The Australian Museum.
A spider fossil has been found. Credit: Michael Frese
A team of Australian and international scientists led by Australian Museum and University of New South Wales have discovered and investigated a new fossil site. Science Advances published the team's findings.
The new fossil site is located in the Central Tablelands, New South Wales, near the town of Gulgong, and is one of only a few fossil sites in Australia that can be classified as a 'Lagersttte'.
Over the last three years a team of researchers has been secretly excavating the site, discovering thousands of specimen including rainforest plants, insects, spiders, fish and a bird feather.
The fossils formed between 11 and 16 million years ago and are important for understanding the history of the Australian continent.
The fossils we have found prove that the area was once a rainforest and that life was abundant in the area.
"Many of the fossils that we are finding are new to science and include trapdoor spiders, giant cicadas, was and a variety of fish," McCurry said.
It has been difficult to tell what the ancient ecosystems were like, but the level of preservation at this new fossil site means that even small fragile organisms like insects turned into well-preserved fossils.
Dr McCurry has a picture of ancient fossils. The Australian Museum has a credit.
Associate Professor Michael Frese said that the fossils from McGraths Flat show an incredibly detailed preservation.
Frese said that he can image individual cells of plants and animals using electron microscopy.
Evidence of interactions between species can be found in the fossils. We can figure out what the fish were eating with the preserved stomach contents. We can tell which plants are pollinating which insects by the preserved pollen on their bodies.
The discovery of melanosomes allows us to reconstruct the color pattern of birds and fishes that used to live at McGraths Flat. The melanosomes in our fossils are different from the melanosomes in the extant specimen, so we can often reconstruct color and/or color patterns.
The fossils were found in a rock called goethite, which is rich in iron. The process of turning these organisms into fossils is what makes them so well preserved. McCurry said that the fossils formed when iron-rich water drained into a billabong and that a precipitation of iron minerals encased organisms that were living in or fell into the water.
A feather from a fossil site. Credit: Michael Frese
There were signs that the environment at McGraths Flat was starting to dry out, but Dr. McCurry said that the fossils were similar to those found in rainforests of northern Australia.
The pollen we found in the soil suggests that there might have been a change in the environment around the rainforest.
The variety of fossils preserved, together with an extraordinary fidelity of preservation, allows for unprecedented insights into an important time in Australia's past, a time when mesic ecosystems still dominated the continent, according to the Executive Director, Science, Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria.
We are likely to experience a warmer world in the future, thanks to the fossils of the McGraths Flat plant. The preservation of the plant fossils is unique and provides important insights into a time period for which the fossil record in Australia is not very good.
The Australian Museum's Chief Scientist and director of the AM's Research Institute, Professor Kristofer Helgen, said that the fossil site brings to life a picture of Australia that we can barely believe existed.
Australian scientists have discovered ancient fossils. The credit is Salty Dingo 2020.
Australia is the most unique part of the world, and this site tells us about the evolution of this part of the world. It helps fill the gaps in our knowledge of that time and region by providing more evidence of changing climates.
The public is always fascinated by the human endeavors of exploration and discovery, and the AM has a rich history of expeditions and scientific research.
A descendant of an Englishman who came to Australia in 1866 donated money for field work at McGraths Flat. The Australian Museum had a Paleontologist named Etheridge who was made Curator in 1895.
Kim McKay AO, the Australian Museum's director and CEO, said that the AM's collections were greatly enhanced and that he also launched a program of expeditions, the first being to Lord Howe Island.
The AM has a long tradition of scientific discovery. McKay said that it was great to see that this continued with Dr. McCurry's work, which was directly linked to Robert Etheridge.
The Nothofagidites are polished. Michael Frese is credited.
The flat is called McGraths Flat.
The first fossils from the site were discovered in the name of McGraths Flat. The site is located near the central part of the state.
The time of immense change in Australia was during the Miocene Epoch. The Australian continent was drifting northwards after it separated from South America. There was a lot of plant and animal life in Australia. The "Middle Miocene Disruption" caused widespread extinctions around 14 million years ago. Australia became more arid and rainforests turned into dry shrubland and deserts during the last half of the Miocene. The new fossil site, McGraths Flat, provides an unprecedented look into what Australian ecosystems were like prior to this aridification.
M. R. McCurry and his team from Australia provide insight into the nature of the mesic environment. Science.org has a DOI of/10.1126/sciadv.abm1406.
Science Advances has journal information.
The Australian Museum has this.
Life in the 'dead' heart of Australia was retrieved on January 7, 2022.
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