Taxonomy and Biostratigraphy of the Early Tertiary Taeniodonta (Mammalia: Eutheria): Summary
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Taxonomy and biostratigraphy of the early Tertiary Taeniodonta (Mammalia: Eutheria): Summary ROBERT M. SCHOCH Department of Geology and Geophysics and Peabody Museum of Natural History, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut 06511 INTRODUCTION (northeastern Utah), Huerfano basin (south-central Colorado), San Juan basin (northwestern New Mexico and southwestern Colo- The Taeniodonta is an order of archaic mammals known rado), and Tornillo Flat area (western Texas). Here, I place special exclusively from the early Tertiary of western North America emphasis on the San Juan basin (Fig. 3), from which the early (Schoch and Lucas, 1981a). Their remains are found in Puercan Puercan to Wasatchian taeniodonts are best known. The history of (lower Paleocene) to Uintan (upper Eocene) strata of the Rocky study and nomenclature of the Tertiary strata of the San Juan basin Mountain intermontane sedimentary basins (Figs. 1, 2; Table 1). In (Fig. 4) has been discussed and reviewed in numerous papers, the San Juan basin of New Mexico and Colorado, the Puercan to Wasatchian (lower Eocene) sedimentary sequence includes the type localities for the Puercan, Torrejonian (middle Paleocene), and Tif- Figure 1. Localities at fanian (late Paleocene) land mammal "ages" (Wood and others, which taeniodonts have been 1941), as well as a classic Wasatchian fauna (Lucas and others, found. Numbers correspond 1981). Thus, the San Juan basin mammalian faunas provide a to localities listed in Table sequence of faunas which can provide the basis for interbasinal 1. For localities'in the San correlation. The Taeniodonta are an important element of these Juan basin (SJB), see Fig- faunas; many of the type specimens and important referred speci- ure 3. mens of these animals come from the San Juan basin. However, except for Patterson's (1949) brief review, a comprehensive study of this order has not been published for more than 80 yr (Wortman, 1897). Before a group of animals can be used for biostratigraphic correlation, its species- and genus-level taxonomy and its known stratigraphic occurrences must be well established. In Part //of this paper, I revise the species-level taxonomy of the Taeniodonta and document their geographic and temporal (stratigraphic) distribu- tion. Here, I discuss their usefulness and implications for biostrati- graphic correlation in western North America. THE GEOGRAPHIC AND BIOSTRATIGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION OF THE TAENIODONTA Introduction All unequivocally known taeniodonts come from the Rocky Mountain early Tertiary intermontane sedimentary basins of west- ern North America (Figs. 1, 2; Table 1), which were formed or rejuvenated during the Laramide orogeny. The major areas where taeniodonts occur are, from north to south: the Crazy Mountain Field (south-central Montana), Bighorn basin (north-central Wyoming), Togwotee Pass area (northwestern Wyoming), Wind River basin (central Wyoming), Green River-Bridger basin (southwestern Wyoming), Washakie basin (south-central Wyoming), Uinta basin The complete article, of which this is a summary, appears in Part II of the Bulletin, v. 92, p. 1982-2267. Geological Society of America Bulletin, Part I, v. 92, p. 933-941, 5 figs, 1 table, December 1981. 933 Downloaded from http://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/gsa/gsabulletin/article-pdf/92/12/933/3429992/i0016-7606-92-12-933.pdf by guest on 23 September 2021 934 R. M. SCHOCH including Baltz and others (1966), Gardner (1910), Granger (1914), "zones." These "/.ones" have been considered to represent super- Kues and others (1977), Lucas (1981), Matthew (1937), Reeside posed biostratigraphic units well separated temporally. Alterna- (1924), Simpson (1948, 1959, 1981), Sinclair and Granger (1914), tively, they have been thought to represent different facies or to Tsentas (1981), and Wood and others (1941). reflect collecting biases (Matthew, 1937). Previously, Onychodectes tisonensis has been thought to occur throughout the Puercan in both Puercan-Torrejonian "zones," whereas O. "rarus" and Wortmania otariidens were re- stricted to the Taeniolabis "zone" (Russell, 1967). Here, O. "rarus" Taeniodonts of Puercan and Torrejonian age occur in the is considered a junior subjective synonym of O. tisonensis at the Paleocene Nacimiento Formation at several localities in the specific level and W. otariidens is now known from the Ectoconus southwestern and south-central San Juan basin (Fig. 3; Table 1). "zone" in Betonnie Tsosie and Kimbeto washes. However, as far as The Nacimiento Formation is composed of red and green, buff and is known, O. t. tisonensis does occur in both zones, whereas O. t. gray clay shales and siltstones, black clay shales, and lenticular rarus is known only from the Taeniolabis "zone." Thus, better arkosic and quartzose sandstones (Baltz and others, 1966; Tsentas knowledge of the Puercan taeniodonts reduces the distinctiveness of and Lucas, 1980, Tsentas and others, 1981). In the upper part of the