Eocene decapod crustacean faunas of New Zealand
dispersed cuticle assemblages from the Western Interior of North America, which show a change in dominant elements (e.g., Wolfe and Upchurch 1987) and, at higher paleolatitudes, an increase in the percentage of species with thin cuticles (Fort Union Formation— Upchurch unpublished data). Also noteworthy is the occurrence of the epiphyllous fungus Trichopeltinites in the early Danian of Seymour Island, because Trichopeltinites becomes extinct at the Cretaceous/Tertiary boundary in the Western Interior of North America. These data are consistent with suggestions that the vegetation of high southern paleolatitudes was little affected by events at the Cretaceous/Tertiary boundary. Research was supported by National Science Foundation grant DPP 87-16484 to R.A. Askin with a subcontract to G.R. Upchurch, Jr., at the University of Colorado, Boulder. Preparation of this report was supported, in part, by a postdoctoral fellowship from the National Center for Atmospheric Research to G.R. Upchurch, Jr.
References Askin, R.A. 1988. The palynological record across the Cretaceous/ Tertiary transition on Seymour Island, Antarctica. In R.M. Feldmann and M . O. Woodburne (Eds.), Geology and Paleontology of Seymour Island, Antarctic Peninsula. (Geological Society of America Memoir 169), 155-162.
Eocene decapod crustacean faunas of New Zealand RODNEY M. FELDMANN
Department of Geology Kent State University Kent, Ohio 44242
Recent studies of the Eocene decapod crustaceans of Seymour Island, Antarctica, (Feldmann and Zinsmeister 1984a; Feldmann and Wilson 1988) have demonstrated that fossil crabs are abundant and diverse in that region. Furthermore, these studies have shown that decapods were able to inhabit the antarctic region at that time, providing evidence that whatever ecological factors are presently responsible for excluding decapods from the Antarctic were not operative then. Because the Eocene paleogeographic configuration of the Southern Hemisphere was substantially different than it is today (Shackleton and Kennett 1973), it has been suggested that the resultant paleocurrents may have produced a more highly seasonal climate than currently exists and that this higher degree of seasonality may have made it possible for a more diverse fauna, including decapods, to have colonized Antarctica (Feldmann and Zinsmeister 1984b). New Zealand occupied a more southerly position during the Eocene (Smith, Hurley, and Briden 1981) than at present and, 10
Baranova, M.A. 1972. Systematic anatomy of the leaf epidermis in Magnoliaceae and related families. Taxon, 21, 447-469. Florin, R. 1931. Investigations into the phylogeny of Coniferales and Cordaitales. Ku ngliga Svenska Vetenkapsakademiens Handlingar, Series 3, 10(1). (In German.) Harris, T.M. 1976. Two neglected aspects of fossil conifers. American Journal of Botany, 63, 902-910. Harwood, D.M. 1988. Upper Cretaceous and lower Paleocene diatom and silicoflagellate biostratigraphv of Seymour Island, eastern Antarctic Peninsula. In R.M. Feldmann and M.O. Woodburne (Eds.), Geology and Paleontology of Seymour Island, Antarctic Peninsula. (Geological Society of America Memoir 169) 55-129. Huber, B.T. 1988. Upper Campanian-Paleocene foraminifera from the James Ross Island region, Antarctic Peninsula. In R.M. Feldmann and M . O. Woodburne (Eds.), Geology and Paleontology of Seymour Island, Antarctic Peninsula. (Geological Society of America Memoir 169) 163-252. Macellari, G.E. 1986. Late Campanian-Maastrichtian ammonite fauna from Seymour Island (Antarctic Peninsula). Journal of Paleontology Memoir, 18. Pant, D.D., and D.D. Nautiyal. 1963. Cuticle and epidermis of recent Cycadales. Leaves, sporangia, and seeds. Senckenbergiana Biologica, 44, 257-347. Upchurch, G.R., Jr. 1989. Dispersed angiosperm cuticles. In B.H. Tiffney (Ed.), Phytodebris: Notes for a Workshop on the Study of Fragmentary Plant Remains, Paleobotanical Section, Botanical Society of America.
