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Issue: Vol. 2 No. 4: December 2025
Type: Article
Published: 2025-12-31
DOI: 10.11646/mesozoic.2.4.7
Page range: 368–374
Abstract views: 45
PDF downloaded: 26

New fossil material of clam shrimps and insects from the Lower Cretaceous Duoni Formation of eastern Tibet

State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, China
Institute of Palaeontology, Yunnan Key Laboratory of Earth System Science, Yunnan University, Kunming 650500, China
State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, China
State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, Nanjing 211135, China
State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, China
State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, China
State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, China
State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, China
Early Cretaceous terrestrial fossils beetles clam shrimps

Abstract

The Duoni Formation represents a key Early Cretaceous shallow marine to coastal deposit along the Bangong-Nujiang suture zone of the Tibetan Plateau. Previous studies have primarily focused on its marine fauna, whereas research on terrestrial fossils has been largely limited to plants in eastern Tibet. In recent fieldwork near Lingka Village in Baxoi County, eastern Tibet, we collected abundant fossil material from the middle part of the Duoni Formation, including terrestrial organisms such as insects, ostracods, non-marine bivalves, and clam shrimps. This paper presents the first description of insect and clam shrimp fossils from the Duoni Formation, contributing to a more comprehensive understanding of Early Cretaceous terrestrial ecosystems in eastern Tibet. While the uppermost Duoni Formation has been dated to around the Aptian–Albian boundary, the fossil evidence suggests that the base of the formation may extend to the Barremian or earlier.

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