Mecoptera and Diptera from the early Toarcian (Early Jurassic) deposits of Wolfsburg – Große Kley (Lower Saxony, Germany)

Abstract

ABSTRACTTwelve specimens of early Toarcian Mecoptera and Diptera from the vicinity of Wolfsburg were investigated for the present study. The material was found during house building activities in the 1980s at the locality Große Kley in Mörse, an urban district of the city of Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, Germany. The specimens were found in calcareous nodules of the Harpoceras falciferum Zone that occur within the Liassic black shales (Posidonia shale). Six specimens of Mecoptera, five belonging to the family Orthophlebiidae and one belonging to the Bittacidae, and six representatives of the following Diptera families were identified: Ptychopteridae, Limoniidae, Anisopodidae and the superfamily Mycetophiloidea. The fossil fauna of Wolfsburg is similar to that of other early Toarcian sites in Germany, described by Handlirsch (1906, 1939), Bode (1905, 1953) and Ansorge (1996) from Braunschweig, Dobbertin and Grimmen. Two new species are described, Mesorhyphusulrichi sp. nov. (Anisopodidae) and Archipleciomima germanica sp. nov. (Mycetophiloidea).