these "zones" and does not strongly support the idea that they are Nacimiento Formation, a northern facies of relatively high-energy separated by a significant span of time. fluvial deposits (with a greater over-all percentage of sandstone) Both O. tisonensis and W. otariidens are restricted to the and a southern facies of lower-energy fluvial and swamp deposits Puercan. The occurrence of O. tisonensis in the Wagonroad local are recognizable (Tsentas and others, 1981). This distribution of fauna of the upper part of the North Horn Formation of east- facies suggests a northern source area for much of the upper part of central Utah supports the correlation of this locality with the the Nacimiento Formation (Baltz, 1967; Tsentas and others, 1981). Puercan-aged strata of the Nacimiento Formation (Robison and The Puercan strata of the Nacimiento Formation have been Lucas, 1980). subdivided into two "zones," a lower Ectoconus "zone" (also known The Torrejonian strata of the Nacimiento Formation also have as the Hemithlaeus "zone"; Van Valen, 1978) and an overlying been divided into two "zones" on the basis of mammalian faunas Taeniolabis "zone" (formerly known as the "Polymastodon," (Lindsay and others, 1978; Matthew, 1937; Osborn, 1929). The pre- (-Taeniolabis) zone; Lindsay and others, 1978; Matthew, 1937; sumably lower Deltatherium "zone" occurs in Kutz Canyon, Tor- Osborn, 1929; Sinclair and Granger, 1914). Localities in Betonnie reon wash, and Kimbeto wash, whereas the overlying Pantolambda Tsosie wash and Kimbeto wash are in the Ectoconus "zone," where- "zone" is well known from Torreon wash and University of Kansas as localities in De-na-zin wash and Alamo wash include both New Mexico locality 15, as well as the areas south-east of Kimbeto £ £k . UINTAN "5> <n t E I? HI a> O 1 T3 z n <D UJ o a o O) o 3 u 5 o BRIDGERIAN C « UJ ra a 0) o> o a o o o 3 C 3 10 WASATCHIAN C O) (0 10 o O) OI o *o* c o o o o UJ UJ •o UJ • o o •o o a> t • CLARKFORKIAN c V) o HI a Z o a. I UJ 1/1 < 9 O O c c o> o 9) I ' O TIFFANIAN eo T> I UJ T3 O tfí c C a. 0) o T' 2 2 o c O o ® 0) o c: 3 •o T3 O X o O 5! o a> 'TORREJONIAN o O i: 0 O PUERCAN 1 Figure 2. Biostratigraphic distribution of the Taeniodonta. Downloaded from http://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/gsa/gsabulletin/article-pdf/92/12/933/3429992/i0016-7606-92-12-933.pdf by guest on 23 September 2021 EARLY TERTIARY TAENIODONTA: SUMMARY 935 and just south of Cedar Hill (Tsentas, 1981; Wilson, 1956). These 1937; Tsentas, 1981; Wilson, 1956). Recently, a specimen of Panto- "zones" also have been thought to represent superposed biostrati- lambda was found in a Deltatherium "zone" horizon in Kutz graphic units separated by a significant length of time (Lindsay and Canyon, supporting the idea of collecting biases (Lucas and O'Neill, others, 1978; Taylor and Butler, 1980). Alternatively, it has been 1981). Conoryctes comma is known with certainty only from the suggested that the differences betweeen the faunas of the two Pantolambda "zone." The specimens reported by Taylor (1981) as "zones" reflect facies differences and/or collecting biases (Matthew, Conoryctes comma from a Deltatherium "zone" horizon in Kutz TABLE 1. SUMMARY OF THE STRATIGRAPHIC AND GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION OF THE TAENIODONTA» Locality Formation Age Taxa Reference 1. Betonnie Tsosie wash Nacimiento Puercan Onychodectes tisonensis tisonensis Simpson, 1959; Sinclair and Granger Wortmania otariidens 1914 2. Kimbeto wash Nacimiento Puercan O. t. tisonensis Simpson, 1959; Sinclair and Granger, W. otariidens 1914 3. De-na-zin wash Nacimiento Puercan O. t. tisonensis Sinclair and Granger, 1914 O. t. rarus W. otariidens 4. Alamo wash Nacimiento Puercan O. l. tisonensis Sinclair and Granger, 1914 O. 1. rarus W. otariidens 5. Wagonroad Ridge North Horn Puercan O. l. tisonensis Robison and Lucas, 1980 stylinodontine indet. 6. Dragon Canyon North Horn Torrejonian Conoryctella dragonensis Gazin, 1941; Schoch and Lucas, 1981c Conoryctella pattersoni tPsitlacotherium sp. or ? Wortmania sp 7. Kutz Canyon Nacimiento Torrejonian C. pattersoni Granger, 1917; Schoch and Lucas, Psittacotherium multifragum 1981c; R. W. Wilson, 1956 8. Kimbeto wash Nacimiento Torrejonian Huerfanodon torrejonius Schoch and Lucas, 1981b P. multifragum 9. Torreon wash Nacimiento Torrejonian Conoryctes comma Matthew, 1897; Tsentas, 1981 P. multifragum 10. UK NM locality 15 Nacimiento Torrejonian C. comma R. W. Wilson, 1956 P. multifragum 11. Gallegos Canyon Nacimiento Torrejonian P. multifragum Sinclair and Granger, 1914 12. Escavada wash Nacimiento Torrejonian conoryctine indet. Kues and others, 1977 P. multifragum 13. Simpson's locality 226 Nacimiento Torrejonian P. multifragum Simpson, 1959 14. Gidley Quarry Lebo Torrejonian conoryctine indet. Simpson, 1937 15. Silberling Quarry Lebo Torrejonian ? Huerfanodon sp. Simpson, 1937 P. multifragum 16. Rock Bench Quarry Polecat Bench Torrejonian Huerfanodon polecatensis Gingerich and others, 1980 17. Swain Quarry Fort Union Torrejonian P. multifragum Rigby, 1980 18. Douglass Quarry Melville Tiffanian P. multifragum Douglass, 1908; Simpson, 1937 19.