Messel Formation

{{Infobox UNESCO World Heritage Site

| WHS = Messel Pit Fossil Site

| image = Grube Messel, Weltnaturerbe - panoramio.jpg

| image_upright = 1.2

| caption =

| location = Darmstadt-Dieburg, Hesse, Germany

| criteria = {{UNESCO WHS type|(viii)}}(viii)

| ID = 720bis

| coordinates = {{coord|49.9175|N|8.7567|E|type:landmark_region:DE-HE|display=inline,title|format=dms}}

| year = 1995

| extension = 2010

| area = {{convert|42|ha|acre|abbr=on}}

| buffer_zone = {{convert|22.5|ha|acre|abbr=on}}

| locmapin = Hesse#Germany

| map_caption =

}}

The Messel pit ({{langx|de|link=no|Grube Messel}}) is a disused quarry near the village of Messel (Landkreis Darmstadt-Dieburg, Hesse) about {{convert|35|km|mi|abbr=on}} southeast of Frankfurt am Main, Germany. Bituminous shale was mined there. Because of its abundance of well-preserved fossils of the Messel Formation dating from the middle of the Eocene, it has significant geological and scientific importance.{{cite web |url = https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/720 |title = Messel Pit Fossil Site |website = UNESCO World Heritage Centre |publisher = United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization |access-date = 2 July 2022}} Over 1400 taxa of plants, fungi and animals have been documented at the site.{{cite journal |last1=Smith |first1=Krister T. |last2=Collinson |first2=Margaret |last3=Folie |first3=Annelise |last4=Haberesetzer |first4=Jörg |last5=Hennicke |first5=Florian |last6=Kothe |first6=Erika |last7=Lehmann |first7=Thomas |last8=Lenz |first8=Olaf K. |last9=Mayr |first9=Gerald |last10=Micklich |first10=Norbert |last11=Rabenstein |first11=Renate |last12=Racicot |first12=Rachel |last13=Schaal |first13=Stephan F. K. |last14=Smith |first14=Thierry |last15=Tosal |first15=Aixa |last16=Uhl |first16=Dieter |last17=Wappler |first17=Torsten |last18=Wedmann |first18=Sonja |last19=Wuttke |first19=Michael |title=The biodiversity of the Eocene Messel Pit |journal=Palaeobiodiversity and Palaeoenvironments |date=2024 |volume=104 |doi=10.1007/s12549-024-00633-2 |url=https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12549-024-00633-2|doi-access=free }} After almost becoming a landfill, strong local resistance eventually stopped these plans and the Messel pit was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site on 9 December 1995. Significant scientific discoveries about the early evolution of mammals and birds are still being made at the Messel Pit, and the site has increasingly become a tourist site as well.

File:MesselShaleOutcrop081310.JPG near the center of the pit]]

Brown coal and later oil shale was actively mined from 1859. The pit first became known for its wealth of fossils around 1900, but serious scientific excavation only started around the 1970s, when falling oil prices made mining the quarry uneconomical. Commercial oil shale mining ceased in 1971 and a cement factory built in the quarry failed the following year. The land was slotted for use as a landfill, but the plans came to nought and the Hessian state bought the site in 1991 to secure scientific access. In the few years between the end of mining and 1974, when the state began preparing the site for garbage disposal, amateur collectors were allowed to collect fossils. The amateurs developed the "transfer technique" that enabled them to preserve the fine details of small fossils, the method still employed in preserving the fossils today.{{cite web|url=http://messel-fossils.eu/|title=The Messel Pit Fossil Site|access-date=2 April 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130207192517/http://messel-fossils.eu/|archive-date=7 February 2013}}

Many of the known specimens from the site have come from amateur collectors and in 1996, an amnesty on previously collected fossils was put in effect, in the hope of getting privately owned collections back into public ownership and available to science.

