Uwe Kaulfuss

Aneurus sp. from the early Miocene Foulden Maar, New Zealand: the first Southern Hemisphere record of fossil Aradidae (Insecta: Hemiptera: Heteroptera)

Abstract The first specimen of fossil Heteroptera (Aradidae, Aneurinae) from New Zealand is figured and described. The ventrally preserved specimen from early Miocene lake sediments at Foulden Maar, Otago is assigned to Aneurus, a flat-bug genus that is represented by six species in the modern New Zealand fauna. Aneurus sp. from Foulden Maar represents the first Southern Hemisphere fossil record of the family Aradidae. Its occurrence at Foulden Maar indicates that the genus has been present in the Australasian region at least since the early Miocene and supports previous suggestions of a long evolutionary history of New Zealand aradids closely linked to rainforest habitats.

Long‐term evolution of an Oligocene/Miocene maar lake from Otago, New Zealand

Foulden Maar is a highly resolved maar lake deposit from the South Island of New Zealand comprising laminated diatomite punctuated by numerous diatomaceous turbidites. Basaltic clasts found in debris flow deposits near the base of the cored sedimentary sequence yielded two new 40Ar/39Ar dates of 24.51 ± 0.24 and 23.38 ± 0.24 Ma (2σ). The younger date agrees within error with a previously published 40Ar/39Ar date of 23.17 ± 0.19 Ma from a basaltic dyke adjacent to the maar crater. The diatomite is inferred to have been deposited over several tens of thousands of years in the latest Oligocene/earliest Miocene, and may have been coeval with the period of rapid glaciation and subsequent deglaciation of Antarctica known as the Mi-1 event. Sediment magnetic properties and SEM measurements indicate that the magnetic signal is dominated by pseudo-single domain pyrrhotite. The most likely source of detrital pyrrhotite is schist country rock fragments from the inferred tephra ring created by the phreatomagmatic eruption that formed the maar. Variations in magnetic mineral concentration indicate a decrease in erosional input throughout the depositional period, suggesting long-term (tens of thousands of years) environmental change in New Zealand in the latest Oligocene/earliest Miocene.

Reproductive niche conservatism in the isolated New Zealand flora over 23 million years

The temporal stability of plant reproductive features on islands has rarely been tested. Using flowers, fruits/cones and seeds from a well-dated (23 Ma) Miocene Lagerstätte in New Zealand, we show that across 23 families and 30 genera of forest angiosperms and conifers, reproductive features have remained constant for more than 20 Myr. Insect-, wind- and bird-pollinated flowers and wind- and bird-dispersed diaspores all indicate remarkable reproductive niche conservatism, despite widespread environmental and biotic change. In the past 10 Myr, declining temperatures and the absence of low-latitude refugia caused regional extinction of thermophiles, while orogenic processes steepened temperature, precipitation and nutrient gradients, limiting forest niches. Despite these changes, the palaeontological record provides empirical support for evidence from phylogeographical studies of strong niche conservatism within lineages and biomes.

A fossil Fuchsia (Onagraceae) flower and an anther mass with in situ pollen from the early Miocene of New Zealand

UNLABELLED PREMISE OF THE STUDY Fuchsia (Onagraceae) anthers, pollen, and an ornithophilous Fuchsia-like flower from an earliest Miocene lacustrine diatomite deposit at Foulden Maar, southern New Zealand confirm a long record for Fuchsia in New Zealand and probably an equally long history for its distinctive honeyeater pollination syndrome. The anthers contain in situ pollen of the fossil palynomorph previously assigned to Diporites aspis Pocknall et Mildenh. (Onagraceae: Fuchsia L.). • METHODS We undertook comparative studies of the flower and anther morphology of the newly discovered macrofossils and compared the in situ pollen grains from the anthers with dispersed pollen grains from extant species. • KEY RESULTS The anther mass is referred to a new, extinct species, Fuchsia antiqua D.E.Lee, Conran, Bannister, U.Kaulfuss & Mildenh. (Onagraceae), and is associated with a fossilized Fuchsia-like flower from the same small mining pit. Because Diporites van der Hammen is typified by a fungal sporomorph, the replacement name for D. aspis is Koninidites aspis (Pocknall & Mildenh.) Mildenh. gen. & comb. nov. Phylogenetic placement of the fossils agrees with a proximal position to either sect. Skinnera or sect. Procumbentes. These are the oldest macrofossils of Fuchsia globally. • CONCLUSIONS The floral structures are remarkably similar to those of modern New Zealand Fuchsia. They suggest that the distinctive honeyeater bird-pollination syndrome/association seen in modern New Zealand was already established by the late Oligocene-earliest Miocene. The implications for the biogeography and paleoecology of Fuchsia in Australasia are discussed.