Wolfe, J. A., and G.R. Upchurch, Jr. 1987. Leaf assemblages across the Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary in the Raton Basin, New Mexico and Colorado. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA, 84, 5,096-5,100.
in fact, would have occupied an up-current location within a southern Pacific gyre that swept the western side of the Antarctic Peninsula. As a result, there is a high probability that there would be some faunal similarity between the Eocene decapod faunas of these two regions. Thus, the purpose of this report is to present preliminary results of fieldwork in New Zealand which will, upon complete analysis, provide the first opportunity for making this comparison. Previously, the Eocene fossil crabs of New Zealand have been known from two works (Glaessner 1960, 1980) in which five species were described from four localities. Each of the four localities, all on South Island, was in a different stratigraphic unit but all were known to have been deposited during the middle and late Eocene (Bortonian, Kaiatan, and Runangan in New Zealand terminology). Three of the units—exposed in Snowdrift Quarry, Otago; near Bortons, in the Waitaki Valley; and south of Perpendicular Point, Westland (figure)—consisted of medium-to-coarse siliciclastic rocks which were probably deposited in moderately high-energy, inner-shelf habitats. In this regard, the occurrences would be comparable to those within the La Meseta Formation on Seymour Island. The fourth site, at Woodpecker Bay, was in a deeper water, outer-shelf setting in which fine siliciclastics were deposited. Extensive recollection of the localities known to have yielded decapods as well as examination of other sites within the same rock units have resulted in the discovery of several new localities and an increase in the number of decapod taxa from six to at least fourteen (table) and provide a suitable basis for considering the biogeography of southern high-latitude decapod faunas during the Eocene. The results, presented below, ANTARCTIC JOURNAL
NEW ZEALAND
AUCKLAND North Island
Tasman Sea
EILINGTON WOODPECKER BAY South Island GREYMOUTH PERPENDICULAR POINT / HRISTCHURCH South Pacific Ocean WAITAKI VALLEY .,DUNEDlN 0 250 SNOWDRIFT L I I I I I km QUARRY
Location map showing the general area of the sites, in New Zealand, where Eocene decapod crustaceans have been collected. (km denotes kilometer.)
must be considered preliminary, because the details of identification and classification have not yet been completed. It is possible, however, to present several observations which suggest faunal similarities within the Weddellian Province (Zinsmeister 1979). In general, the crab faunas at Snowdrift, Waitaki Valley, and Perpendicular Point are dominated by representatives of the Raninidae, specifically the genera Lyreidus and Laeviranina. The Portunidae comprise the second-most common group with the Callianassidae, Thallassinidae, Goneplacidae, and Majidae represented by fewer and less widely distributed taxa. This faunal array, which would not be considered typical of innershelf settings today, is much like that found on Seymour Island where the La Meseta fauna is overwhelmingly dominated by Lyreidus antarcticus Feldmann and Zinsmeister. Other elements in that assemblage include Callianassidae, Portunidae, Goneplacidae, and Majidae as well as Galatheidae and Homolodromiidae. The latter two families are not know known from the New Zealand Eocene. Rhachiosoma granuliferum, which was previously known from Snowdrift Quarry (Glaessner 1960) and Perpendicular Point (Glaessner 1980), has now been collected in the Waitaki Valley and at Woodpecker Bay as well. Thus, this portunid becomes the first species to be known from the entire range of decapod localities and provides an important stratigraphic and biogeographic index. Finally, within the Raninidae, the genera Lyreidus and Laeviranina are significant, because they represent very early records of the genera, introducing the possibility that they may document founder populations of these taxa. Extant Lyreidus species inhabit a broad geographic range but are restricted to outer-shelf and bathyal habitats (Griffin 1970). Laeviranina, an
Fossil decapod crustaceans collected from New Zealand. (Taxa marked with an asterisk represent new, as yet unpublished, occurrences.)
Name
Family Thallassinidae Ctenocheles n. sp.
Snowdrift Quarry
Family Portunidae Rhachiosoma granuliferum Pororaria eocenica portunid undetermined
Family Xanthidae Tumidocarcinus tumidus
1989 REVIEW
Woodpecker Bay
X
X
x X
x X
X
X
X
x
X X
Family Goneplacidae goneplacid, n. gen. & sp. Family Majidae Leptomithrax n. sp. Notomithrax n. sp. Notomithrax sp.
Perpendicular Point
X
Family Callianassidae Callianassa sp. Family Raninidae Laeviranina pororariensis Laeviranina perarmata Laeviranina n. sp Lyreidus waitakiensis Lyreidus n. sp.
