title: Exceptionally preserved lacustrine ostracods from the Middle Miocene of Antarctica: implications for high-latitude palaeoenvironment at 77 degrees south.
abstract: A newly discovered Konservat-Lagerstätte from the Middle Miocene of the western Olympus Range, Dry Valleys, Antarctica, yields cypridoidean ostracods complete with preserved body and appendages. This is the first record of three-dimensionally fossilized animal soft tissues from the continent. The ostracods are preserved in goethite, secondary after pyrite, representing a novel mode of exceptional preservation. They signal a high-latitude (greater than 77 degrees south) lake setting (Palaeolake Boreas) viable for benthic animal colonization prior to 14 Myr ago. Their presence supports the notion of warmer, tundra-like environmental conditions persisting in the Dry Valleys until the Middle Miocene.
authors.affiliation: Department of Geology, University of Leicester, Leicester LE1 7RH, UK. mri@le.ac.uk
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Williams
authors.forename: David J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Siveter
authors.forename: Allan C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Ashworth
authors.forename: Philip R
authors.initials: PR
authors.lastname: Wilby
authors.forename: David J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Horne
authors.forename: Adam R
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Lewis
authors.forename: David R
authors.initials: DR
authors.lastname: Marchant
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000864:Antarctic Regions; D003445:Crustacea / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D004777:Environment; D005580:Fossils; D008855:Microscopy, Electron, Scanning; D010163:Paleontology