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A new near-shore marine fauna and flora from the Early Neogene of northwestern Venezuela

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 May 2016

M. R. Sánchez-Villagra ,
R. J. Burnham ,
D. C. Campbell ,
R. M. Feldmann ,
E. S. Gaffney ,
R. F. Kay ,
R. Lozsán ,
R. Purdy  and
J. G. M. Thewissen
M. R. Sánchez-Villagra
Affiliation:
Universität Tübingen, Spezielle Zoologie, Auf der Morgenstelle 28, D-72076, Germany
R. J. Burnham
Affiliation:
Museum of Paleontology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, 48109–1079, USA
D. C. Campbell
Affiliation:
Department of Geological Sciences, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, 27599–3315, USA
R. M. Feldmann
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, Kent State University, Kent, Ohio 44242, USA
E. S. Gaffney
Affiliation:
Department of Vertebrate Paleontology, American Museum of Natural History, New York, New York 10024–5192, USA
R. F. Kay
Affiliation:
Department of Biological Anthropology and Anatomy, Duke University Medical Center, Box 3170, Durham, North Carolina 27710, USA
R. Lozsán
Affiliation:
Centro de Excursionismo Científico del Estado Lara, Barquisimeto, Venezuela
R. Purdy
Affiliation:
Department of Paleobiology, Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural History, Washington DC 20560, USA
J. G. M. Thewissen
Affiliation:
NEOUCOM—Anatomy, 4209 State Route 44, P.O. Box 95. Rootstown. Ohio 44272, USA
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Abstract

A diverse near-shore marine fauna existed during the early Miocene in what is today an arid inland region about 90 km south of the Caribbean coast of northern Venezuela, a poorly known area geologically and paleontologically. The fossil locality consists of more than 100 m of section exposed in an area of about 1 km2. We report the discovery of 20 molluscan species, one crab (Portunus oblongus), at least three sharks (Hemipristis serra and Carcharhinus spp.), one turtle (“Podocnemis” venezuelensis), one crocodile (Crocodylidae), two whales (Odontoceti) and a three dimensional cast of the mesocarp or endocarp of a palm fruit. Several taxa are reported for the first time in Venezuela or in northern South America. The fauna indicates, or at least is consistent with, an early Miocene age for the locality, and a near-shore and shallow water marine depositional environment. We suggest that the earliest mammal previously reported from Venezuela, the pyrothere Proticia venezuelensis, was collected in Miocene rocks of the Castillo Formation instead of Eocene rocks of the Trujillo Formation.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Paleontology , Volume 74 , Issue 5 , September 2000 , pp. 957 - 968
Copyright
Copyright © The Paleontological Society

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