File:Messel map.jpg

The current surface of the Messel pit is roughly {{convert|60|m|ft|abbr=on}} below the local land and is about {{convert|0.7|km2|sqmi|abbr=on}} in area. The oil-shale bed originally extended to a depth of {{convert|190|m|ft|abbr=on}}.United Nations Environment Programme-World Conservation Monitoring Centre (Content Partner); Mark McGinley (Topic Editor). 2008. "Messel Pit fossil site, Germany." In: Encyclopedia of Earth. Eds. Cutler J. Cleveland (Washington, D.C.: Environmental Information Coalition, National Council for Science and the Environment). [First published in the Encyclopedia of Earth 29 November 2007; Last revised 8 July 2008; Retrieved 22 May 2009. [http://www.eoearth.org/article/Messel Pit fossil site, Germany article]

47 million years ago in the Eocene when the Messel deposits formed, the area was 10° further south than it is now. The period was very close to the Early Eocene Climatic Optimum and the climate and ecology of the site were very different, characterised by a mean annual temperature of 22 °C and a large series of maar lakes surrounded by lush sub-tropical forests that supported an incredible diversity of life.{{cite journal |last1=Grein |first1=Michaela |last2=Utescher |first2=Torsten |last3=Wilde |first3=Volker |last4=Roth-Nebelsick |first4=Anita |title=Reconstruction of the middle Eocene climate of Messel using palaeobotanical data |journal=Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie, Abhandlungen |date=1 June 2011 |volume=260 |issue=3 |pages=305–318 |doi=10.1127/0077-7749/2011/0139 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/233564613 |access-date=12 July 2019}} The Messel lake bed was probably a center point for drainage from nearby rivers and creeks.

File:Kopidodon Senckenberg 2007-01.JPG, showing outline of fur]]

The pit deposits were formed during the Eocene Epoch of the Paleogene Period about 47 million years ago, based on dating of basalt fragments underlying fossilbearing strata.Mertz, D. F., Renne, P. R. (2005): A numerical age for the Messel fossil deposit (UNESCO World Heritage Site) derived from {{chem|40|Ar|link=Isotopes of argon}}/{{chem|39|Ar|link=Isotopes of argon}} dating on a basaltic rock fragment. Courier Forschungsinstitut Senckenberg no 255: pp 7–75.

Oil shale, formed by the slow anoxic deposition of mud and dead vegetation on the lake bed, is the primary rock at the site. Its sediments extend {{convert|13|m|ft|abbr=on}} downward and lie atop an older sandstone foundation. The fossils within the shale show a remarkable clarity and preservation due to the unique depositional characteristics of the lake and so the Messel pit represents a Konservat-Lagerstätte. The upper stratifications of the lake most certainly supported a variety of organisms, but the bottom was subject to little disturbance by current, spawning a very anoxic environment. This prevented many epifaunal and infaunal species from inhabiting this niche and thus bioturbation was kept at a minimum. Overturn of the lake layers (caused by seasonal variations) lowered oxygen content near the surface and led to a periodic "die-off" of aquatic species. Combined with a relatively low rate of deposition, {{convert|0.1|mm|in|abbr=on}} per year, this provided a prime environment for the preservation of fauna and flora.

{{main|Limnic eruption}}

The area around the Messel Pit is believed to have been geologically and tectonically active during the Eocene. Some scientists, especially Jens Franzen, have hypothesized that events much like the 1986 volcanic gas releases at Lake Nyos, Cameroon, could account for the deaths and preservation in the lake of non-aquatic species.{{cite journal |last1=Franzen |first1=J. L. |last2=Köster |first2=A. |title=Die eozänen Tiere von Messel - ertrunken, erstickt oder vergiftet? |journal=Natur und Museum |date=1994 |volume=124 |pages=91–97}} Periodic subsurface shifts possibly released large concentrations of toxic gases (such as carbon dioxide and hydrogen sulfide) into the lake and adjoining ecosystems, killing susceptible organisms. During these releases, birds and bats might have fallen in if near the lake surface and terrestrials could be overwhelmed when near the lake shore.

