scholarly journals An Early Eocene bee (Hymenoptera: Halictidae) from Quilchena, British Columbia

2003 ◽  
Vol 135 (1) ◽  
pp. 63-69 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael S. Engel ◽  
S. Bruce Archibald
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
Early Eocene ◽  
Okanagan Highlands ◽  
Body Fossil

AbstractA fossil halictine bee from Early Eocene, Okanagan Highlands deposits of Quilchena, British Columbia, Canada, is described and figured. Halictus? savenyeisp.nov. is distinguished from other Tertiary halictines as well as modern bees. The specimen is the second oldest body fossil of a bee yet discovered and the first fossil bee from Canada. The antiquity of Halictidae and of bees in general is briefly commented upon.

A new species of Archaeochrysa Adams (Neuroptera: Chrysopidae) from the early Eocene of Driftwood Canyon, British Columbia, Canada

2014 ◽  
Vol 147 (4) ◽  
pp. 359-369 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Bruce Archibald ◽  
Vladimir N. Makarkin
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
New Species ◽  
Wing Venation ◽  
Early Eocene ◽  
Evolutionary Trends ◽  
Okanagan Highlands ◽  
A New Species

AbstractArchaeochrysa sanikwanew species (Neuroptera: Chrysopidae: Nothochrysinae) is described from early Eocene (Ypresian) Okanagan Highlands shale at Driftwood Canyon, British Columbia, Canada. The evolutionary trends of three chrysopid wing venation characters (the shape of the intramedian cell, the position of the crossvein 2m-cu, and the development of the pseudocubitus) are analysed. The forewing venation of this species is very plesiomorphic compared with the vast majority species of Nothochrysinae, both fossil and extant.

Early Eocene (Ypresian) birds from the Okanagan Highlands, British Columbia (Canada) and Washington State (USA)

2019 ◽  
Vol 56 (8) ◽  
pp. 803-813
Author(s):  
Gerald Mayr ◽  
S. Bruce Archibald ◽  
Gary W. Kaiser ◽  
Rolf W. Mathewes
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
North America ◽  
Fossil Record ◽  
Washington State ◽  
Fossil Birds ◽  
Early Eocene ◽  
Western North America ◽  
Postcranial Skeleton ◽  
The North ◽  
Okanagan Highlands

We survey the known avian fossils from Ypresian (early Eocene) fossil sites of the North American Okanagan Highlands, mainly in British Columbia (Canada). All specimens represent taxa that were previously unknown from the Eocene of far-western North America. Wings from the McAbee site are tentatively referred to the Gaviiformes and would constitute the earliest fossil record of this group of birds. A postcranial skeleton from Driftwood Canyon is tentatively assigned to the Songziidae, a taxon originally established for fossils from the Ypresian of China. Two skeletons from Driftwood Canyon and the McAbee site are tentatively referred to Coliiformes and Zygodactylidae, respectively, whereas three further fossils from McAbee, Blakeburn, and Republic (Washington, USA) are too poorly preserved for even a tentative assignment. The specimens from the Okanagan Highlands inhabited relatively high paleoaltitudes with microthermal climates (except Quilchena: lower mesothermal) and mild winters, whereas most other Ypresian fossil birds are from much warmer lowland paleoenvironments with upper mesothermal to megathermal climates. The putative occurrence of a gaviiform bird is particularly noteworthy because diving birds are unknown from other lacustrine Ypresian fossil sites of the Northern Hemisphere. The bones of the putative zygodactylid show a sulphurous colouration, and we hypothesize that this highly unusual preservation may be due to the metabolic activity of sulphide-oxidizing bacteria.

Early Eocene insects from Quilchena, British Columbia, and their paleoclimatic implications

2000 ◽  
Vol 78 (8) ◽  
pp. 1441-1462 ◽  
Author(s):  
S Bruce Archibald ◽  
Rolf W Mathewes
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
Fossil Insects ◽  
Early Eocene ◽  
Lacustrine Shale ◽  
Okanagan Highlands ◽  
New Occurrences

Fossil insects were examined from the Early Eocene lacustrine shale at Quilchena, British Columbia. Insects of 10 orders (Blattodea, Dermaptera, Orthoptera, Hemiptera, Neuroptera, Coleoptera, Mecoptera, Diptera, Trichoptera, Hymenoptera) were identified, bringing the known number at this site to 11. These were placed in 26 families, 22 of which are new occurrences for this locality. Specimens include early occurrences of bees and ants. Three fossils of leaves with galls were examined. Thirteen of the families are new to British Columbia, and 9 of these (Blaberidae, Haglidae, Cixiidae, Dinidoridae, Cydnidae, Staphylinidae, Panorpidae, Pipunculidae, Halictidae) are new to the region of the Okanagan Highlands. A number of taxa are earliest known occurrences. Several insects in this fauna are larger than their modern relatives and some are larger than their relatives from other Eocene locales. The presence of insects including March flies, diplopterine cockroaches, dinidorid bugs, and seed weevils confirm and perhaps exceed paleobotanical indications that in the Eocene, British Columbia was much warmer than it is today.

