0.6" Fossil Crane Fly Insect Green River FM Uintah County Utah Eocene Age
Location: Uintah County, Utah
Weight: 1.1 Ounces
Dimensions: 2.8 Inches Long, 2.5 Inches Wide, 0.2 Inches Thick (Plate)
Crane Fly Dimensions: 0.6 Inches Long, 0.3 Inches wide
The item pictured is the one you will receive.
50 million years old, Eocene age
Robber Fly Insect
Fifty million years ago, Fossil Lake existed in present-day southwest Wyoming. Its estimated maximum area was 930 square miles, with around 500 square miles of sediment still present. The central 230 square miles of the ancient lakebed contain exceptionally rich fossil deposits and related geological features, such as deltas, beaches, springs, and rocks from both the center and nearshore environments. The lake's unique chemistry prevented the decay and scavenging of dead organisms, allowing thin layers of alternating limestone to accumulate slowly. This resulted in laminated limestones holding the world's highest concentration of fossil fish. These fossils, along with other aquatic life and geological features, make Fossil Lake the premier Paleogene record of a freshwater lake ecosystem. Since its discovery in the 1870s, many well-preserved fossil fish have been found. The limestone also preserves a complete aquatic ecosystem, including cyanobacteria, plants, insects, crustaceans (shrimp, crawfish, ostracods), amphibians (frogs and primitive salamanders), alligators, turtles, birds, and mammals—such as the oldest pantolestid (an otter-like animal). The surrounding subtropical terrestrial ecosystem is also represented by rare fossils, including a horse, two snakes, lizards, two bat species, birds, an apatemyid (an arboreal insectivore), a miacad (a primitive carnivore), insects, and over 325 types of leaves, seeds, and flowers.