Other scientists, especially Wighart von Koenigswald, have hypothesized that cyanobacterial blooms could account for the rich faunal assemblage of Messel, with animals succumbing after drinking water contaminated with cyanobacterial toxins.{{cite journal |last1=von Koenigswald |first1=Wighart |last2=Braun |first2=A. |last3=Pfeiffer |first3=T. |title=Cyanobacteria and seasonal death: a new taphonomic model for the Eocene Messel lake |journal=Paläontologische Zeitschrift |date=2004 |volume=78 |issue=2 |pages=417–424 |doi=10.1007/BF03009232}} This hypothesis drew support from the occurrence of gravid and or copulating animals at Messel, which supposedly reflect a dominant season of death.

Others explored the null hypothesis of accidental death. In particular, Krister T. Smith and colleagues found that the annual number of fossilized bats in Messel is comparable to the number of bats that drown in modern swimming pools.{{cite journal |last1=Smith |first1=Krister T. |last2=Rabenstein |first2=Renate |last3=O'Keefe |first3=Joy |title=Was Palaeolake Messel a death‐trap? Insight from modern bat drownings and decay experiments |journal=Palaeobiodiversity and Palaeoenvironments |date=2024 |volume=104 |doi=10.1007/s12549-024-00631-4 |url=https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12549-024-00631-4|url-access=subscription }} That is, bat mortality is not actually elevated at Messel, which fails to support the "mass mortality" hypotheses above.

Regardless of the manner of death, the exceptional preservation at Messel (e.g., mostly complete skeletons) indicates that the lake was very deep. Animals that fell in it drifted downwards into oxygen-poor water without scavengers, where they were overlaid by successive layers of mud that petrified later, thus producing an aggregation of fossils of exceptional quality, quantity, integrity, and variety.

Exhibits from the pit may be seen in the Messel town,{{Cite web|url=https://www.grube-messel.de/|title=Home|website=www.grube-messel.de|language=de-de|access-date=13 May 2018}} the fossil Museum in Messel,{{cite web | title=Home | website=Fossilien- und Heimatmuseum Messel | date=24 July 2022 | url=https://www.messelmuseum.de/ | language=de | access-date=30 December 2022}} the Hessisches Landesmuseum in Darmstadt ({{convert|5|km|mi|abbr=on}} from Messel){{Cite web|url=http://www.hlmd.de/en/museum/natural-history/history-of-the-earth/messel-pit.html|title=Messel Pit – Hessisches Landesmuseum|website=www.hlmd.de|language=en|access-date=13 May 2018}} and also the Senckenberg Museum in Frankfurt am Main (some {{convert|30|km|mi|abbr=on}} from Messel).{{Cite web|url=http://www.senckenberg.de/root/index.php?page_id=14925|title=SENCKENBERG world of biodiversity {{!}} Museums {{!}} Museum Frankfurt {{!}} The Museum {{!}} Exhibitions {{!}} World natural heritage "..|website=www.senckenberg.de|language=en|access-date=13 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170924225030/http://www.senckenberg.de/root/index.php?page_id=14925|archive-date=24 September 2017|url-status=dead}} Casual visitors can park close to the pit and walk around {{cvt|300|m|mi|}} to a viewing platform overlooking the pit. Entrance to the pit is only possible as part of a specially organized tour.

{{main|Paleofauna of the Messel Formation|Paleoflora of the Messel Formation}}

File:MesselShaleSplitting.JPG

The Messel Pit provides the best preserved evidence of Geiseltalian flora and fauna so far discovered, with over 1400 taxa identified. Most other sites are lucky to contain partial skeletons, but Messel boasts extensive preservation of structural integrity, even going so far as to preserve the fur, feathers and "skin shadows" of some species. Unusual preservation has sparked some closely reasoned interpretations. The symptomatic "dumb-bell"-shaped bite marks on either side of the leaf vein on a fossilised leaf have been identified as the death-grip of a carpenter ant terminally parasitized by the fungus Ophiocordyceps unilateralis, that, apparently then as today, commandeered its behavior, in order to release its spores from a favourable location; it is the earliest concrete sample of fungal behavioural manipulation.[https://www.theguardian.com/science/2010/aug/18/zombie-carpenter-ant-fungus Guardian.com, "'Zombie ants' controlled by parasitic fungus for 48 m years"], 18 August 2010]: accessed 21 August 2010

The diversity of species is remarkable partly as a result of the hypothesized periodic gas releases. A brief summary of some of the fossils found at the site follows:

• Nine mating pairs of fossil turtles have been found. The turtles, Allaeochelys crassesculpta, were in coitus (in the act of having sex).Amos, Jonathan 2012. Turtles fossilised in sex embrace. BBC News: Science & Environment. [https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-18495102] They are male-female pairs, with the male's tail tucked under the female, which is how they copulate. Their death must have been rapid. It is supposed that the turtles had started mating in the aerated surface waters of the ancient lake. As they sank into deeper water, they were overcome by the release of toxic volcanic gas. They were then buried in the lakebed sediment.{{cite journal |doi=10.1098/rsbl.2012.0361 |pmid=22718955 |pmc=3440985 |title=Caught in the act: The first record of copulating fossil vertebrates |journal=Biology Letters |volume=8 |issue=5 |pages=846–8 |year=2012 |last1=Joyce |first1=W. G |last2=Micklich |first2=N |last3=Schaal |first3=S. F. K |last4=Scheyer |first4=T. M }} Turtles belonging to this clade are still living. They have lost their reptilian scales, and their skin absorbs oxygen from the water. Normally, this is an advantage: it helps them stay submerged for long periods. However, under anoxic conditions it is a disadvantage, because carbon dioxide and dissolved poisons are absorbed as well.
• Over 10,000 fossilized fish of numerous species
• Thousands of aquatic and terrestrial insects, some with distinct coloration still preserved
• Innumerable small mammals including pygmy horses, large mice, primates, ground dwellers (hedgehogs, marsupials, pangolins), aardvark relatives and bats. The fossilized bat specimens have provided insights into the evolution of echolocation.{{cite journal |last1=Habersetzer |first1=J. |last2=Storch |first2=G. |title=Cochlea size in extant chiroptera and middle eocene microchiropterans from messel |journal=Naturwissenschaften |date=October 1992 |volume=79 |issue=10 |pages=462–466 |doi=10.1007/BF01139198|bibcode=1992NW.....79..462H |s2cid=12463331 }}
• Large numbers of birds, particularly predatory species.
• Crocodiles, frogs, turtles, salamanders and other reptiles or amphibians
• Remains of over 30 distinct plant species, including palm leaves, fruits, pollen, wood, walnuts and grapevines

The following is only a partial list:

File:Darwinius masillae PMO 214.214.jpg masillae (holotype) showing the remarkable preservation at Messel]]

File:Masillamys Senckenberg 2007-01.JPG at the Senckenberg collection]]

File:Palaeoperca proxima.jpg proxima]]

File:Prachtkäfer aus der Grube Messel.JPG colour of the exoskeleton]]

:Darwinius masillae, identified in 2009 as an adapiform primateFranzen, J. L., Gingerich, P. D., Habersetzer, J., Hurum, J. H., Von Koenigswald, W., & Smith, B. H. (2009). Complete primate skeleton from the middle Eocene of Messel in Germany: morphology and paleobiology. PLoS one, 4(5), e5723. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0005723

:Kopidodon, an extinct arboreal cimolestan

:Leptictidium, an extinct omnivorous hopping mammal (of the leptictid family)