Waitaki Valley
X
X X X
X
11
extinct genus, is the probable progenitor of Ran inoides, a genus currently known from the Indopacific region. Field and laboratory work for this study was supported by National Science Foundation grant DPP 87-15945. During the course of work in New Zealand, valuable information regarding collecting sites and museum collections was provided by Margaret Bradshaw, Ewan Fordyce, Jack Grant-Mackie, Ian Keyes, and Phillip Maxwell. (Contribution 439, Department of Geology, Kent State University, Kent, Ohio 44242.)
References Feldmann, R.M., and M.T. Wilson. 1988. Eocene decapod crustaceans from Antarctica. In R.M. Feldmann and M.O. Woodburne (Eds.), Geology and Paleontology of Seymour Island, Antarctic Peninsula, (Geological Society of America Memoir 169), 465-488. Feldmann, R.M., and W.J. Zinsmeister. 1984a. New fossil crabs (Decapoda: Brachyura) from the La Meseta Formation (Eocene) of Antarctica: Paleogeographic and biogeographic implications. Journal of Paleontology, 58, 1,041-1,061. Feldmann, R.M., and W.J. Zinsmeister. 1984b. Tolerance of seasonality as a key to dispersal opportunism: Examples from the Eocene
12
of Antarctica. Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, 16, 507. Glaessner, M.F. 1960. The fossil decapod Crustacea of New Zealand and the evolution of the order Decapoda. New Zealand Geological Survey Paleontological Bulletin, 31, 1-78. Glaessner, M.F. 1980. New Cretaceous and Tertiary crabs (Crustacea: Brachyura) from Australia and New Zealand. Transactions of the Royal Society of South Australia, 104, 171-192. Griffin, D.J.G. 1970. A revision of the Recent Indo-west Pacific species of the genus Lyreidus de Haan (Crustacea, Decapoda, Raninidae). Transactions of the Royal Society of New Zealand, Biological Series, 12, 89-112. Shackleton, N.J., and J.P. Kennett. 1973. Paleotemperature history of the Cenozoic and the initiation of Antarctic glaciation: Oxygen and carbon isotope analyses in DSDP sites 277, 279, and 281. Initial Reports of Deep Sea Drilling Project, 29, 743-755. Smith, AG., A.M. Hurley, and J.C. Briden. 1981. Phanerozoic paleocontinental world maps. Cambridge Earth Science Series. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Zinsmeister, W.J. 1979. Biogeographic significance of the Late Mesozoic and Early Tertiary molluscan faunas of Seymour Island (Antarctic Peninsula) to the final breakup of Gondwanaland. In J . Gray
and A. Boucot (Eds.), Historical Biogeography, Plate Tectonics and the Changing Environment. (Proceedings of the 37th Annual Biology Col-
loquium and Selected Papers, Oregon State University Press, Corvallis, Oregon.)
A\I\I Ift JO k\\I
References Askin, R.A. 1988. The palynological record across the Cretaceous/ Tertiary transition on Seymour Island, Antarctica. In R.M. Feldmann and M . O. Woodburne (Eds.), Geology and Paleontology of Seymour Island, Antarctic Peninsula. (Geological Society of America Memoir 169), 155-162.
Eocene decapod crustacean faunas of New Zealand RODNEY M. FELDMANN
Department of Geology Kent State University Kent, Ohio 44242
Recent studies of the Eocene decapod crustaceans of Seymour Island, Antarctica, (Feldmann and Zinsmeister 1984a; Feldmann and Wilson 1988) have demonstrated that fossil crabs are abundant and diverse in that region. Furthermore, these studies have shown that decapods were able to inhabit the antarctic region at that time, providing evidence that whatever ecological factors are presently responsible for excluding decapods from the Antarctic were not operative then. Because the Eocene paleogeographic configuration of the Southern Hemisphere was substantially different than it is today (Shackleton and Kennett 1973), it has been suggested that the resultant paleocurrents may have produced a more highly seasonal climate than currently exists and that this higher degree of seasonality may have made it possible for a more diverse fauna, including decapods, to have colonized Antarctica (Feldmann and Zinsmeister 1984b). New Zealand occupied a more southerly position during the Eocene (Smith, Hurley, and Briden 1981) than at present and, 10
Baranova, M.A. 1972. Systematic anatomy of the leaf epidermis in Magnoliaceae and related families. Taxon, 21, 447-469. Florin, R. 1931. Investigations into the phylogeny of Coniferales and Cordaitales. Ku ngliga Svenska Vetenkapsakademiens Handlingar, Series 3, 10(1). (In German.) Harris, T.M. 1976. Two neglected aspects of fossil conifers. American Journal of Botany, 63, 902-910. Harwood, D.M. 1988. Upper Cretaceous and lower Paleocene diatom and silicoflagellate biostratigraphv of Seymour Island, eastern Antarctic Peninsula. In R.M. Feldmann and M.O. Woodburne (Eds.), Geology and Paleontology of Seymour Island, Antarctic Peninsula. (Geological Society of America Memoir 169) 55-129. Huber, B.T. 1988. Upper Campanian-Paleocene foraminifera from the James Ross Island region, Antarctic Peninsula. In R.M. Feldmann and M . O. Woodburne (Eds.), Geology and Paleontology of Seymour Island, Antarctic Peninsula. (Geological Society of America Memoir 169) 163-252. Macellari, G.E. 1986. Late Campanian-Maastrichtian ammonite fauna from Seymour Island (Antarctic Peninsula). Journal of Paleontology Memoir, 18. Pant, D.D., and D.D. Nautiyal. 1963. Cuticle and epidermis of recent Cycadales. Leaves, sporangia, and seeds. Senckenbergiana Biologica, 44, 257-347. Upchurch, G.R., Jr. 1989. Dispersed angiosperm cuticles. In B.H. Tiffney (Ed.), Phytodebris: Notes for a Workshop on the Study of Fragmentary Plant Remains, Paleobotanical Section, Botanical Society of America.