Early Eocene snakeflies (Raphidioptera) of western North America from the Okanagan Highlands and Green River Formation

Zootaxa ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 4951 (1) ◽  
pp. 41-79
Author(s):  
S. BRUCE ARCHIBALD ◽  
VLADIMIR N. MAKARKIN
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
British Columbia ◽  
North America ◽  
United States Of America ◽  
Green River Formation ◽  
Early Eocene ◽  
Western North America ◽  
Green River ◽  
The Family ◽  
Okanagan Highlands

Four new species of Raphidiidae are described from the early Eocene of western North America: Megaraphidia antiquissima sp. nov. from McAbee, M. ootsa sp. nov. from Driftwood Canyon, M. hopkinsi sp. nov. from the Allenby Formation (all from British Columbia, Canada), M. klondika sp. nov. from Republic (Washington, United States of America). Archiinocellia Handlirsch, 1910, Archiinocellia oligoneura Handlirsch, 1910 from Horsefly River (British Columbia, Canada), and A. protomaculata (Engel, 2011), comb. nov., from the Green River Formation (Colorado, United States of America) are redescribed. Archiinocellia is assigned to Raphidiidae, sit. nov. The apparent absence of sclerotized gonocoxites 9 in the Archiinocellia protomaculata male is probably plesiomorphic at the family level. As some modern snakeflies do not require a cold interval to complete their development and Eocene Inocelliidae and Raphidiidae lived in regions of warm winters (especially A. protomaculata), adaptation to cold winters in many modern snakeflies is a post-Eocene phenomenon. Eocene Raphidiidae of Europe (Priabonian) differ greatly from those of North America (Ypresian and Priabonian). This pattern might reflect dispersal in either direction or ranges established prior to continental separation. Eocene Inocelliidae of Europe (Priabonian), however, are more similar to those of North America (Ypresian and Lutetian). 

New early Eocene Siricomorpha (Hymenoptera: Symphyta: Pamphiliidae, Siricidae, Cephidae) from the Okanagan Highlands, western North America

2015 ◽  
Vol 148 (2) ◽  
pp. 209-228 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Bruce Archibald ◽  
Alexandr P. Rasnitsyn
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
British Columbia ◽  
New Species ◽  
United States Of America ◽  
Host Plants ◽  
New Genus ◽  
Early Eocene ◽  
New Genera ◽  
Western North America ◽  
Okanagan Highlands

AbstractWe describe three new genera and four new species (three named) of siricomorph sawflies (Hymenoptera: Symphyta) from the Ypresian (early Eocene) Okanagan Highlands: Pamphiliidae,Ulteramus republicensisnew genus, new speciesfrom Republic, Washington, United States of America; Siricidae,Ypresiosirex orthosemosnew genus, new speciesfrom McAbee, British Columbia, Canada; and Cephidae,Cuspilongus cachecreekensisnew genus, new speciesfrom McAbee and another cephid treated as Cephinae species A from Horsefly River, British Columbia, Canada. These are the only currently established occurrences of any siricomorph family in the Ypresian. We treat the undescribed new siricoid from the Cretaceous Crato Formation of Brazil as belonging to the Pseudosiricidae, not Siricidae, and agree with various authors that the YpresianMegapterites mirabilisCockerell is an ant (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). The Miocene speciesCephites oeningensisHeer andC. fragilisHeer, assigned to the Cephidae over a century and a half ago, are also ants. Many of the host plants that siricomporphs feed upon today first appeared in the Eocene, a number of these in the Okanagan Highlands in particular. The Okanagan Highlands sites where these wasps were found also had upper microthermal mean annual temperatures as are overwhelmingly preferred by most modern siricomorphs, but were uncommon in the globally warm Ypresian, only found then in higher elevations and highest latitudes.

A window into mid-latitudinal Early Eocene environmental variability: a high-resolution palynological analysis of the Falkland site, Okanagan Highlands, British Columbia, Canada

2016 ◽  
Vol 53 (6) ◽  
pp. 605-613 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick T. Moss ◽  
Robin Y. Smith ◽  
David R. Greenwood
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
High Resolution ◽  
Vegetation Change ◽  
Volcanic Ash ◽  
Environmental Variability ◽  
Climatic Variability ◽  
Volcanic Eruptions ◽  
Early Eocene ◽  
Okanagan Highlands ◽  
Millennial Scale

