Karatau, Kazakhstan
| Location | Karatau Range, southern Kazakhstan |
| Age | Late Jurassic (~155 Ma, Oxfordian-Kimmeridgian) |
| Preservation | Lacustrine shale |
| Key Finds | Kalligrammatidae, Palaeontinidae, Strashila, 500+ species |
The Karatau deposits in the Karatau mountain range of southern Kazakhstan represent one of the most diverse Jurassic insect faunas ever discovered. Over 500 insect species have been described from this locality, spanning a remarkable range of orders and body plans.
Geological Setting
The fossils come from lacustrine (lake) shales of the Karabastau Formation, deposited in a large freshwater lake during the Late Jurassic. The fine-grained sediments preserved insect wings and bodies as compression fossils, often with good detail. The site was extensively studied by Soviet and Russian paleontologists, particularly A.G. Sharov, Y.A. Popov, and A.P. Rasnitsyn, who described hundreds of species from the 1960s onward.
Insect Diversity
Karatau is notable for its sheer diversity. Major groups include the Kalligrammatidae (butterfly-like lacewings), Palaeontinidae (giant cicada-like hemipterans), the enigmatic Strashila, diverse beetles, flies, wasps, cockroaches, and many others. The diversity is much higher than at Solnhofen, likely because the freshwater lake environment attracted a wider range of insect species than the hypersaline lagoons at Solnhofen.
Significance
Karatau is one of the key reference sites for Jurassic insect diversity worldwide. The hundreds of species described from this locality provide a detailed census of a Late Jurassic insect community, documenting the groups that were thriving in the period before flowering plants transformed insect evolution.