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The Meyer Desert Formation biota is a biota (flora and fauna) found in the Dominion Range in the Transantarctic Mountains in Antarctica, alongside the Beardmore Glacier. Since about 15 Ma, Antarctica has been mostly covered with ice. Fossil ''Nothofagus'' leaves in the Meyer Desert Formation of the Sirius Group show that intermittent warm periods allowed ''Nothofagus'' shrubs to cling to the Dominion Range as late as 3–4 Ma (mid-late Pliocene). After that the Pleistocene ice-age covered the whole continent and destroyed all major plant life on it. Species reported by Ashworth and Cantrill from about 3 million years ago include: Animals: *''Pisidium'' species (very small or minute freshwater clams, Sphaeriidae) *A lymnaeid gastropod (air-breathing freshwater snails) * 2 species of curculionid beetles (weevils) * A cyclorraphid fly (Diptera) Plants: *''Nothofagus beardmorensis'' (Fagales) *''Ranunculus'' or similar achenes (Ranunculaceae?) *Mosses (apparently 5 types) * Pollen, mostly ''Nothofagus'' * Coniferous bisaccate pollen grains, perhaps ''Podocarpidites'' * Pollen of ''Tricolpites'' * Flowering cushion plants *A seed of ''Hippuris'' (mare's tails: Plantaginaceae) *A seed of Cyperaceae (sedges) * 3 or more types of liverworts ==References== 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Meyer Desert Formation biota」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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