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Daphne LeeBSc PhD(Otago)

Paleobotany, Paleontology and Paleoecology

Google Scholar: Daphne E. Lee
Email daphne.lee@otago.ac.nz
Tel +64 3 479 7525

Office – Geology 1S11

Research interests

  • Cenozoic paleobotany and paleoclimate
  • Cenozoic invertebrate paleontology
  • Brachiopoda
  • Cenozoic stratigraphy

Foulden Maar

A paleontological site of international significance, Foulden Maar in Otago, New Zealand is home to an amazing record of life on Earth.

Formed by a volcanic eruption 23 million years ago, the maar's undisturbed sedimentary layers are the resting places for countless rare, well-preserved fossils. The site is unsurpassed in the southern hemisphere as a scientific record of changing life and ecosystems at the beginning of the Miocene. Although excavations have been limited to an area the size of a tennis court, Daphne and colleagues have discovered hundreds of undescribed species. The sediments are rich in fossil flowers, fruits, seeds, pollen, and bark from plants, as well as fungi, fish, insects and spiders.

For further information see the publications listed below and the book: Fossil Treasures of Foulden Maar.

Publications

Smith, A. M., Freeman, D. F., Dixon-Anderson, I. S., & Lee, D. E. (2023). Review of skeletal carbonate mineralogy of brachiopods with new material from New Zealand. New Zealand Journal of Marine & Freshwater Research. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1080/00288330.2023.2267486

Kaulfuss, U., Bannister, J. M., Conran, J. G., Kennedy, E. M., Mildenhall, D. C., & Lee, D. E. (2023). Flowers, inflorescences and pollen from the Foulden and Hindon Konservat-Lagerstätten: Miocene biodiversity, ecology and pollination in New Zealand. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology, 310, 104830. doi: 10.1016/j.revpalbo.2022.104830

Thomas, D. B., & Lee, D. E. (Eds.). (2022). R. Ewan Fordyce: Tributes from a global community. Wellington, New Zealand: Geoscience Society of New Zealand, 92p.

Lee, D. E. (2022). A great legacy of fossil treasures. In D. B. Thomas & D. E. Lee (Eds.), R. Ewan Fordyce: Tributes from a global community. (pp. 3-4). Wellington, New Zealand: Geoscience Society of New Zealand.

Wu, Y., Robinson, J., Lee, D., & Brenna, M. (2022). Geological setting and early oligocene invertebrate fauna at McDonald's Quarry, Kakanui, New Zealand. In A. V. Zernack & J. Palmer (Eds.), Geoscience Society of New Zealand Miscellaneous Publication. 161A, (pp. 313). Wellington, New Zealand: Geoscience Society of New Zealand. [Abstract]

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