BEETLE RECORDS | Late Pleistocene of New Zealand

Abstract

Although fossil beetle research in New Zealand is in the early stages and much more research is required, substantial advances have been made and significant, additional information has been obtained from fossil beetle assemblages. In particular, the fossil record shows that New Zealand Pleistocene beetles were in very different locations than they are today. Paleotemperatures are estimated using a climate model where maximum likelihood estimates are attached to a sine function. The temperature of the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) has been estimated for two New Zealand sites, one of which quantifies and confirms interstadial conditions during part of the LGM. The paleoecology is described for five late Pleistocene sites from marine isotope stage (MIS) 7 to MIS 2. Host- and habitat-specific weevils have provided precise local paleoecological information that includes the identification of forest patches at the LGM at two sites that had previously been considered nonforested. The fossil faunas are discussed with reference to the absence of carabid fossils and the fossils that have no known modern equivalents.