK 5/39;x 11. B. Blattodean tegmen ?Blattulidae;MPK 5/1, x 11.Order HeteropteraBelostomatidae: Odrowasicoris polonicus Popov, 1996.1 specimen (MPK 5/2)Order ColeopteraCupedidae Notocupes sp. 1 specimen (MPK 5/6)?Schizophoridae indet. 5 specimens (MPK 5 I 4, 5 I 5, 5 18, 5 120, 5 135)?Caraboidea indet. 2 specimens (MPK 5112,5115)Hydradephagaincertae sedis: Memptus sp. 1 specimen (MPK 5144)?Hydrophilidae: Hydrobiites sp. 6 specimens, possibly conspecific (MPK 5110, 5113, 5177,5lff,5/f5,5/33)Polyphaga incertae sedis: ?Polysitum sp. 2 specimens (MPK 5114,51f9)? Artematopodites pp. 3 specimens (MPK 5 136, 5 139, 5 I 40) (Fig. 2A)unidentified: 31 specimensThe beetle remains represent probably l5-f0 species, both aquatic and terrestrial, althoughaquatic larvae are absent. The autochthonous aquatic component consists of a belostomatid bug,schizophońds, gyrinids, Memptus, and Hydrobiites; the latter being the most abundant insectspecies at odrowąz. Among the terrestrial insects, Notocupes probably lived in a coniferous541: , . { ' l" ! - ;;}{:; ; ' . L ";;&kb':ł.542 Brief reportforest dominated by Hirmeriella (Wcisło-Luraniec 1991a), while habitat preferences of theothers are uncertain.Although the total number of Liassic insects known from Europe is high, the majority ofthem are younger than the supposedly Hettangian fauna of odrowążL.T\e main English Liassicfaunas are Sinemurian in age (Whalley 1985) (though there are also some earliest Liassic sites,see Whalley l98f). The most diverse and well-known German faunas are of late Liassic age(Toarcian) (Bode 1953; Ernst L967; Zessin 198f,1988; Berger 1989; Ponomarenko 1992), asare the occasional insect finds in Belgium, Luxemburg (Delsate et al. l99f) and The Nether-lands (Hucke & Voigt 1967). The rich fauna of Aargau (Switzerland) is similar in age to thefauna of odrowąż (middle to late Hettangian, see Jordan 1983) but was last described more than140 years ago (Heer 1852) and is in need of a modern revision.Almost all European Liassic insects were found in marine deposits and represent coastalfaunas, while Liassic inland insect communities remain virtually unknown. A comparisonbetween coastal European faunas and inland Siberian, Central Asian and Chinese ones is thusdifficult. The discovery of insects in non-marine Liassic deposits in Poland may provide a newsource of data on the inland European faunas.The preliminary investigation of the odrowąz entomofauna indicates that it resembles fairlyclosely the insect faunas of coal-bearing Early Jurassic deposits of Asia, such as beetleassemblages from southern Sibeńa described by Ponomarenko (1985). For example, thecaraboid beetles are rare in Poland and Siberia, in contrast to most European faunas (Pono-marenko 1992). Some other coillmon European beetle taxa are entirely absent in odrowąz,including Holcoptera, an easily recognizable genus of uncertain systematic position, andelaterids. Perhaps, the abundance of those taxa should be characteristic rather of certain coastalhabitats than of the European Liassic beetle fauna as a whole. on the other hand, the odrowązassemblage shows some features in common with other European sites, and those characters areprobably more important for paleobiogeographic interpretation. For example, belostomatidwater bugs are represented in the Sinemurian fauna of Dorset, England (Popov et al. 1994), butare not found in the Siberian Early Jurassic. Cupedid beetles are exfremely rare in Siberia butconrmon in Europe, Central Asia and China; at odrowąź:,, the cupedid genus Notocupes isrepresented by a relatively small number of specimens. Schizophorids andArtematopodites areundoubtedly much more common in odrowąŻ and in other European faunas than in Siberianones, while Mernptus demonstrates an opposite distributional trend. One of the most charac-teristic Siberian beetle genera, Dzeregia, is not represented in European assemblages. Thus, thefaunistic differences between the temperate Siberian and warm subtropical Euro-Chineseregions seem to be considerable, though possibly not as sharp as the floństic ones.AcknowledgmentsThe authors are indebted to Dr. A.G. Ponomarenko and Dr. Yu.A. Popov (Paleontological Institute,Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow) for help in the identification of beetles and bugs, to Dr. M.Reymanówna (W. Szafer Institute of Botany, Polish Academy of Science, Cracow) for access topaleobotanical data, and Prof. S. Jachowicz (University of Silesia, Sosnowiec) for suggesting the localityfor study.ReferencesBerger, G. 1989. Uber Insektenfunde b im Kanalbau. - Fossilien 6,4446.Bode, A. 1953. Die Insektenfauna des ostniedersżichsischen oberen Lias. - Palaeontographica A |03,r-375.Delsate, D. Henrotay, M., & Godefroit, P, 1992' Prósence d'insectes dans le Toarcien infórieur de laBelgique. - Socićtć Belge de Gćologie Bulletin t00, |47_I53.Ernst, W. 1967 . Die Liastongrube Grimmen: Sediment, Macrofauna und Stratigraphie - ein Uberblick. -Geologie 16,35U369.ACTA PALAEONTOLOGTCA POLONTC A (4f) (4) 543Heer, O. 1852. Ueber die Liasinsel im Aargau mit einer Tafel Lias - Insekten. 