Wolfe, J. A., and G.R. Upchurch, Jr. 1987. Leaf assemblages across the Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary in the Raton Basin, New Mexico and Colorado. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA, 84, 5,096-5,100.
in fact, would have occupied an up-current location within a southern Pacific gyre that swept the western side of the Antarctic Peninsula. As a result, there is a high probability that there would be some faunal similarity between the Eocene decapod faunas of these two regions. Thus, the purpose of this report is to present preliminary results of fieldwork in New Zealand which will, upon complete analysis, provide the first opportunity for making this comparison. Previously, the Eocene fossil crabs of New Zealand have been known from two works (Glaessner 1960, 1980) in which five species were described from four localities. Each of the four localities, all on South Island, was in a different stratigraphic unit but all were known to have been deposited during the middle and late Eocene (Bortonian, Kaiatan, and Runangan in New Zealand terminology). Three of the units—exposed in Snowdrift Quarry, Otago; near Bortons, in the Waitaki Valley; and south of Perpendicular Point, Westland (figure)—consisted of medium-to-coarse siliciclastic rocks which were probably deposited in moderately high-energy, inner-shelf habitats. In this regard, the occurrences would be comparable to those within the La Meseta Formation on Seymour Island. The fourth site, at Woodpecker Bay, was in a deeper water, outer-shelf setting in which fine siliciclastics were deposited. Extensive recollection of the localities known to have yielded decapods as well as examination of other sites within the same rock units have resulted in the discovery of several new localities and an increase in the number of decapod taxa from six to at least fourteen (table) and provide a suitable basis for considering the biogeography of southern high-latitude decapod faunas during the Eocene. The results, presented below, ANTARCTIC JOURNAL
NEW ZEALAND
AUCKLAND North Island
Tasman Sea
EILINGTON WOODPECKER BAY South Island GREYMOUTH PERPENDICULAR POINT / HRISTCHURCH South Pacific Ocean WAITAKI VALLEY .,DUNEDlN 0 250 SNOWDRIFT L I I I I I km QUARRY
Location map showing the general area of the sites, in New Zealand, where Eocene decapod crustaceans have been collected. (km denotes kilometer.)
must be considered preliminary, because the details of identification and classification have not yet been completed. It is possible, however, to present several observations which suggest faunal similarities within the Weddellian Province (Zinsmeister 1979). In general, the crab faunas at Snowdrift, Waitaki Valley, and Perpendicular Point are dominated by representatives of the Raninidae, specifically the genera Lyreidus and Laeviranina. The Portunidae comprise the second-most common group with the Callianassidae, Thallassinidae, Goneplacidae, and Majidae represented by fewer and less widely distributed taxa. This faunal array, which would not be considered typical of innershelf settings today, is much like that found on Seymour Island where the La Meseta fauna is overwhelmingly dominated by Lyreidus antarcticus Feldmann and Zinsmeister. Other elements in that assemblage include Callianassidae, Portunidae, Goneplacidae, and Majidae as well as Galatheidae and Homolodromiidae. The latter two families are not know known from the New Zealand Eocene. Rhachiosoma granuliferum, which was previously known from Snowdrift Quarry (Glaessner 1960) and Perpendicular Point (Glaessner 1980), has now been collected in the Waitaki Valley and at Woodpecker Bay as well. Thus, this portunid becomes the first species to be known from the entire range of decapod localities and provides an important stratigraphic and biogeographic index. Finally, within the Raninidae, the genera Lyreidus and Laeviranina are significant, because they represent very early records of the genera, introducing the possibility that they may document founder populations of these taxa. Extant Lyreidus species inhabit a broad geographic range but are restricted to outer-shelf and bathyal habitats (Griffin 1970). Laeviranina, an
Fossil decapod crustaceans collected from New Zealand. (Taxa marked with an asterisk represent new, as yet unpublished, occurrences.)