:Propalaeotherium, an early relative of horses

:Ailuravus, a rodent

:Peradectes, a metatherian

:Palaeochiropteryx, an early bat

:Lesmesodon, a small hyaenodontid

:Eomanis, an early pangolin

:Eurotamandua, a scaleless, anteater-like pangolin

:Europolemur, a primate

:Hyrachyus, ancestor of rhinoceroses

:Paroodectes, an early carnivorous mammal

:Messelogale, an early carnivorous mammal

:Pholidocercus, an early hedgehog

:Macrocranion, an early long-tailed hedgehog

:Masillamys, an early rodent

:Messelobunodon, an early artiodactyl

:Godinotia, an early primate

:Buxolestes, a semiaquatic, otter-like cimolestan

:Hassianycteris, an early bat

:Archaeonycteris, an early bat

:Tachypteron, a possible emballonurid{{Cite journal |last=Storch |first=Gerhard |last2=Sigé |first2=Bernard |last3=Habersetzer |first3=Jörg |date=2002-10-01 |title=Tachypteron franzeni n. gen., n. sp., earliest emballonurid bat from the Middle Eocene of Messel (Mammalia, Chiroptera) |url=https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF02989856 |journal=Paläontologische Zeitschrift |language=en |volume=76 |issue=2 |pages=189–199 |doi=10.1007/BF02989856 |issn=1867-6812|url-access=subscription }} or miniopterid{{Cite journal |last=Jones |first=Matthew F. |last2=Beard |first2=K. Christopher |last3=Simmons |first3=Nancy B. |date=2024-05-02 |title=Phylogeny and systematics of early Paleogene bats |url=https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10914-024-09705-8 |journal=Journal of Mammalian Evolution |language=en |volume=31 |issue=2 |pages=18 |doi=10.1007/s10914-024-09705-8 |issn=1573-7055|url-access=subscription }} bat

:Palaeotis, an early struthionid

:Strigogyps sapea (formerly Aenigmavis) a cariamiform

:Eocoracias, an early coraciiform with known coloration

:Messelornis, the Messel-bird; a species of gruiform

:Masillastega, a freshwater sulid

:Lapillavis, a possible trogonid relative

:Cypseloramphus, a basal apodiform

:The Messelasturidae (Messelastur and Tynskya), carnivorous relatives of modern parrots

:Palaeoglaux, an early owl with enigmatic breast feathers

:Paraprefica, an early potoo

:Paraortygoides, a galliform{{cite journal |doi=10.1206/0003-0082(2002)360<0001:TFGBPF>2.0.CO;2 |year=2002 |issue=360 |pages=1–14 |title=The Fossil Galliform Bird Paraortygoides from the Lower Eocene of the United Kingdom |journal=American Museum Novitates |last1=Dyke |first1=Gareth J |last2=Gulas |first2=Bonnie E |url=http://digitallibrary.amnh.org/bitstream/2246/2913/1//v2/dspace/ingest/pdfSource/nov/N3360.pdf |hdl=2246/2913 |s2cid=59131455 }}

:Masillaraptor, an early falconiform

:Parargornis, an early apodiform

:Messelirrisor, a tiny bucerotiform closely related to hoopoes and wood-hoopoes

:Selmes (an anagram of "Messel"), a mousebird with stubby toes

:Gastornis (formerly Diatryma), a large, flightless galloansere

:Hassiavis,[http://www.senckenberg.de/files/content/forschung/abteilung/terrzool/ornithologie/hassiavis.pdf Mayr, G.. (2004). New specimens of Hassiavis laticauda (Aves: Cypselomorphae) and Quasisyndactylus longibrachis (Aves: Alcediniformes) from the Middle Eocene of Messel, Germany. CFS Courier Forschungsinstitut Senckenberg. 252. 23-28.] a member of Cypselomorphae

:Quasisyndactylus, a member of Alcediniformes

:Vanolimicola, a possible charadriiform{{cite journal |doi=10.1016/j.annpal.2017.01.001 |title=A small, 'wader-like' bird from the Early Eocene of Messel (Germany) |journal=Annales de Paléontologie |volume=103 |issue=2 |pages=141–7 |year=2017 |last1=Mayr |first1=Gerald |bibcode=2017AnPal.103..141M }}

:A currently unnamed lithornithid, a sandpiper-like paleognath, the first record of its kind in Middle Eocene Europe.{{cite journal |doi=10.1016/j.annpal.2007.12.004 |title=First substantial Middle Eocene record of the Lithornithidae (Aves): A postcranial skeleton from Messel (Germany) |journal=Annales de Paléontologie |volume=94 |issue=1 |pages=29–37 |year=2008 |last1=Mayr |first1=Gerald |bibcode=2008AnPal..94...29M }}

