Research interests

Terrestrial Palaeoecosystems

Fossil record and evolution of New Zealand insects

Maar lakes as fossil Lagerstätten

Depositional setting and inclusions of New Zealand amber

Short CV

Since 01/2020 Principal Investigator at the Georg-August University Goettingen/ Department of Animal Evolution and Biodiversity – Project: Palaeontology, biogeography and evolution of New Zealand insects; funded by the German Research Foundation (project 429296833)
07/2021–12/2021 Research Fellow at the Georg-August University Goettingen/Museum of Geology, Geoscience Centre – Project: The Pliocene Fauna of the Willershausen Fossil Lagerstätte
2015–2018 Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Otago, Department of Geology – Project: Captured in amber: ecological complexity in New Zealand’s ancient araucarian forests; funded by the Royal Society of New Zealand Marsden Fund (grant UOO1416)
2012–2016 Teaching Fellow at the University of Otago, Department of Geology
2012–2015 Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Otago, Department of Geology – Project: Life in and beyond maars; funded by the Royal Society of New Zealand Marsden Fund (grant UOO1115)
2012 PhD thesis Geology and Palaeontology of Foulden Maar, Otago; University of Otago
2008–2012 PhD student, University of Otago
2004–2008 Leader of Excavations at the Eckfelder Maar Fossil Lagerstätte, Naturhistorisches Museum Mainz/Landessammlung für Naturkunde Rheinland-Pfalz


Selected publications

Baranov V, Haug C, Fowler M, Kaulfuss U, Müller P, Haug T (2022) Summary of the fossil record of megalopteran and megalopteran-like larvae, with a report of new specimens. Bulletin of Geosciences 97(1): 89–108. http://www.geology.cz/bulletin/contents/art1840

Kaulfuss U, Lee DE, Robinson JH, Wallis GP, Schwarzhans WW (2020) A review of Galaxias (Galaxiidae) fossils from the Southern Hemisphere. Diversity 12(5), 208. https://doi.org/10.3390/d12050208

Jenkins Shaw J, Solodovnikov A, Bai M, Kaulfuss U (2020) An amblyopinine rove beetle (Coleoptera, Staphylinidae, Staphylininae, Amblyopinini) from the earliest Miocene Foulden Maar fossil-Lagerstätte, New Zealand. Journal of Paleontology. https://doi.org/10.1017/jpa.2020.35

Kaulfuss U, Conran JG, Bannister JM, Mildenhall DC, Lee DE (2019) A new Miocene fern (Palaeosorum: Polypodiaceae) from New Zealand bearing in situ spores of Polypodiisporites. New Zealand Journal of Botany 57(1): 2–17. https://doi.org/10.1080/0028825X.2018.1560336

Conran JG, Bannister JM, Kaulfuss U, Lee DE (2019) Pterostoma neehoffii (cf. Zamiaceae): a new species of extinct cycad from the middle Miocene of New Zealand and an overview of fossil New Zealand cycads. New Zealand Journal of Botany 58(1): 30–47. https://doi.org/10.1080/0028825X.2019.1653939

Conran JG, Kaulfuss U, Bannister JM, Mildenhall DC, Lee DE (2019) An Akania (Akaniaceae) inflorescence with associated pollen from the early Miocene of New Zealand. American Journal of Botany 106: 292–302. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajb2.1236

Harper MA, van de Vijver B, Kaulfuss U, Lee DE (2019) Resolving the confusion between two fossil freshwater diatoms from Otago, New Zealand: Encyonema jordanii and Encyonema jordaniforme (Cymbellaceae, Bacillariophyta). Phytotaxa 394: 231–243. http://dx.doi.org/10.11646/phytotaxa.394.4.1

Selden PA, Kaulfuss U (2019) Fossil arachnids from the earliest Miocene Foulden Maar Fossil-Lagerstätte, New Zealand. Alcheringa: An Australasian Journal of Palaeontology 43: 165–169. https://doi.org/10.1080/03115518.2018.1450446

