THIRTEEN DECADES OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY AT THE FLORISSANT FOSSIL BEDS, COLORADO

The fossils from Florissant have been known and studied for more than 130 years. These scientific studies not only have described 1700 species from Florissant, but they also have contributed to our broader understanding of paleoclimate, paleoecology, paleobiogeography, evolution, and taphonomy.

The first fossil collections from Florissant were made in 1871 by T. L. Mead, a 19 year-old college student. A. C. Peale of the Hayden Survey visited the site in 1873 and mentioned it in his 1874 report. In 1877, a student-organized expedition from Princeton spent two days and acquired a large collection from Florissant, with many of these specimens later designated as types.

S. H. Scudder visited Florissant three times and published many papers on the fossil insects in which he described about 600 species, profoundly influencing the developing field of paleoentomology in America. Leo Lesquereux, an early American paleobotanist, was the first to publish a scientific paper about Florissant and to name the fossil plants. E. D. Cope published on fossil fish between 1874 and 1883. W. Kirchner published on fossil plants in 1898. One of the most influential contributors to the scientific study of Florissant was T.D.A. Cockerell, who organized expeditions from 1906 through 1908 and published 140 papers on Florissant. C. T. Brues, a professor at Harvard, worked on fossil bees and wasps from 1906 through 1910. H. F. Wickham worked on fossil beetles between 1907 and 1908. F.H. Knowlton published on fossil plants in 1916. F.M. Carpenter published a monograph on fossil ants in 1930.

Harry D. MacGinitie excavated three sites in 1936 and 1937, and published Fossil Plants of the Florissant Fossil Beds, Colorado in 1953, the most comprehensive work to study and revise Florissant’s plants. He was the first to consider the broader implications of Florissant’s fossils, such as the stratigraphic context, paleoecology, paleoclimate, and paleoelevation. MacGinitie also recognized the taphonomic biases in the fossil plant record, the potential rapidity of the Eocene-Oligocene climate change, and that lineages can persist in a region by adapting to climate change.

More recent research has dealt with multiple organ reconstructions of extinct plant genera, paleoelevation, plant-insect interactions, the role of biofilms in taphonomy, and palynology.