A Maastrichtian insect assemblage from Patagonia sheds light on arthropod diversity previous to the K/Pg event.

ABSTRACT: Insect faunas from the latest Cretaceous are poorly known worldwide. Particularly, in the Southern Hemisphere, there is a gap regarding insect assemblages in the Campanian-Maastrichtian interval. Here we present an insect assemblage from the Maastrichtian Chorrillo Formation, southern Argentina, represented by well-preserved and non-deformed, chitinous microscopic remains including head capsules, wings and scales. Identified clades include Chironomidae dipterans, Coelolepida lepidopterans, and Ephemeroptera. The assemblage taxonomically resembles those of Cenozoic age, rather than other Mesozoic assemblages, in being composed by diverse chironomids and lepidopterans. To the best of our knowledge, present discovery constitutes the first insect body fossils for the Maastrichtian in the South

SUBMITTER: Vera EI 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10711029 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature