Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-dh8gc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-10-30T17:49:30.867Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

7 - Taphonomy and preservation of Crato Formation arthropods

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 August 2009

David M. Martill
Affiliation:
University of Portsmouth
Günter Bechly
Affiliation:
Staatliches Museum für Naturkunde, Stuttgart
Robert F. Loveridge
Affiliation:
University of Portsmouth
Federica Menon
Affiliation:
School of Earth, Atmospheric and Environmental Sciences, University of Manchester, UK
David M. Martill
Affiliation:
Reader in Palaeobiology in the School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Portsmouth
Get access

Summary

The fossil assemblage of the Nova Olinda Member of the Crato Formation is highly distinctive in comparison with coeval assemblages elsewhere. It is dominated by arthropods and, in particular, by insects in both numerical abundance and taxonomic diversity. Despite being an aquatic deposit, typical aquatic arthropods such as decapods and ostracods are either rare or absent from large parts of the succession. Furthermore, the taxonomic diversity of its insects differs from that of other aquatic insect-bearing deposits. Notable by their abundance and diversity are terrestrial adult orthopterans, hemipterans (including all bugs, cicadas and hoppers), ephemeropterans and odonatans, whereas beetles, often highly abundant in Cretaceous insect assemblages elsewhere, such as Baissa, Siberia (Vrsansky et al., 2002), are relatively scarce in the Nova Olinda Member.

In addition to its taxonomic distinctiveness, the Nova Olinda Member assemblage is also noteworthy for the ecological character of its fossils, apparent in both the vertebrates and arthropods. Ostracods, abundant in basal parts of the sequence at several localities (such as at Cascata, near Crato), occur in association with conchostracans, but are not present in the bulk of the Nova Olinda Member, despite the lithological similarity, while decapod crustaceans are known from a single taxon Beurlenia araripensis (Martins-Neto and Mezzalira, 1991), which is extremely rare, though often beautifully preserved (see Chapter 10). By contrast, terrestrial, fossorial or cryptic taxa occur quite frequently, and include scorpions at various stages of development, camel spiders, diplurans and centipedes (see Chapters 8–11).

Type
Chapter
Information
The Crato Fossil Beds of Brazil
Window into an Ancient World
, pp. 79 - 96
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2007

