Koonwarra | |
|---|---|
  Koonwarra Location in South Gippsland Shire | |
| Coordinates:38°32′50″S145°56′49″E / 38.54722°S 145.94694°E /-38.54722; 145.94694 | |
| Country | Australia |
| State | Victoria |
| LGA | |
| Government | |
| • State electorate | |
| • Federal division | |
| Population | |
| • Total | 404 (2016 census)[2] |
| Postcode | 3954 |
Koonwarra is a town in theSouth Gippsland region ofVictoria,Australia. At the2016 census, Koonwarra had a population of 404.[2] The town straddles theSouth Gippsland Highway.[3] Located around 128 km southeast of Melbourne, the town was served by rail from the 1890s until 1991 with the closing of the rail line to Barry Beach.[4]
The Koonwarra fossil bed was found by accident in 1961 during roadworks to realign a segment of the South Gippsland Highway. Dating from the early Cretaceous 115 million years ago, it is composed ofmudstone sediment thought to have been laid down in a freshwater (possibly cool-climate subalpine) lake. The site is an important element of Australia's fossil record, with plants, insects (including mayflies, dragonflies, cockroaches, beetles, fleas, flies and wasps), spiders, crustaceans and fish recovered.[5] Among them is the unusual finding of a fossilhorseshoe crab described asVictalimulus mcqueeni.[6] Small segments of a leafy twig have been recovered that were thought to be one of the oldest angiosperms (flowering plants) discovered; more recent examination reports anatomy more typical of agnetophyte, a group of plants for which there is a scant fossil record.[7] A fossil member of theGinkgo family,Ginkgoites australis, has also been recovered.[8]
Six well-preserved feathers have been recovered, indicating more complete remains of feathered dinosaurs might be found, however the site has been little-excavated, extensive removal of overlying rock has to take place before further excavation.[9]