Kaulfuss U, Lee DE, Wartho J-A, Bowie E, Lindqvist JK, Conran JG, Bannister JM, Mildenhall DC, Kennedy EM, Gorman AR (2018) Geology and palaeontology of the Hindon Maar Complex: a Miocene terrestrial fossil Lagerstätte in southern New Zealand. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 500: 52–68. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.palaeo.2018.03.022

Kaulfuss U, Brown SDJ, Henderson IM, Lee DE, Szwedo J (2018) First insects from the Manuherikia Group, early Miocene, New Zealand. Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand. https://doi.org/10.1080/03036758.2018.1477054

Schmidt AR, Kaulfuss U, Bannister JM, Baranov V, Beimforde C, Bleile N, Borkent A, Busch A, Conran JG, Engel MS, Harvey M, Kennedy EM, Kerr P, Kettunen E, Kiecksee AP, Lengeling F, Lindqvist JK, Maraun M, Mildenhall DC, Perrichot V, Rikkinen J, Sadowski EM, Seyfullah LJ, Stebner F, Szwedo J, Ulbrich P, Lee DE (2018) Amber inclusions from New Zealand. Gondwana Research 56: 135–146. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gr.2017.12.003

Kaulfuss U (2017) Crater stratigraphy and post-eruptive evolution of the Foulden Maar, southern New Zealand. New Zealand Journal of Geology & Geophysics 60: 410–432. https://doi.org/10.1080/00288306.2017.1365733

Jones DA, Wilson GS, Gorman AR, Fox BRS, Lee DE, Kaulfuss U (2017) A drill-hole calibrated geophysical characterisation of the 23 Ma Foulden Maar stratigraphic sequence, Otago, New Zealand. New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics 60: 465–477. https://doi.org/10.1080/00288306.2017.1369130

Engel MS, Kaulfuss U (2017) Diverse, primitive termites (Isoptera: Kalotermitidae, incertae sedis) from the early Miocene of New Zealand. Austral Entomology 56: 94–103. https://doi.org/10.1111/aen.12216

Möller AL, Kaulfuss U, Lee DE, Wappler T (2017) High richness of insect herbivory from the early Miocene Hindon Maar crater, Otago, New Zealand. PeerJ: https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.2985

Lee DE, Kaulfuss U, Conran JG, Bannister JM, Lindqvist JK (2016) Biodiversity and palaeoecology of Foulden Maar: an Early Miocene Konservat-Lagerstätte deposit in southern New Zealand. Alcheringa: An Australasian Journal of Palaeontology 40: 525–541. https://doi.org/10.1080/03115518.2016.1206321

Kaulfuss U, Dlussky GM (2015) Early Miocene Formicidae (Amblyoponinae, Ectatomminae, Dolichoderinae, Formicidae and Ponerinae) from the Foulden Maar fossil lagerstätte, New Zealand, and their biogeographic relevance. Journal of Paleontology 89: 1043–1055. https://doi.org/10.1017/jpa.2015.62

Fox BRS, Wartho JA, Wilson GS, Lee DE, Nelson FE, Kaulfuss U (2015) Long-term evolution of an Oligocene/Miocene maar lake from Otago, New Zealand. Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems 16: 59–76. https://doi.org/10.1002/2014GC005534

Kaulfuss U, Lee DE, Barratt BIP, Leschen RAB, Larivière MC, Dlussky GM, Henderson IM, Harris AC (2015) A diverse fossil arthropod fauna from New Zealand: evidence from the early Miocene Foulden Maar fossil lagerstätte. Lethaia 48: 299–308. https://doi.org/10.1111/let.12106

Kaulfuss U, Moulds M (2015) A new genus and species of tettigarctid cicada from the early Miocene of New Zealand: Paratettigarcta zealandica (Hemiptera, Auchenorrhyncha, Tettigarctidae). ZooKeys 215(484): 83–94. https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.484.8883