Eocene Green River Beetle
Sorry, this item is no longer for sale
Otiorhynchus perdites (Scudder)
Green River Formation
Parachute Creek Member
Middle Eocene
Uintah County, Utah
Sold to Jean-Michel Gibert
This is one of the best Parachute Creek Member beetles from our collection. It has amazing detail and is 100 per cent complete. The elytra are beautifully textured and the insect is preserved in profile.

The Green River Formation is exposed in various sedimentary basins in northeastern Utah, southern Wyoming, and northwestern Colorado. Insects are abundant and diverse in these deposits in all three states. Spanning from Utah to Colorado, the Uinta Basin represented a relatively shallow lake nestled among mountains that persisted for approximately 20 million years (latest Paleocene to Late Eocene). The easternmost bay of Uinta Lake, at times disconnected from the main body, formed the Piceance Creek Basin in Colorado. The Parachute Member (ca. 47 million years old) of the formation in this basin formed largely during the middle Eocene and contains many insect compressions in oil shale. The flora suggests a tropical to subtropical climate with a distinct dry season.
$200