15 pp. Kiesling ,Zirich.Hucke, K. & Voigt, E. 1967. Einfilhrung in die Geschiebeforschung. I32 pp. Oldenzaal, NederlandseGeologische Vereniging, Oldenzaal.Jordan, P. 1983. Zur Stratigraphie des Lias zwischen Unterem Hauenstein und Schinznach (Solothurnerund Aargauer Faltenjura). - Eclogae geologicae Helvetiae 76,355-379.Pieńkowski, G. 1983. Środowisko sedymentacyjne dolnego liasu północnego obtzeŻęniaGór Świętokrzys-kich. - P rze gląd Geolo gic7ny 30, 2f323I,Pieńkowski, G. & Gierliński' G. 1987. New finds of dinosaur footprints in Liassic of the Holy CrossMountains and their palaeoenvironmentalbackground ' - Przegląd Geologiczny 35,199_205'Ponomarenko, A.G. 1985. Jurassic beetles of Siberia and western Mongolia [in Russian] . In: A.P . Rasnitsyn(ed.), Jurassic Insects of Sibeńa and Mongolia. - Trudy Paleontologićeskogo Instituta AN s's.sR 21'1,47-9t.Ponomarenko, A.G. I99L.Upper Liassic beetles (Coleoptera) from Lower Saxony, Germany. - Sencken-bergiana lethaea 72, I79-I88.Popov, Yu.A. 1996. The first record of fossil water bug from the Lower Jurassic of Poland (Heteroptera:Nepomorpha: Belostomatidae). - Polskie Pismo Entomologiczne 65 (34),101-105.Popov, Yu.A., Dolling, W.R., & Whalley, P.E.S. 1994. British Upper Triassic and Lower JurassicHeteroptera and Coleorrhyncha (Insecta: Hemiptera) . - Genus 5, 307 -347 .Raciborski, M. 1894. Flora kopalna ogniotrwaĘch glinek krakowskich. - PamiętnikmatemaĘczno-prry-rodnic4l Akademii Umiej ętności 18' 143_15 1.Reymanówna,M. 1991.TwoconifersfromtheLiassicfloraofodrowążinPoland'1n..J.Kovar-Eder(ed'),Palaeovegetational Development in Europe and Regions Relevant to its Palaeofloristic Evolution.Proceedings of the Pan-European Palaeobotanical Conference, Vienna, 19-23 September 1991,3o7 -3 I 1 . Naturhistońsches Museum' Wien.Wcisło-Luraniec, E. 1991a. The Lower Liassic Flora from odrowąż in Poland and its ecosystem. 1n..Z' Iśe|an-Jaworowska, N. Heintz, & H.A. Nakrem (eds), Fifth Symposium on Mesozoic TerrestrialEcosystems and Biota. Extended Abstracts. - Contributions from the Paleontological Museum,University of oslo 364,69-ą0,Wcisło-Luraniec, E. 1991b. Flora from odrowąż in Poland _ a typical Lower Liassic European flora. In:J. Kovar-Eder (ed.), Palaeovegetational Development in Europe and Regions Relevant to its Palaeoflo-ristic Evolution. Proceedings of the Pan-Europeąn Paląeobotanical Conference, Vienna, l9_23 Sep-tember I 99 1, 33I_335. Naturhistońsches Museum, Wien.Whalley, P.E.S. 1982. Bintoniella brodiei Handlirsch (Orthoptera) from the Lower Lias of the EnglishChannel, with a review of Bńtish bintoniellid fossils. - Bulletin of the British Museum Natural History(Geology) 36,143-149.Whalley, P.E.S. 1985. The systematics and palaeogeography of the Lower Jurassic insects of Dorset,England. - Bulletin of the British Museum Natural History (Geolog, 39, 107-1 89.Zessin, w. 1982. Durchsicht einiger liassischer odonatopteroida unter Beńcksichtigung neuer Funde vonDobbertin in Mecklenburg. - Deutsche entomologische Zeitschrift 29,101-106.Zessin' w. 1988. Neue Saltatońa (Insecta) aus dem oberlias Mitteleuropas. - Freiberger Forschung-schefte C 419,107-1f1.Ziaja, J. 199 1 . The Lower Liassic microflora from odrowąż in Poland. /n; J' Kovar-Eder (ed.), Palaeovege-tational Development in Europe and Regions Relevant to its Palaeofloństic Evolution. Proceedings ofthe Pan-European Palaeobotąnical Conference, Vienna, 19_23 September 1991,33,I_340. Naturhis-tońsches Musęum. Więn.Piotr Wegierek [wegierek@us.edu.pl], Katedra Zoologii,.(Jniwersytet Śląski, Bankowa g, PL-40-007Katowice. Poland.Vladirnir V. Zherikhin [rasna@glas.apc.org], Paleontological Institute, Russian Acaderny of Science,ProfsoyuTnaya 123, 117647 Moscow, Russia.

An Early Jurassic insect fauna in the Holy Cross Mountains

Wegierek, P

Zherikhin, V V

Biblioteka Nauki - repozytorium artykuÅÃ³w

https://rebus.us.edu.pl/bitstream/20.500.12128/330/6/Wegierek_An_Early_Jurassic_insect_fauna_in_the_Holy_Cross_Mountains.pdf

An Early Jurassic insect fauna in the Holy Cross Mountains

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Repozytorium Uniwersytetu Śląskiego RE-BUŚ

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An Early Jurassic insect fauna in the Holy Cross Mountains

Abstract

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Full text

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Repozytorium Uniwersytetu Śląskiego RE-BUŚ

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