Middle Devensian (Weichselian) coleopteran assemblages from Earith, Cambridgeshire (UK) and their bearing on the interpretation of ?Full glacial? floras and faunas

Macroscopic plant remains from middle Devensian organic lenses, exposed in a gravel pit near Earith in the valley of the River Great Ouse in Cambridgeshire, were the object of an extensive study by Frances Bell in the late 1960s, which has been much referred to in the subsequent literature. The floras from each sampling site have been taken to be characteristic of Full-glacial conditions in general. Coleopteran assemblages taken at the same time from exactly the same sampling sites show that at least two periods of markedly different climatic regimes were involved. The first of these (? the older) was characterised by a cold and continental climate with mean July temperatures at or below 10d°C and mean January/February temperatures about −23°C. The second climatic regime was characterised by warm summers with mean July temperatures about 16°C and mean January/February temperatures close to −5°C. In spite of this temperate climate, pollen analysis shows that no trees grew in Britain at that time. This treeless but temperate episode in the middle of the Devensian (Weichselian) is discussed in the context of coleopteran assemblages from other sites in southern England that probably date from the same period.