:Asiatosuchus, a large crocodile

:Diplocynodon, an alligator

:Hassiacosuchus, a durophagous alligator

:Bergisuchus, a sebecosuchian crocodiliform

:Eoconstrictor, 2-m snakes related to Neotropical boas, BoinaeScanferla, A. & K.T. Smith (2020) Exquisitely preserved snake fossils of Messel: insight into the evolution, biogeography, habitat preferences and sensory ecology of early boas. Diversity 12(3): 100. https://doi.org/10.3390/d12030100

:Messelophis, a tiny, live-bearing or viviparous boa Chuliver, M., A. Scanferla & K.T. Smith (2022) Live birth in a 47-million-year-old snake. The Science of Nature – Naturwissenschaften 109: 56. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00114-022-01828-3

:Messelopython, the oldest known relative of pythonsZaher, H. & K.T. Smith (2020) Pythons in the Eocene of Europe reveal a much older divergence of the group in sympatry with boas. Biology Letters 16: 20200735. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2020.0735

:Cryptolacerta, a lizard with affinities to amphisbaenians

:Geiseltaliellus, a lizard with affinities to Corytophaninae

:Allaeochelys crassesculpta, aquatic turtles related to Carettochelys

:A bowfin, variously described as Amia (the modern genus) or Cyclurus

:Amphiperca, an early perch

:Palaeoperca, another early perch

:Atractosteus, a gar

:eel

;Hemiptera

• Wedelphus dichopteroides Szwedo & Wappler, 2006{{cite journal |last1=Szwedo |first1=J. |year=2008 |title=A new tribe of Dictyopharidae planthoppers from Eocene Baltic amber (Hemiptera: Fulgoromorpha: Fulgoroidea), with a brief review of the fossil record of the family |journal=Palaeodiversity |volume=1 |pages=75–85}}

;Hymenoptera

Family Formicidae (ants)

• Casaleia eocenica Dlussky & Wedmann, 2012
• Cephalopone – Cephalopone grandis and Cephalopone potens
• Cyrtopone – Cyrtopone curiosa, Cyrtopone elongata, Cyrtopone microcephala, and Cyrtopone striata
• Gesomyrmex pulcher Dlussky, Wappler, & Wedmann, 2009
• Messelepone leptogenoides Dlussky & Wedmann, 2012
• Pachycondyla eocenica Dlussky & Wedmann, 2012
• Pachycondyla lutzi Dlussky & Wedmann, 2012
• Pachycondyla? messeliana Dlussky & Wedmann, 2012
• Pachycondyla parvula (Dlussky, Rasnitsyn, & Perfilieva, 2015)
• Pachycondyla petiolosa Dlussky & Wedmann, 2012
• Pachycondyla petrosa Dlussky & Wedmann, 2012
• Protopone – Protopone? dubia, Protopone germanica, Protopone magna, Protopone oculata, Protopone sepulta, and Protopone vetula
• Pseudectatomma – Pseudectatomma eocenica and Pseudectatomma striatula
• Titanomyrma gigantea
• Titanomyrma simillima

Family Apidae

• Protobombus messelensis Engel & Wappler, 2003

Family Megachilidae

• Friccomelissa schopowi Wedmann, Wappler, & Engel, 2009

Describing the Messel Pit Fossil Site as 'richest geosite in the world for understanding the living environment of the Eocene, as it includes exceptionally well-preserved fossils', the International Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS) included the site's Eocene record in its list of 100 'geological heritage sites', published in October 2022. The organisation defines an IUGS Geological Heritage Site as 'a key place with geological elements and/or processes of international scientific relevance, used as a reference, and/or with a substantial contribution to the development of geological sciences through history.'{{cite web |title=The First 100 IUGS Geological Heritage Sites |url=https://iugs-geoheritage.org/videos-pdfs/iugs_first_100_book_v2.pdf |website=IUGS International Commission on Geoheritage |publisher=IUGS |access-date=13 November 2022}}

