Coleoptera from the “Arctic Bed ” at Barnwell Station, Cambridge

Abstract

SUMMARY Remains of coleoptera collected by Miss Chandler from the Barnwell Station beds (Cambridge) are described. Twenty-one recognizable taxa are recorded, all of which represent living genera or species. Five species are no longer found living in Britain and are confined today to arctic or sub-arctic environments. This interpretation of the fauna is in marked contrast to the identifications of P. Lesne, whose manuscript determinations are attached to the slides. He had attributed many of the specimens to new genera and species. The fauna as here interpreted indicates a truly tundra environment and qualitatively and quantitatively resembles very closely other British coleopteran assemblages from the latter part of the Upton Warren (Mid-Weichselian) interstadial, i.e. about 30,000 years B.P.