DePaul University Via Sapientiae College of Science and Health Theses and Dissertations College of Science and Health Summer 8-23-2015 Fossil Marine Vertebrates from the Codell Sandstone Member of the Upper Cretaceous Carlile Shale in Jewell County, Kansas Kelly N. Bice DePaul University, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://via.library.depaul.edu/csh_etd Recommended Citation Bice, Kelly N., "Fossil Marine Vertebrates from the Codell Sandstone Member of the Upper Cretaceous Carlile Shale in Jewell County, Kansas" (2015). College of Science and Health Theses and Dissertations. 111. https://via.library.depaul.edu/csh_etd/111 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the College of Science and Health at Via Sapientiae. It has been accepted for inclusion in College of Science and Health Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Via Sapientiae. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Fossil Marine Vertebrates from the Codell Sandstone Member of the Upper Cretaceous Carlile Shale in Jewell County, Kansas A Thesis Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Science August 2015 By Kelly N. Bice Thesis Advisor: Kenshu Shimada, Ph.D. Department of Biological Sciences College of Science and Health DePaul University Chicago, Illinois i TABLE OF CONTENTS Approval Page ...................................................................................................................... i Table of Contents ................................................................................................................ ii List of Figures .................................................................................................................... iii List of Tables ...................................................................................................................... v Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................ vi Abstract ............................................................................................................................. vii Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 1 Materials and Methods ........................................................................................................ 5 Results ................................................................................................................................. 7 Systematic Paleontology ......................................................................................... 7 Chondrichthyes ........................................................................................... 7 Osteichthyes .............................................................................................. 27 Reptilia ...................................................................................................... 36 Discussion ......................................................................................................................... 43 Taxonomic Remarks ............................................................................................. 43 Paleoecological Remarks ...................................................................................... 43 Faunal Analysis ..................................................................................................... 47 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................ 56 References ......................................................................................................................... 58 Appendix 1 ........................................................................................................................ 85 ii LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1 Generalized stratigraphy of Upper Cretaceous marine ...............................3 deposits in Kansas and a map of the Jewell County, Kansas fossil locality Figure 2 Exposure of the Codell Sandstone in fossil locality ...................................4 Figure 3 Teeth of Hybodontidae, Ptychodontidae, Mitsukurinidae, .........................8 and Odontaspididae Figure 4 Teeth of Otodontidae, Archaeolamnidae, and ..........................................12 Cretoxyrhinidae Figure 5 Teeth of Anacoracidae ..............................................................................16 Figure 6 Teeth of Squalicorax sp. ...........................................................................20 Figure 7 Remains of Anacoracidae indet., Pseudocoracidae, .................................21 Lamniformes incertae sedis, Lamniformes indet., Rhinobatidae, Ptychotrygonidae, Sclerorhynchidae, Mobulidae Figure 8 Remains of Osteichthyes ...........................................................................28 Figure 9 Remains of Testudines and Mosasauridae ................................................37 Figure 10 Remains of Plesiosauria ............................................................................40 Figure 11 Coprolites of Vertebrata indet. ..................................................................41 Figure 12 Relative proportions between durophagous and non- ...............................50 durophagous taxa in examined lithology-based community assemblages Figure 13 Relative proportions between “small” (>2 m) and “large” .......................50 (<2 m) vertebrate taxa in examined lithology-based community assemblages Figure 14 Changes in total marine vertebrate diversity in examined ........................51 lithology-based community assemblages Figure 15 Changes in relative proportions of class-level marine ..............................52 vertebrate diversity in examined lithology-based community assemblages iii Figure 16 Changes in relative lamniform and carnivorous marine ...........................53 reptile biodiversity in Upper Cretaceous community assemblages iv LIST OF TABLES Table 1 List of vertebrate taxa from Codell Sandstone at Jewell ..........................44 County locality in Kansas Table 2 Contingency table for test of differentiation in diet of taxa ......................54 present in Late Cretaceous Western Interior Seaway Table 3 Contingency table for test of differentiation in total body ........................55 size of taxa present in Late Cretaceous Western Interior Seaway Table 4 Contingency table for test of differentiation in total body ........................56 size of chondrichthyan taxa present in Late Cretaceous Western Interior Seaway Table 5 Contingency table for test of differentiation in total body ........................56 size of osteichthyan taxa present in Late Cretaceous Western Interior Seaway v ACKOWLEDGEMENTS Foremost, I owe a debt of gratitude to Ramo Decker and his family (Pam, Kerstin, Kelsey, and Ray) who collected and donated the fossil specimens to FHSM for the purpose of my study. Without their hard work and generous contribution, this work would not have been possible. I would like to thank Dr. Laura Wilson (FHSM) for curating the specimens. I would also like to thank William Simpson, Dr. Lance Grande, Dr. Peter Makovicky, and Dr. Olivier Rieppel (Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, Illinois) for their assistance with identifying specimens. I would also like to thank Michael Everhart (FHSM) for his assistance with identifying specimens and reviewing the taxonomic list of vertebrate taxa from Kansas, Nebraska, and Colorado. I would also like to thank Dr. Jalene LaMontagne for her assisting me with project design and statistical tests. Special thanks to my committee members, Dr. Windsor Aguirre, and Dr. Jason Bystriansky, for their friendly guidance, suggestions, and time, and the entire Department of Biological Sciences at DePaul University for their support, feedback, and friendship. Finally, I would like to express my deep appreciation and gratitude to Dr. Kenshu Shimada for his encouragement and guidance, from when I was considering applying to the Master’s program in the Department of Biological Sciences at DePaul, through to completion of this degree. I am fortunate to have had such a supportive and patient mentor and advisor. vi ABSTRACT Reported here is the first collective description of a marine vertebrate assemblage from the Codell Sandstone Member (middle Turonian) of the Upper Cretaceous Carlile Shale in Jewell County, Kansas. The Codell Sandstone was deposited during a regression of the Western Interior Seaway, and the fossil locality is described as a relatively shallow, near-shore environment. The collection contains larger, surface collected materials and microfossils washed from sediments represented by isolated teeth, vertebrae, and other skeletal elements as well as coprolites. The fauna consists of 38 taxa, including at least 22 chondrichthyans, 13 osteichthyan fishes, and tetrapod remains belonging to mosasauridae, plesiosauria, and testudines. The fauna is dominated by active, pelagic carnivores, such as Meristodonoides, Anomotodon, Scapanorhynchus, Odontaspis, Cretalamna, Archaeolamna, Cretoxyrhina, Cretodus, Dallasiella, Pseudocorax, Paranomotodon, Belonostomus, Protosphyraena, Xiphactinus, Pachyrhizodus, Enchodus, Apateodus, Aulopiformes indet., Mosasauridae indet., and Plesiosauria indet. The fauna also includes benthic, durophagic fish taxa (e.g., Ptychodus, Rhinobatos, Ptychotrygon, Ischirhiza, Sclerorhynchus, Micropycnodon,