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

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 [daphne.lee@otago.ac.nz], Department of Geology, University of Otago, PO Box 56, Dunedin, New Zealand., Uwe Kaulfuss [uwe.kaulfuss@otago.ac.nz] and Jon K. Lindqvist, [jonlind@ihug.co.nz], Department of Geology, University of Otago, PO Box 56, Dunedin, New Zealand; John G. Conran [john.conran@adelaide.edu.au], 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 [jennifer.bannister@xtra.co.nz], Department of Botany, University of Otago, PO Box 56, Dunedin, New Zealand.

Early Miocene Formicidae (Amblyoponinae, Ectatomminae, ?Dolichoderinae, Formicinae, and Ponerinae) from the Foulden Maar Fossil Lagerstätte, New Zealand, and their biogeographic relevance

Abstract. The fossil record of Australasian Formicidae is extremely sparse. It currently comprises two ants in the subfamilies Ponerinae and Dolichoderinae from Plio/Pleistocene strata in Victoria, Australia, 14 as-yet undescribed ants from Cape York amber, and one ant in the subfamily Amblyoponinae from the early Miocene Foulden Maar in southern New Zealand. Here, we report on a diverse myrmecofauna preserved as compression fossils from Foulden Maar and describe Amblyoponinae gen. et sp. indet., Rhytidoponera waipiata n. sp., Rhytidoponera gibsoni n. sp., Myrmecorhynchus novaeseelandiae n. sp., and Austroponera schneideri n. sp. Further isolated wings are designated as Formicidae sp. A, B, and C, the former resembling a member of subfamily Dolichoderinae. Fossils of Austroponera and Myrmecorhynchus are reported for the first time, whereas Rhytidoponera waipiata n. sp. and R. gibsoni n. sp. are the first Southern Hemisphere fossil records of this genus. The fossil taxa from Foulden Maar establish the subfamilies Ectatomminae, Formicinae, Ponerinae and, possibly, Dolichoderinae in the Australasian region in the early Miocene and provide evidence that the few native ants in the extant New Zealand fauna are the surviving remnant of taxonomically different, possibly more diverse, warm-temperate to subtropical myrmecofauna.

An early Miocene ant (subfam. Amblyoponinae) from Foulden Maar: the first fossil Hymenoptera from New Zealand

Kaulfuss, U., Harris, A.C., Conran J.G. & Lee, D.E., 2014. An early Miocene ant (subfam. Amblyoponinae) from Foulden Maar: the first fossil Hymenoptera from New Zealand. Alcheringa 38, 568–574. ISSN 0311-5518. The ant subfamily Amblyoponinae is presently represented in New Zealand by one endemic species in the cosmopolitan genus Stigmatomma and an introduced Australian species of Amblyopone. The fossil record of the group is restricted to two species of Stigmatomma from late Eocene Baltic Amber. Here, we describe the third fossil record, an Amblyopone-like specimen from the early Miocene of Otago, southern New Zealand, based on a winged male that resembles the extant A. australis Erichson in size, general habitus and characters of wing venation, but also shares features with the African amblyoponine genus Zymmer. This represents the first fossil record of Amblyoponinae from the Southern Hemisphere and the first example of Hymenoptera among the few pre-Quaternary insect fossils known from New Zealand. It suggests a long history of Amblyoponinae in New Zealand and Australia. Uwe Kaulfuss [uwe.kaulfuss@otago.ac.nz] and Daphne E. Lee [daphne.lee@otago.ac.nz], Department of Geology, University of Otago, PO Box 56, Dunedin 9016, New Zealand; Anthony C. Harris [anthony.harris@otagomuseum.govt.nz], Otago Museum, PO Box 6202, Dunedin 9059, New Zealand; John G. Conran [john.conran@adelaide.edu.au], ACEBB & SGC, School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, The University of Adelaide, Benham Bldg, DX 650 312, Adelaide SA 5005, Australia. Received 18.3.2014; revised 15.5.2014; accepted 23.5.2014.

