Large Myrmicium Wasp Insect Insect Fossil from Solnhofen

Myrmicium elegans

(Westwood 1885)

Class Insecta, Order Hymenoptera

Geological Time: Late Jurassic, Kimmeridgian Stage

Size: The insect fossil is 1 9/16” in length on a 9 1/2” x 8 1/2” plate.

Fossil Site: Solnhofen Limestone Lagerstate, "plattenkalk” Malm Zeta 2, Eichstatt, Germany

Fossil Code: PFS263

Price: $650.00


Description: Myrmicium elegans, synonym: Pseudosirex elegans, common name, Wood wasp is one of the very collectable large rare insects excavated from the Solnhofen Limestone. This one is well preserved, showing both wings extended, the full thorax, and head. It appears the right side antenna is visible under a magnifying loop. The color of the specimen is natural, not enhanced. The Myrmicium rests comfortably on a classic unbroken plate of Solnhofen lightgraphic limestone. Paleontologists would refer to this fossil as Konservat-Lagerstätten, or, a specimen showing exceptional preservation.

The Solnhofen limestone is a Jurassic Konservat-Lagerstätte that preserves a rare assemblage of fossilized organisms. Other fossils, like the early bird Archaeopteryx are preserved in such detail that they are among the most famous and most beautiful fossils in the world.

During the Late Jurassic, this area was an archipelago at the edge of the Tethys Sea. This included placid lagoons that had limited access to the open sea and where salinity rose high enough that the resulting brine could not support life. Since the lowest water was devoid of oxygen, many ordinary scavengers were absent. Any organism that fell, drifted, or was washed into the lagoons from the ocean or the land became buried in soft carbonate mud and was therefore wonderfully preserved.

The fine-grained texture of the mud silt forming the limestone from the Solnhofen area (which is composed mainly of the towns of Solnhofen and Eichstätt) is ideal for making lithographic plates, and extensive quarrying in the 19th century revealed many fossil finds.

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