A series of Eocene lake shale deposits from British Columbia, coined the Okanagan Highlands, are dated from associated volcanic ash as mostly from the Early Eocene Climatic Optimum (EECO), the longest persisting of the early Paleogene hyperthermals. In this report we focus on high-resolution palynological sampling of short sequences for the Falkland site to determine if they record centennial- or millennial-scale vegetation change during the EECO. The Falkland shales consist of alternating dark- and light-coloured irregular laminae, along with interleaved tephras from volcanic eruptions. At this site it is apparent that deposition occurred over several millennia. Pollen grains were counted under light microscopy using a standard transect method, with clustering analysis determining whether the data show any long-term trends in plant representation and abundance. Our data show that regional vegetation was impacted by millennial- to centennial-scale climatic variability, as well as the effects of volcanic eruptions. At Falkland there appears to be alterations in vegetation assemblages (birch – golden larch association to fir–spruce) that reflect longer-term (centennial to millennial) climatic transitions (warm/wet to cool/dry). Within this sequence, a period of environmental disturbance (reflected in the presence of multiple volcanic ash layers, wave ripple marks, and a fish-kill layer) has a marked impact on vegetation representation, with a dramatic increase in Abies and Picea pollen at the expense of Alnus and Betula, which do eventually recover. These results suggest mid-latitude millennial-scale climate oscillations in the waning period of the EECO of a similar magnitude to Holocene variability.

Depositional setting, fossil flora, and paleoenvironment of the Early Eocene Falkland site, Okanagan Highlands, British Columbia

2009 ◽  
Vol 46 (11) ◽  
pp. 811-822 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robin Y. Smith ◽  
James F. Basinger ◽  
David R. Greenwood
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
Climatic Conditions ◽  
Mean Annual Precipitation ◽  
Fossil Flora ◽  
Mean Annual Temperature ◽  
Leaf Margin ◽  
Early Eocene ◽  
Similarity Coefficients ◽  
Okanagan Highlands ◽  
Depositional Setting

The fossil flora and depositional setting of the Early Eocene Falkland site in the southern interior of British Columbia, Canada, is reported in detail for the first time, using a census sampling approach. The Falkland site is part of the series of Okanagan Highlands fossil localities in British Columbia and Washington State that represent relatively cool upland environments within the context of the greenhouse world of the Early Eocene, providing microthermal (mean annual temperature (MAT) < 13 °C) climatic conditions for the establishment of cool-adapted plants geographically adjacent to subtropical elements from lowland floras. Plant community composition of the Falkland flora is most similar to the Republic (Washington) and McAbee (British Columbia) floras based on high Sørenson similarity coefficients, together forming a southern cluster of Okanagan Highlands sites. The site is a lacustrine deposit that formed in a volcanically active landscape. Paleoclimate reconstructions based on leaf physiognomy characterize the site as microthermal (MAT 8.9 ± 2.0 °C by leaf margin analysis or 11.9 ± 2.0 °C by climate leaf analysis multivariate program (CLAMP)), mesic (mean annual precipitation (MAP) 114 [Formula: see text]cm/year), and equable (cold month mean temperature (CMMT) 3.0 ± 2.0 °C). Paleoelevation of the site is estimated to be similar to or slightly higher than modern levels (>1.3 km) during the Early Eocene. The Falkland locality adds new data to the temporal, latitudinal, and altitudinal gradients of the Okanagan Highlands series, reflecting the regional landscape of northwestern North America during the warmest period of the Cenozoic.

scholarly journals New Cimbrophlebiidae (Insecta: Mecoptera) from the Early Eocene at McAbee, British Columbia, Canada and Republic, Washington, USA

Zootaxa ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 2249 (1) ◽  
pp. 51-62 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. BRUCE ARCHIBALD
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
Early Cretaceous ◽  
North Atlantic ◽  
North American ◽  
First Record ◽  
Western Hemisphere ◽  
Early Eocene ◽  
The Family ◽  
Okanagan Highlands

Four new scorpionfly species of the family Cimbrophlebiidae (Mecoptera) are described in the genus Cimbrophlebia Willmann from two localities of the far-western North American Early Eocene Okanagan Highlands: C. flabelliformis sp. n. and C. leahyi sp. n. from McAbee, British Columbia, Canada; and C. brooksi sp. n. and C. westae, sp. n. from Republic, Washington, U.S.A. A further, partially preserved specimen of a large cimbrophlebiid from McAbee is treated as Cimbrophlebia sp. A. This is the first record of the extinct family in the Western Hemisphere, which was previously known with confidence from the Early Eocene of Denmark (C. bittaciformis Willmann) and the Jurassic of Germany (Malmocimbrophlebia buergeri Bechly & Schweigert and an undescribed genus and species); Telobittacus fragosus Zhang from Early Cretaceous of China may also belong to the family. These Okanagan Highlands occurrences further reflect Early Eocene cross-North Atlantic distributions that have been well documented in plants and mammals, and are increasingly seen in insects.

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