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Allison, P. A. 1990. Decay processes. pp. 213–216. In Briggs, D. E. G. and Crowther, P. R. (eds), Palaeobiology: a Synthesis. Oxford: Blackwell Scientific Publications.Google Scholar
Archibald, S. B. and Makarkin, V. N. 2005. Tertiary giant lacewings (Neuroptera: Polystoechotidae): revision and description of new taxa from western North America and Denmark. Journal of Systematic Palaeontology 4: 1–37.Google Scholar
Bechly, G. 1998c. New fossil dragonflies from the Lower Cretaceous Crato Formation of north-east Brazil (Insecta: Odonata). Stuttgarter Beiträge zur Naturkunde, Serie B 264: 1–66.Google Scholar
Bechly, G. 2001. Die faszinierende Evolution der Insekten. Stuttgarter Beiträge zur Naturkunde, Serie C 49: 1–96.Google Scholar
Darling, D. C. and Sharkey, M. J. 1990. Hymenoptera. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 195: 123–153.Google Scholar
Gall, J. C. 1990. Les voile microbiens, leur contribution a la fossilisation des organismes de corp mou. Lethaia 23: 21–28.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grimaldi, D. and Engel, M. S. 2005. Evolution of the Insects. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Hamilton, K. G. A. 1990. Homoptera, pp. 82–122. In Grimaldi, D. (ed.), Insects from the Santana Formation, Lower Cretaceous, of Brazil. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History195.
Heads, S. W., Martill, D. M. and Loveridge, R. F. 2005. An exceptionally preserved antlion (Insecta, Neuroptera) with colour pattern preservation from the Cretaceous of Brazil. Palaeontology 48: 1409–1417.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Martill, D. M. and Frey, E. 1995. Colour patterning preserved in Lower Cretaceous birds and insects: the Crato Formation of N. E. Brazil. Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie and Paläontologie, Monatschefte 1995: 118–128.Google Scholar
Martill, D. M. and Barker, M. J. 1998. A new centipede (Arthropoda, Chilopoda) from the Crato Formation (Lower Cretaceous, Aptian) of N. E. Brazil. Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie and Paläontologie, Abhandlungen 207: 395–404.Google Scholar
Martinez-Delclos, X., Briggs, D. E. G. and Peñalaver, E. 2004. Taphonomy of insects in carbonates and amber. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 203: 19–64.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Martins-Neto, R. G. 1992. Nova ocorrência, variabilidade morfologica e relações filogeneticas de genera Cratoelcana Martins-Neto, 1991 (Insecta, Ensifera, Elcanidae), da Formação Santana, Bacia do Araripe, Brasil. Revista Brasileira Entomologica 36: 817–830.Google Scholar
Martins-Neto, R. G. 1998. Novos registro de Palaeontinideos (Insecta: Hemiptera) na formação Santana (Cretaceo Inferior), Bacia do Araripe, Nordeste do Brasil. Acta Geologica Leopoldensia 21: 69–74.Google Scholar
Martins-Neto, R. G. 1999. New genus and new species of Lepidoptera (Insecta, Eolepidopterigidae) from Santana Formation (Lower Cretaceous, Northeast Brazil). Bolletim 5° Simposio sobre o Cretáceo do Brazil, UNESP-Campus de Serra Negra, São Paulo: 531–553.Google Scholar
Martins-Neto, R. G. and Mezzalira, S. 1991. Descrição de novos crustáceos (Coridea) da Formação Santana, Cretáceo Inferior do Nordeste do Brasil. Anais Academia Brasileira de Ciençias 63: 155–160.Google Scholar
McAfferty, W. P. 1990. Ephemeroptera. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 195: 20–50.Google Scholar
Menon, F. 2005. New record of Tettigarctidae (Insecta, Hemiptera, Cicadoidea) from the Lower Cretaceous of Brazil. Zootaxa 1087: 53–58.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Menon, F. and Heads, S. W. 2005. New species of Palaeontinidae (Insecta: Cicadomorpha) from the Lower Cretaceous Crato Formation of Brazil. Stuttgarter Beiträge zur Naturkunde, Serie B 357: 1–11.Google Scholar
Menon, F.Heads, S. W. and Martill, D. M. 2005. New Palaeontinidae (Insecta: Cicadomorpha) from the Lower Cretaceous Crato Formation of Brazil. Cretaceous Research 26: 837–844.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Menon, F.Penney, D.Selden, P. A. and Martill, D. M. 2003. A new fossil Scolopendromorph centipede from the Crato Formation of Brazil. Bulletin of the British Myriapod and Isopod Group 19: 62–66.Google Scholar
Rasnitsyn, A. P. 2002. Superorder Vespidea Laicharting, 1781. Order Hymenoptera Linné, 1758, pp. 242–254. InRasnitsyn, A. P. and Quicke, D. L. J. (eds). History of Insects. Dordrecht: Kluver Academic Publishers.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stork, N. E. 1988. Insect diversity: facts, fiction and speculation. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 35: 321–337.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vrsansky, P., Vishniakova, V. N. and Rasnitsyn, A. P. 2002. Order Blattida, pp. 263–70. InRasnitsyn, A. P. and Quicke, D. L. J. (eds), History of Insects. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wilson, H. 2001. First Mesozoic scutigeromorph centipede, from the Lower Cretaceous of Brazil. Palaeontology 44: 489–495.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wilson, H. 2003. A new Scolopendromorph centipede (Myriapoda, Chilopoda) from the Lower Cretaceous (Aptian) of Brazil. Journal of Paleontology 77: 73–77.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wüttke, M. 1983. “Weichteil-Erhaltung” durch lithifizierte Mikroorganismen bei mittel-eozänen Vertebraten aus den Ölschiefern der “Grube Messel” bei Darmstadt. Senckenberger Lethaea 64: 509–527.Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×