Filling the Bearpaw gap: Evidence for palaeoenvironment-driven taxon distribution in a diverse, non-marine ecosystem from the late Campanian of west-Central Alberta, Canada

Fanti, Federico; Bell, Phil R.; Vavrek, Matthew J.; Larson, Derek W.; Koppelhus, Eva B.; Sissons, Robin L.; Langone, Antonio; Campione, Nicolás E.; Sullivan, Corwin

doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2022.110923

Cited by 3 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 83 publications

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“…The discovery of UALVP 59503 confirms the presence of monstersaurs in the Wapiti Formation, which was previously suggested by the presence in the Pipestone Creek Bonebed of a vertebra comparable to Palaeosaniwa [37]. UALVP 59503 dates to about 73.5 Ma and is from Unit 3 of the Wapiti Formation, whereas the Pipestone Creek Bonebed is likely situated in the lower part of Unit 4, deposited at least several hundred thousand years later [38]. UALVP 50593 is slightly geologically younger than reported occurrences of P. canadensis in the Belly River Group of southern Alberta [19,26], but older than reported post-Campanian occurrences [16,29,30].…”

Section: Implications Of the Presence Of A Monstersaur Cf Palaeosaniw...supporting

confidence: 77%

“…The specimens described herein (UALVP 59503 and 59947) were recovered from the Dinosaur-Chelonian (DC) Bonebed [38], a series of stacked mudstone and siltstone point bars preserved in a fluvial channel deposit within the Wapiti Formation of northern Alberta (Figure 1). The DC Bonebed is located on the northern bank of the Wapiti River, approximately 10 km southeast of the city of Grande Prairie, and preserves a diverse assemblage of isolated skeletal elements of predominantly small to medium-sized vertebrates, particularly fish, Champsosaurus, turtles, and dinosaurs.…”

Section: Geological Settingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The DC Bonebed is located on the northern bank of the Wapiti River, approximately 10 km southeast of the city of Grande Prairie, and preserves a diverse assemblage of isolated skeletal elements of predominantly small to medium-sized vertebrates, particularly fish, Champsosaurus, turtles, and dinosaurs. Composite sections along the Wapiti River [ [38]: Figure 3] indicate that the bonebed belongs to Wapiti Formation Unit 3 (sensu Fanti and Catuneanu [39]), a stratigraphic interval approximately correlative with the Bearpaw Formation of southern Alberta [ [38]: Figure 2]. New U/Pb ages from bentonitic layers sampled near the DC Bonebed, together with palynological evidence, suggest an age of about 73.5 Ma for the lizard material discussed here [38].…”

Section: Geological Settingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Composite sections along the Wapiti River [ [38]: Figure 3] indicate that the bonebed belongs to Wapiti Formation Unit 3 (sensu Fanti and Catuneanu [39]), a stratigraphic interval approximately correlative with the Bearpaw Formation of southern Alberta [ [38]: Figure 2]. New U/Pb ages from bentonitic layers sampled near the DC Bonebed, together with palynological evidence, suggest an age of about 73.5 Ma for the lizard material discussed here [38].…”

Section: Geological Settingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Palaeosaniwa canadensis Referred Material: UALVP 59503, a right frontal. Locality and Horizon-DC Bonebed, ~10 km southeast of Grande Prairie, Alberta, Canada (55 • 4 53 N, 118 • 43 59 W); middle part of Unit 3 of Wapiti Formation, upper Campanian [38].…”

Section: Systematic Palaeontologymentioning

confidence: 99%

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New Lizard Specimens from the Campanian Wapiti Formation of Alberta, Canada

Hamilton,

Paparella,

Bell

et al. 2023

Geosciences

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Reported lizard material from the Wapiti Formation (central-western Alberta, Canada) is limited to fragmentary remains of Kleskunsaurus grandeprairiensis and Socognathus unicuspis, a partial dentary attributed to Chamops cf. C. segnis, and a vertebra reportedly comparable to those of the much larger lizard Palaeosaniwa canadensis. P. canadensis is a Late Cretaceous North American member of Monstersauria, a Mesozoic and Cenozoic anguimorph group represented today by five species of Heloderma. Here, we document new squamate material from the DC Bonebed locality (Wapiti Unit 3; Campanian), including a right frontal identified as cf. P. canadensis and a taxonomically indeterminate squamate astragalocalcaneum. A partial skeleton from the Two Medicine Formation of Montana provisionally attributed to P. canadensis has a frontal resembling the corresponding element from the DC Bonebed in overall shape, in having narrowly separated facets for the prefrontal and postorbitofrontal, and in bearing osteoderms similar to the DC specimen’s in ornamentation and configuration. The Two Medicine and DC specimens differ from a roughly contemporaneous frontal from southern Alberta referred to the monstersaur Labrodioctes montanensis. The DC specimen confirms the presence of monstersaurian squamates in the Wapiti Formation, representing the northernmost record of any definitive Late Cretaceous monstersaur to date.

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Section: Implications Of the Presence Of A Monstersaur Cf Palaeosaniw...supporting

confidence: 77%

Section: Geological Settingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Geological Settingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Geological Settingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Systematic Palaeontologymentioning

confidence: 99%

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New Lizard Specimens from the Campanian Wapiti Formation of Alberta, Canada

Hamilton,

Paparella,

Bell

et al. 2023

Geosciences

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Enigmatic vertebrate swimming trace fossils from the Wapiti Formation, Alberta, Canada, and their implications for paleoenvironmental reconstruction

Kimitsuki,

Rodriguez,

Sullivan

et al. 2024

Ichnos

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The first report of Champsosaurus lindoei (Choristodera: Champsosauridae) from the Campanian of the United States: anatomical, phylogenetic, and palaeoecological significance

Dudgeon,

Mallon,

Evans

2023

Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society

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Although the neochoristodere Champsosaurus is well documented in Campanian deposits of western North America, species-diagnostic remains from these strata are restricted to the Dinosaur Park Formation of Alberta, Canada. Here, we describe an exceptionally well-preserved specimen of Champsosaurus lindoei from the Two Medicine Formation of Montana, USA—one of the few occurrences of the genus within the formation, and the first confirmed occurrence of C. lindoei outside of Dinosaur Provincial Park and its vicinity. This specimen preserves previously unknown aspects of this species, including the pes, tail, and integument, allowing for the first detailed postcranial description in this taxon. The integumentary impressions preserved on the ventral surface are the largest described thus far for Champsosaurus, supporting previous suggestions that Champsosaurus scales increase in size ventrally. We also conducted the first species-level phylogeny for Champsosaurus, where we recovered a pectinate tree topology with Palaeocene species as the sister taxa to older Maastrichtian and Campanian species, and provide further evidence for at least three lineages of Champsosaurus surviving the Cretaceous-Palaeogene (K-Pg) extinction. Finally, the recovery of the specimen from the semi-arid upland deposits of the Two Medicine Formation suggests that Champsosaurus may have been better able to withstand drier environments than previously thought.

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Filling the Bearpaw gap: Evidence for palaeoenvironment-driven taxon distribution in a diverse, non-marine ecosystem from the late Campanian of west-Central Alberta, Canada

Cited by 3 publications

References 83 publications

New Lizard Specimens from the Campanian Wapiti Formation of Alberta, Canada

New Lizard Specimens from the Campanian Wapiti Formation of Alberta, Canada

Enigmatic vertebrate swimming trace fossils from the Wapiti Formation, Alberta, Canada, and their implications for paleoenvironmental reconstruction

The first report of Champsosaurus lindoei (Choristodera: Champsosauridae) from the Campanian of the United States: anatomical, phylogenetic, and palaeoecological significance

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