{{Portal|Earth sciences|Germany|Paleontology}}

{{Commons category|Messel Pit fossil site}}

• Lagerstätte
• List of fossil sites (with link directory)
• List of fossiliferous stratigraphic units in Germany
• Paleofauna of the Messel Pit
• Paleoflora of the Messel Formation

{{reflist}}

• {{cite book | last1=Smith | first1=Krister T. | last2=Schaal | first2=Stephan | last3=Habersetzer | first3=Jörg | last4=Herlyn | first4=Hendrik G. | author5=Senckenberg Gesellschaft für Naturforschung | title=Messel : an ancient greenhouse ecosystem | publication-place=Stuttgart | date=2018 | isbn=978-3-510-61411-0 | oclc=1054359916}}
• {{cite book | last1=Harms | first1=Franz-Jürgen | last2=Schaal | first2=Stephan | title=Current geological and paleontological research in the Messel Formation | publisher=E. Schweizerbart'sche Verlagsbuchhandlung (Nägele u. Obermiller) | publication-place=Stuttgart | date=2005 | isbn=3-510-61381-3 | oclc=64571829}}
• {{cite book | last=Mangel | first=Gerd | title=Faszination Welterbe Grube Messel zu Besuch in einer Welt vor 47 Millionen Jahren | publication-place=Stuttgart | date=2011 | isbn=978-3-510-61398-4 | oclc=698592675 | language=de}}
• {{cite book | last=Kächler | first=Ernst Rudolf | author2=Grube-Messel-Verwaltungsgesellschaft | title=Window to primeval times Messel Pit, world heritage site in the State of Hessen | publisher=Grube-Messel-Verwaltungsgesellschaft c/o Hessisches Ministerium für Wissenschaft und Kunst | publication-place=Wiesbaden | year=2000 | oclc=174602085 | language=de}}
• {{cite book | last1=Schaal | first1=Stephan | last2=Ziegler | first2=Willi | title=Messel : an insight into the history of life and of the earth | publisher=Clarendon Press | publication-place=Oxford | date=1992 | isbn=0-19-854654-8 | oclc=25747250}}
• {{cite book | last1=Gruber | first1=Gabriele | last2=Micklich | first2=Norbert | author3=Hessisches Landesmuseum Darmstadt | title=Messel : Schätze der Urzeit | publisher=Theiss | publication-place=Stuttgart | date=2007 | isbn=978-3-8062-2092-6 | oclc=600404474 | language=de}}
• {{cite book | last1=Gruber | first1=Gabriele | last2=Sandrock | first2=Oliver | last3=Wappler | first3=Torsten | series=Natural History Collections | pages=157–164 | title=Paleontological Collections of Germany, Austria and Switzerland | chapter=DARMSTADT: The Paleontological Collections of Hessisches Landesmuseum Darmstadt | publisher=Springer International Publishing | publication-place=Cham | year=2018 | isbn=978-3-319-77400-8 | issn=2510-1862 | doi=10.1007/978-3-319-77401-5_14}}
• {{cite book | last=Aubert | first=Hans-Joachim | author2=Deutsche Unesco-Kommission | title=UNESCO-Welterbe in Deutschland [eine Publikation der Deutschen Unesco-Kommission und des Auswärtigen Amts der Bundesrepublik Deutschland] = UNESCO world heritage in Germany | publication-place=Bonn | date=2010 | isbn=978-3-940785-14-5 | oclc=612325291 | language=de}}
• {{cite web|title= All datasets matching the term 'Messel'|author= ((Various Contributors to the Paleobiology Database))|url= https://www.paleobiodb.org/classic?basic=yes&sortby=collection_no&person_type=authorizer&limit=100&sortorder=asc&action=displayCollResults&collection_names=Messel&type=view|website=Paleobiology Database |access-date= 1 December 2019}}

Category:Eocene Germany

Category:Lutetian Stage

Category:Lagerstätten