Fossil insects from the Lithographic Limestone of Montsech (late Jurassic-early Cretaceous), Lerida Province, Spain P. E. S. Whalley and E. A. Jarzembowski Department of Entomology, British Museum (Natural History), Cromwell Road, London SW7 5BD Synopsis Fossil insects from the Lithographic Limestone (Upper Jurassic or Lower Cretaceous), Montsech, Lerida, Spain are described; their affinities and faunal significance are discussed. Seven orders of insects are represented (Ephemeroptera, Blattodea, Odonata, Hemiptera, Coleoptera, Diptera, Hymenoptera), three of which are previously unknown from this locality. The following six new species are described: Mesopalingea lerida gen. et sp. nov. (mayfly), Artltocoblatta hispanica (cockroach), Condalia woottoni gen. et sp. nov. (dragonfly), Wonnacottella pulcherrima gen. et sp. nov. (palaeontinid), Chrysobotris (?) ballae (buprestid beetle) and Eobelus solutus (eobelid weevil). Introduction The fossiliferous locality at Montsech has been known for many years; the first insects were described from the Lithographic Limestone by Meunier in 1902. Since then a number of collections have been made, the present paper being based on material collected by Dr H. W. Ball and Mr F. M. Wonnacott in 1955-60 and deposited in the British Museum (Natural History). The fossil insects are from a quarry in Lithographic Limestone 0-8 km south-west of Rubies (close to Santa Maria de Meya) in the Sierra del Montsech, Lerida Province, north-east Spain (Figs 1-3). Some 50m of strata are exposed and the succession has been described by Schairer & Janicke (1970). The Lithographic Limestone is a facies development of the Caliza con Caraceas Formation (Garrido-Megias & Rios Aragiies 1972) and was deposited in a lagoonal-lacustrine environment which became stagnant at times (Schairer & Janicke 1970). The limestone has usually been considered to be Upper Jurassic in age, but work on the Ostracoda (Brenner, Goldmacher & Schroeder 1974) has now shown that the upper part at Rubies is late Berriasian to early Valanginian, i.e. early Cretaceous. The Ostracoda associated with the insect remains have been determined by Dr R. H. Bate as belonging to the freshwater genera Darwinula and Cypridea: one, Cypridea wicheri Wolburg ranges from the Upper Purbeck to Wealden (Bate, in lift.}, indicating an early Cretaceous age for associated insect material (In. 59464). The insects occur in a fine-grained, well-cemented brown limestone. They are preserved as impressions, more or less compressed, and frequently show traces of cuticle. They were collected from scree material and their exact stratigraphical positions are unknown. The biota is summarized by Condal (1951), Calatayud et al. 1953, Teixeira (1954) and Brenner et al. (1974). Apart from insects it comprises Foraminifera, Porifera, Crustacea, Ostracoda, molluscan ichnofossils, fish, amphibia, reptiles and plant remains, the latter including Charophytes. Insect fauna Although some of the specimens collected by Ball and Wonnacott have been briefly discussed (Wootton 1972) the collection has not previously been studied in detail. Some of the insects from Montsech mentioned by earlier workers, for example the 'aculeate sphecid' (Zeuner & Manning 1976: 155, Rasnitsyn 1980) have aroused controversy (Burnham 1978). Bull. Br. Mus. not. Hist. (Geol.) 38 (5): 381-412 Issued 31 January 1985
BioStor
