A Nerinea from Southwestern Oriente Province, Cuba A
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JOURNAL OF PALEONTOLOGY,VOL. 26, NO. 1, PP. 60-62, PL. 11, JANUARY1952 A NERINEA FROM SOUTHWESTERNORIENTE PROVINCE, CUBA W. P. WOODRING U. S. GeologicalSurvey, Washington, D.C. ABSTRACT-Loose specimensof a new species of Nerinea, N. epelys,were found in an outcrop area of limestone of middle Eocene age in southwesternOriente Province, Cuba. They are presumedto be Upper Cretaceousdetrital constituents weathered out of the Eocene limestone. N. epelys is closely allied to the Upper Cretaceous Europea, N. bicincta;indeed, specimens of the Cuban species from the Upper Cre- taceous Habana formationof Camaguey Province were identified by Knipscheeras N. bicincta. HE Nerinea herewith described was col- fossils, however, were weathered out of their lected during the course of geologic map- matrix and were lying loose in the field. A ping in southwestern Oriente Province, low cliff of limestone of the Charco Redondo Cuba, in the foothills of the Sierra Maestra rises along the south border of the field less about 20 kilometers south-southeast of Bay- than 100 meters from the scattered spots amo. More specifically the locality is on the where the fossils were found. A float piece south side of Rio Guama on Finca Entre of Nerinea-bearing limestone was observed, Rios, the estate of the soldier and statesman but unfortunately not collected, closer to General Carlos Garcia Veles, a son of the the foot of the cliff, but no mollusks were Cuban general and patriot Calixto Garcia seen in the cliff-forming limestone. No ex- Iniiguez, immortalized in Elbert Hubbard's haustive search, however, was made; and "A Message to Garcia." I was guided to the other observations that would now be per- fossils by a son of the estate owner, Sr. tinent were not considered, for it was not Calixto Garcia Martinez Ibor, who had suspected that both Cretaceous and Eocene noticed them in a cultivated field. The fossil fossils were being picked up. locality is recorded as locality 11 in a report When the Nerinea was collected it was on the geology of the Guisa-Los Negros area thought to represent a Campanile-like large and is shown on the geologic map accom- cerithid, and its affinities were not realized panying that report (Woodring and Daviess, until specimens were sectioned in Washing- 1944, p. 373, pl. 68). ton. At that time the matter was not pur- The locality is in an outcrop area of the sued further than to list it as an unidentified Charco Redondo limestone, of Eocene age. nerineid genus. It is, of course, as shocking Though that formation was assigned to the to find an Eocene nerineid as to find an upper Eocene by Woodring and Daviess, a Eocene ammonite. Nerineids reached their middle Eocene age is preferred by micro- acme in the Jurassic and early Cretaceous, paleontologists (Bermfidez, 1950, p. 246, rapidly declined in the late Cretaceous, and correlation table)-and, aside from cal- disappeared before the close of Cretaceous careous algae, Foraminifera are by far the time. To be sure, Chavan (1946) recently most abundant fossils in the Charco Re- suggested that the Eocene cerithid genus dondo limestone, as well as in the underlying BezanSonia is to be assigned to the Nerinei- formation and the overlying formation. The dae. Bezanqonia, however, has no labral or EXPLANATION OF PLATE 11 The specimens illustrated on this plate were found at U. S. Geol. Survey locality 15252, on Finca Entre Rios, about 20 kilometerssouth-southeast of Bayamo, Oriente Province, Cuba; in outcrop area of middle Eocene Charco Redondo limestone, but presumably derived from Upper Cretaceous Habana formation or its equivalent. FIGS. 1, la-Nerinea epelys Woodring,n. sp. Type, X1. U. S. Nat. Mus. 560624. 2, 2a-Nerinea epelysWoodring, n. sp., X . U. S. Nat. Mus. 560625. 60 JOURNAL OF PALEONTOLOGY, VOL. 26 PLATE 11 I la 2 2a Woodring, Nerinea from Cuba A NERINEA FROM ORIENTE PROVINCE, CUBA 61 parietal folds. It is improbable that the cene to middle Eocene Cobre formation,1 Nerinea is a genuine Eocene fossil. which is estimated to have a thickness of Three other species of mollusks were several thousand meters. Under the pre- found in the field. They were recorded, in sumption just specified, the Charco Redondo preliminary identification, as Terebralia? sp., limestone, or an equivalent part of the Cobre Mitreola? cf. labratula (Lamarck), and Cor- formation, overlapped across several thou- bis cf. claibornensis Dall (Woodring and sand meters of Eocene and Paleocene de- Daviesss, 1944, p. 373). The preliminary posits. It would not be profitable at the identification of two of these species is present time to speculate concerning an al- erroneous. H. B. Stenzel has pointed out ternative possibility: that Rio Bayamo, into that the cerithid ("Terebralia?") is related which Rio Guama empties near the fossil to the middle Eocene