This is Mazon Monday post #168. What's your favorite Mazon Creek fossil? Tell us at email:[email protected].
-----------------------------------------------------
Insects are some of the most highly sought after Mazon Creek fossils. While very common in the modern world, insects are very rare in the fossil record. Mazon Creek has played a vital part in the understanding of insect evolution as it has produced more evidence than most other deposits. At one time, there were nearly 150 species belonging to 30 families and 102 genera known from the concretions of the Francis Creek Shale. That number as come down a little as more fossils are found and we better understand the animals which have been found.
Eugene Richardson lists some of the insects of Mazon Creek in "Pennsylvanian Insects of Illinois", which appeared in the Illinois Academy of Science Transactions, Vol. 46, 1953.
Dana in 1865
Miamia bronsoni was a winged insect described by James Dwight Dana in 1864. It was first described from specimens found in the Mazon River by John G. Bronson. The description appeared in "On fossil insects from the Carboniferous formation in Illinois" in the American Journal of Science and Arts, Second Series 37:34-35. J. D. Dana (1813 - 1895) was an American geologist, mineralogist, volcanologist, and zoologist. He was a professor at Yale University. He was a contemporary of Samuel Scudder, and influenced Charles Marsh. Scudder is known as the founder of insect paleontology in America, while Marsh was instrumental in dinosaur paleontology during the 1800's.
The paper "Revision and Phylogenetic Affinities of the Lobeattid Species bronsoni Dana, 1864 and silvatica Laurentiaux & Laurentiaux-Vieira, 1980 (Pennsylvanian; Archaeorthoptera)" by Oliver Bethoux published in Arthropod Systematics & Phylogeny in 2008. Reclassified quite a few species of Mazon insects as Miamia bronsoni. The paper lists the following species as junior synonyms of M. bronsoni.
- Miamia bronsoni: YPM 1010, an exoskeleton. Its type locality is Morris, Mazon Creek (J.G. Bronson coll), which is in a Westphalian D interdistributary bay mudstone in the Carbondale Formation of Illinois.
- Cheliphlebia extensa: FMNH UC 9241, an exoskeleton. Its type locality is Mazon Creek (FMNH Gurley collection), which is in a Westphalian D deltaic mudstone in the Carbondale Formation of Illinois.
- Dictyoneura clarinervis: FMNH UC 9240, a wing. Its type locality is Grape Creek, Danville, which is in a Westphalian D deltaic mudstone in the Carbondale Formation of Illinois.
- Metryia analis: USNM 38834, an exoskeleton. Its type locality is Mazon Creek, USNM Lacoe Collection, which is in a Westphalian D interdistributary bay mudstone in the Carbondale Formation of Illinois.
- Petromartus indistinctus: FMNH UC 9243, an exoskeleton. Its type locality is Petty's Ford, Little Vermilion River, which is in a Westphalian D interdistributary bay shale in the Carbondale Formation of Illinois.
- Propteticus infernus: FMNH UC 6391, an exoskeleton. Its type locality is Little Vermilion River, above Georgetown, which is in a Westphalian D interdistributary bay shale in the Carbondale Formation of Illinois.
- Spaniodera acutipennis: YPM 28, a wing (pair of wings). Its type locality is Mazon Creek (YPM collection), which is in a Westphalian D deltaic mudstone in the Carbondale Formation of Illinois.
- Spaniodera ambulans: USNM 38817, an exoskeleton (entire insect). Its type locality is Mazon Creek, USNM Lacoe Collection, which is in a Westphalian D interdistributary bay mudstone in the Carbondale Formation of Illinois.
- Spaniodera angusta: YPM 30, an exoskeleton (Fragmentary body & wings). Its type locality is Mazon Creek (YPM collection), which is in a Westphalian D deltaic mudstone in the Carbondale Formation of Illinois.
- Spaniodera elatior: YPM 26, an exoskeleton. Its type locality is Mazon Creek (YPM collection), which is in a Westphalian D deltaic mudstone in the Carbondale Formation of Illinois.
- Spaniodera lata: YPM 25, an exoskeleton (no head or protothorax). Its type locality is Mazon Creek (YPM collection), which is in a Westphalian D deltaic mudstone in the Carbondale Formation of Illinois.
- Spaniodera longicollis: YPM 24, an exoskeleton. Its type locality is Mazon Creek (YPM collection), which is in a Westphalian D deltaic mudstone in the Carbondale Formation of Illinois.
- Spaniodera parvula: YPM 29, an exoskeleton (fragmentary body & wings). Its type locality is Mazon Creek (YPM collection), which is in a Westphalian D deltaic mudstone in the Carbondale Formation of Illinois.
- Spaniodera schucherti: YPM 27, an exoskeleton (small amount of body in figure). Its type locality is Mazon Creek (YPM collection), which is in a Westphalian D deltaic mudstone in the Carbondale Formation of Illinois.
- Termes contusus: FMNH UC 6392, an exoskeleton (two wings with crushed body inbetween). Its type locality is Petty's Ford, Little Vermilion River, which is in a Westphalian D interdistributary bay shale in the Carbondale Formation of Illinois.
More information can be found on fossilworks, which displays information from the Palaeobiology Database. Another good resource is the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF).
Specimens
All of these specimens were found in the Mazon Creek fossil biota.
FMNH UC 9241 (Species Cheliphlebia extensa Melander, 1903)
FMNH UC 9243 (Species Propteticus infernus, Melander 1903)
FMNH UC 6392 (Species Didymophleps cotusa, Scudder 1878)
Spaniodera angusta (YPM IP 000030). Digital Image: Yale Peabody Museum; photo by Division of Invertebrate Paleontology, Yale Peabody Museum 2007
Spaniodera lata (YPM IP 000025). Digital Image: Yale Peabody Museum; photo by Jessica Utrup 2015