Name
Family Thallassinidae Ctenocheles n. sp.
Snowdrift Quarry
Family Portunidae Rhachiosoma granuliferum Pororaria eocenica portunid undetermined
Family Xanthidae Tumidocarcinus tumidus
1989 REVIEW
Woodpecker Bay
X
X
x X
x X
X
X
X
x
X X
Family Goneplacidae goneplacid, n. gen. & sp. Family Majidae Leptomithrax n. sp. Notomithrax n. sp. Notomithrax sp.
Perpendicular Point
X
Family Callianassidae Callianassa sp. Family Raninidae Laeviranina pororariensis Laeviranina perarmata Laeviranina n. sp Lyreidus waitakiensis Lyreidus n. sp.
Waitaki Valley
X
X X X
X
11
extinct genus, is the probable progenitor of Ran inoides, a genus currently known from the Indopacific region. Field and laboratory work for this study was supported by National Science Foundation grant DPP 87-15945. During the course of work in New Zealand, valuable information regarding collecting sites and museum collections was provided by Margaret Bradshaw, Ewan Fordyce, Jack Grant-Mackie, Ian Keyes, and Phillip Maxwell. (Contribution 439, Department of Geology, Kent State University, Kent, Ohio 44242.)
References Feldmann, R.M., and M.T. Wilson. 1988. Eocene decapod crustaceans from Antarctica. In R.M. Feldmann and M.O. Woodburne (Eds.), Geology and Paleontology of Seymour Island, Antarctic Peninsula, (Geological Society of America Memoir 169), 465-488. Feldmann, R.M., and W.J. Zinsmeister. 1984a. New fossil crabs (Decapoda: Brachyura) from the La Meseta Formation (Eocene) of Antarctica: Paleogeographic and biogeographic implications. Journal of Paleontology, 58, 1,041-1,061. Feldmann, R.M., and W.J. Zinsmeister. 1984b. Tolerance of seasonality as a key to dispersal opportunism: Examples from the Eocene
12
of Antarctica. Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, 16, 507. Glaessner, M.F. 1960. The fossil decapod Crustacea of New Zealand and the evolution of the order Decapoda. New Zealand Geological Survey Paleontological Bulletin, 31, 1-78. Glaessner, M.F. 1980. New Cretaceous and Tertiary crabs (Crustacea: Brachyura) from Australia and New Zealand. Transactions of the Royal Society of South Australia, 104, 171-192. Griffin, D.J.G. 1970. A revision of the Recent Indo-west Pacific species of the genus Lyreidus de Haan (Crustacea, Decapoda, Raninidae). Transactions of the Royal Society of New Zealand, Biological Series, 12, 89-112. Shackleton, N.J., and J.P. Kennett. 1973. Paleotemperature history of the Cenozoic and the initiation of Antarctic glaciation: Oxygen and carbon isotope analyses in DSDP sites 277, 279, and 281. Initial Reports of Deep Sea Drilling Project, 29, 743-755. Smith, AG., A.M. Hurley, and J.C. Briden. 1981. Phanerozoic paleocontinental world maps. Cambridge Earth Science Series. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Zinsmeister, W.J. 1979. Biogeographic significance of the Late Mesozoic and Early Tertiary molluscan faunas of Seymour Island (Antarctic Peninsula) to the final breakup of Gondwanaland. In J . Gray
and A. Boucot (Eds.), Historical Biogeography, Plate Tectonics and the Changing Environment. (Proceedings of the 37th Annual Biology Col-
loquium and Selected Papers, Oregon State University Press, Corvallis, Oregon.)
A\I\I Ift JO k\\I