Texan "Cerithium" locality, drains a still unknown area of vinctum Whitfield, allied forms of which are fossiliferous Upper Cretaceous strata in the found in the Eocene of Jamaica and Pan- central part of the western Sierra Maestra, ama. J. B. Reeside, Jr., informs me that the and that the Upper Cretaceous fossils rep- two imperfect gastropods listed as Mitreola? resent lag constituents of a former alluvial cf. labratula represent an Actaeonella of the deposit of that stream. So far as known the subgenus Trochactaeon, known only from much shorter Rio Guama drains only areas the Cretaceous. The "Cerithium" and the underlain by the Charco Redondo limestone Corbis, both of which are expectable Eocene and the Cobre formation. fossils, are light-colored and silicified-and the Corbis has adhering matrix of partly DESCRIPTIONOF SPECIES silicified light gray limestone-whereas the Family NERINEIDAE of Nerinea and of Actaeonella are specimens Genus NERINEA Deshayes dark-colored and not silicified. There is Subgenus NERINEA s. s. therefore an objective basis for classifying the fossils in two on and DESHAYES, 1827, Dict. Classique Hist. Nat., groups preservation vol. 11, p. 534. that classification agrees with a classifica- tion based on what is known about their Type (monotype): Nerinea mosae De- range in time. shayes (Nerina in species name, presumably middle The Nerinea and the Actaeonella are pre- typographic error), Upper Jurassic sumed to be Upper Cretaceous detrital con- (Corallian), France. stituents weathered out of the Charco Re- dondo limestone. The presumption is af- NERINEA EPELYS Woodring, n. sp. forded some measure of justification by the Plate 11 occurrence of the same Nerinea in the Upper Nerinea bicincta Bronn, KNIPSCHEER,1938, p. Cretaceous Habana formation of Camaguey 673, figs. 1, 2, 3a-c. Province, about 150 kilometers northwest Nerineid, genus?, WOODRING& DAVIESS, 1944, p. 378, list. of the Oriente locality, as recorded by Knip- scheer (1938, p. 673), a record that was Large, elongate conic. Apex blunt overlooked when the report on the Guisa- (worn?), early whorls rapidly enlarging, sub- Los Negros area was prepared. The nearest sequent whorls slowly enlarging. Body whorl known fossiliferous Upper Cretaceous de- sculptured with a wide sutural band, which posits in Oriente are in the east-central part of the province about 100 kilometers east- The Cobre formation is consideredPaleocene northeast of Bayamo, in the area covered and lower Eocene by Bermudez (1950, p. 239, correlation by Lewis and Straczek in a re- table), but, according to de Albear forthcoming (in Lewis and Straczek, unpublished), the upper port. Nerinea, however, so far has not been part of the formation contains Foraminifera of found in them. Fossiliferous Upper Creta- middle Eocene age. The upper part of the Cobre ceous deposits shed debris into -the only part exposed in the Guisa-Los Negros presumably area-was the Charco Redondo sea. The Charco Re- referred to the upper Eocene on in- adequate grounds by Woodring and Daviess dondo limestone is underlain by the Paleo- (1944, p. 367). For explanationof Plate 12 please turn to page 64. 62 W. P. WOODRING conceals suture, and a similar basal band. Turonian and Senonian age. Bronn's illus- Both bands bearing wide crude nodes, 11 or tration is too generalized to afford a basis 12 to a whorl on later whorls. More or less for comparison. According to Zekeli's (1852, well-defined low crude axials extend from p. 34, pl. 4, figs. 3, 4, not fig. 5; as N. buchzi nodes across body and spire whorls, but are "(Keferstein) Zekeli") and Goldfuss' (1862- subdued on middle of whorls. Sutural band 66, pt. 3, 1863, p. 44, pl. 177, figs.'5a, b) illus- only, with its nodes and corresponding trations, N. bicincta lacks the strong sutural axials, exposed on spire whorls. Interior band of N. epelys and has narrower nodes bearing two short subequal columellar folds, and axials. Nevertheless the two species a short oblique parietal fold, and a moder- are closely allied: the folds have the same ately long wide-based labral fold. Aperture plan and the sculptural pattern is similar. and growth line unknown. There appear to be no similar American Height (incomplete, 6 whorls) 87 mm., species; in fact, Nerinea is very rare in the diameter 47 mm. (type). Height (incom- Upper Cretaceous of America. The fold and plete, 4 whorls) 62 mm., diameter 55 mm. sculptural patterns suggest assignment to (figured specimen). the subgenus Nerinea s. s. Type.-U. S. Nat. Mus. 560624. The earliest formal proposal of the generic Type locality.-U. S. Geol. Survey locality name Nerinea has been discussed recently 15252 (Cenozoic invertebrate register), by Cox (1949). Finca Entre Rios, slope on south side of Rio Guama, 2 kilometers southeast of REFERENCES Tienda Nueva at El Corojo and about 20 BERMU1DEZ,P. J., 1950, Contribuci6n al estudio kilometers south-southeast of del CenozoicoCubano: Soc.