Superb Australian Cretaceous Mayfly Fossil Insect

Description: This fossil comes from a well-known fish mass kill site in Australia, the Koonwarra Fish Beds. Like the much younger Green River Formation deposits, large numbers of specimens that evidently died contemporaneously have been found. In addition to fish, insects, plants, crustaceans, spiders, worms, and freshwater bryozoans and mussels have been found. Among the insects preserved there are mayfly larvae similar to those seen in cool freshwater streams in Tasmania today. This is an exceptional example of such a larva. The site from which this specimen came was a road cut which has been subsequently closed for some time now so that only material collected in the past is available. The lake was thought to have been shallow, with alternating light and dark layers indicative of a seasonal environment.