Where: New Zealand (44.6° S, 171.1° E: paleocoordinates 45.6° S, 173.3° E)

• coordinate stated in text

• outcrop-level geographic resolution

When: Kowai Formation, Piacenzian (3.6 - 2.6 Ma)

• The molluscan assemblage from the well-bedded conglomerate/sandstone unit overlying the graded conglomerate is of low diversity, and is dominated by the still extant Ostrea chilensis Philippi in Küster & Kobelt, 1844, and Anomia trigonopsis

•Hutton, 1877 (Table 1). However, the presence of Crassostrea ingens (Zittel, 1864), Xenostrobus huttoni (Suter, 1914), and Stiracolpus uttleyi (Marwick, 1957) indicate an early Nukumaruan age for this unit (a. G. Beu pers. comm.). The Nukumaruan Stage is currently regarded as latest Pliocene, extending from 2.4 to 1.63 Ma (Beu et al. 2004). Unfortunately, the decapod bed itself has not been dated, and it could be substantially older. The sharp contact between the conglomerate/sandstone and the graded conglomerate, and the presence of prominent burrows below the contact, is evidence for a depositional hiatus between the two units, but there is currently no way of knowing just how much time is represented by the break. The decapod bed is probably late Pliocene, but in the absence of other evidence it is not possible to be more precise.

• group of beds-level stratigraphic resolution

Environment/lithology: marine; lithified, concretionary sandstone

Size class: macrofossils

Preservation: concretion

Collection methods: quarrying, surface (in situ), mechanical

• Repository: Canterbury Museum

Primary reference: R. M. Feldmann, C. E. Schweitzer, P. A. Maxwell and B. M. Kelley. 2008. Fossil isopod and decapod crustaceans from the Kowai Formation (Pliocene) near Makikihi, South Canterbury, New Zealand. New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics 51:43-58 [C. Schweitzer/C. Schweitzer/M. Uhen]more details

Purpose of describing collection: taxonomic analysis

PaleoDB collection 79321: authorized by Carrie Schweitzer, entered by Carrie Schweitzer on 01.03.2008, edited by Matthew Clapham

Creative Commons license: CC BY (attribution)