Crater stratigraphy and the post-eruptive evolution of Foulden Maar, southern New Zealand

ABSTRACT Foulden Maar, Waipiata Volcanic Field, New Zealand is a partly eroded maar–diatreme formed by phreatomagmatic eruptions c. 23 Ma. Its post-eruptive evolution is reconstructed by combining outcrop, drillcore and physical core rock properties with pollen data. Facies associations in a 190 m thick composite section of the central crater sediments record four depositional stages: (1) immediate post-eruptive deposition of collapsed crater wall and tephra ring material by subaqueous gravity flows; (2) re-deposition of tephra by hyperconcentrated to turbulent gravity flows in a steep-sided lake; (3) seasonally mediated background sedimentation with recurring gravity flows in a meromictic lake; and (4) diminishing turbidity currents under decreasing relief and biogenic sedimentation over c. 130 ka. Clasts in the basal crater fill represent accidental lithic clasts of primary ejecta and indicate eruption into a mixed hard-soft rock substrate. Foulden Maar represents a ‘classical’ lacustrine maar crater sequence and confirms generally similar post-eruptive processes and sedimentation patterns in enclosed, lacustrine maar basins.

Diverse, primitive termites (Isoptera: Kalotermitidae, incertae sedis) from the early Miocene of New Zealand

The fauna of termites (Isoptera) preserved in the early Miocene Foulden Maar fossil lagerstätte, Otago, southern New Zealand, is described and figured. Six genera and species, inclusive of Stolotermes kupe Kaulfuss et al. (Stolotermitidae), are now known from Miocene New Zealand; most are attributable to the Kalotermitidae (drywood termites) and one, left as family incertae sedis, has kalotermitid‐like traits. The new taxa established are Waipiatatermes matatoka Engel & Kaulfuss gen. et sp. nov., Taieritermes krishnai Engel & Kaulfuss gen. et sp. nov., Otagotermes novazealandicus Engel & Kaulfuss gen. et sp. nov. and Pterotermopsis fouldenica Engel & Kaulfuss gen. et sp. nov. The affinities of the new taxa are discussed, highlighting the composition and uniqueness of the fauna, the absence of Neoisoptera and the possibility that these species were relicts of basal Kalotermitidae.

First insects from the Manuherikia Group, early Miocene, New Zealand

ABSTRACT The Miocene Manuherikia Group in southern New Zealand is well known for its diverse assemblage of plant, invertebrate and vertebrate fossils. Here, we report the first fossil insects from the Manuherikia Group, comprising three isolated wings recovered from leaf beds in the Dunstan Formation near Cromwell, Otago. One partially preserved tegmen is tentatively assigned to Tropiduchidae (Hemiptera: Fulgoroidea), a family of mainly tropical and subtropical planthoppers that is no longer represented in the New Zealand fauna. The brentine weevil Perroudia manuherikia n. sp. (Coleoptera: Brentidae) is the first fossil record of Brentinae from the Southern Hemisphere, with the sole extant species of Perroudia occurring in New Caledonia. A further wing has the typical venation pattern of Polycentropodidae (Trichoptera), a caddisfly family with two genera in the modern New Zealand fauna. These fossil taxa are reported from the Australasian region for the first time. urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:D95D30CF-9518-4BE8-ABFA-94087B7A30DE