Koonwarra, Victoria
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2019}}
{{Use Australian English|date=August 2019}}
{{Infobox Australian place
| type = town
| name = Koonwarra
| state = vic
| image =
| caption =
| coordinates = {{coord|38|32|50|S|145|56|49|E|display=inline,title}}
| pushpin_label_position = right
| pushpin_map_caption = Location in South Gippsland Shire
| lga = South Gippsland Shire
| use_lga_map = yes
| postcode = 3954
| est =
| pop = 404
| pop_year = {{CensusAU|2016}}
| elevation=
| maxtemp =
| mintemp =
| rainfall =
| stategov = Gippsland South
| fedgov = Monash
| dist1 =
| dir1 =
| location1=
}}
Koonwarra is a town in the South Gippsland region of Victoria, Australia. At the {{CensusAU|2016}}, Koonwarra had a population of 404. The town straddles the South Gippsland Highway.{{cite book|last=Wheeler|first=Donna |title=Discover Melbourne & Victoria|publisher=Lonely Planet|date=2008|pages=278|isbn=9781741048629|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6cPhKmejxVEC&q=koonwarra&pg=PA278}} 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.{{cite web|url=http://www.visitpromcountry.com.au/towns/koonwarra|title=Koonwarra|last= Prom Country Regional Tourism Inc. |date=2012|work=Visit Prom Country|publisher=South Gippsland Shire Council |access-date=22 November 2014}}
Koonwarra fossil bed
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 of mudstone 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.{{cite web|url=http://museumsvictoria.com.au/treasures/colldetails.aspx?pid=56|title=Koonwarra fossil bed|date=2004|work=Treasures: Museum Victoria Celebrates 150 Years|publisher=Museum Victoria|access-date=22 November 2014}} Among them is the unusual finding of a fossil horseshoe crab described as Victalimulus mcqueeni.{{cite journal |author1=Riek, E.F. |author2=Gill, E.D. |year=1971 |title=A new xiphosuran genus from Lower Cretaceous freshwater sediments at Koonwarra, Victoria, Australia |journal=Palaeontology |volume=14 |issue=2 |pages=206–10 |url=http://www.palass-pubs.org/palaeontology/pdf/Vol14/Pages%20206-210.pdf |access-date=21 November 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141129071201/http://www.palass-pubs.org/palaeontology/pdf/Vol14/Pages%20206-210.pdf |archive-date=29 November 2014 |url-status=usurped }} 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 a gnetophyte, a group of plants for which there is a scant fossil record.{{cite journal|author1=V.A. Krassilov |author2=D.L. Dilcher |author3=J.G. Douglas |date=1998|title=New ephedroid plant from the Lower Cretaceous Koonwarra Fossil Bed, Victoria, Australia|journal=Alcheringa: An Australasian Journal of Palaeontology|volume=22|issue=2|pages=123–33|url=http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/paleobotany/dldpdfs/1998krassilovdilcherdouglasephedroid.pdf| doi=10.1080/03115519808619195}} A fossil member of the Ginkgo family, Ginkgoites australis, has also been recovered.{{cite web|url=http://australianmuseum.net.au/image/Fossil-Ginkgo-tree-Ginkgoites-australis/|title=Fossil: Ginkgo Tree: Ginkgoites australis|last=Jones|first=Robert|date=16 July 2009|work=Nature Culture Discover|publisher=Australian Museum|access-date=21 November 2014}}
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.{{cite web|url=http://www.australiangeographic.com.au/topics/science-environment/2010/11/discovering-the-dinosaurs-down-under/|title=Discovering the dinosaurs Down Under|last=Piper|first=Kylie|date=11 November 2010|work=Australian Geographic|publisher=ninemsn|access-date=22 November 2014}}
References
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{{Towns in South Gippsland Shire}}
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