Fossil Palms (Arecaceae, Coryphoideae) Associated with Juvenile Herbivorous Dinosaurs in the Upper Cretaceous Aguja Formation, Big Bend National Park, Texas

Manchester, Steven R.; Lehman, Thomas M.; Wheeler, Elisabeth A.

doi:10.1086/653688

Cited by 42 publications

(34 citation statements)

References 43 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The oldest fossil records of Coryphoideae are reported from the Northern Hemisphere, such as: Sabalites carolinensis [13] from late Coniacian–early Santonian of South Carolina and Sabal bigbendense Manchester, Lehman and Wheeler [88] from Maastrichtian of Texas, USA. Sabalites longirhachis [14] were reported from the lower Campanian of Austria and from the Maastrichtian of the Pyrénées [75] .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Coryphoid Palm Leaf Fossils from the Maastrichtian–Danian of Central India with Remarks on Phytogeography of the Coryphoideae (Arecaceae)

Srivastava¹,

Srivastava²,

Dilcher

2014

PLoS ONE

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Premise of researchA large number of fossil coryphoid palm wood and fruits have been reported from the Deccan Intertrappean beds of India. We document the oldest well-preserved and very rare costapalmate palm leaves and inflorescence like structures from the same horizon.MethodologyA number of specimens were collected from Maastrichtian–Danian sediments of the Deccan Intertrappean beds, Ghughua, near Umaria, Dindori District, Madhya Pradesh, India. The specimens are compared with modern and fossil taxa of the family Arecaceae.Pivotal results Sabalites dindoriensis sp. nov. is described based on fossil leaf specimens including basal to apical parts. These are the oldest coryphoid fossil palm leaves from India as well as, at the time of deposition, from the Gondwana- derived continents.ConclusionsThe fossil record of coryphoid palm leaves presented here and reported from the Eurasian localities suggests that this is the oldest record of coryphoid palm leaves from India and also from the Gondwana- derived continents suggesting that the coryphoid palms were well established and wide spread on both northern and southern hemispheres by the Maastrichtian–Danian. The coryphoid palms probably dispersed into India from Europe via Africa during the latest Cretaceous long before the Indian Plate collided with the Eurasian Plate.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Coryphoid Palm Leaf Fossils from the Maastrichtian–Danian of Central India with Remarks on Phytogeography of the Coryphoideae (Arecaceae)

Srivastava¹,

Srivastava²,

Dilcher

2014

PLoS ONE

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Paleolatitudes from Lehman (1997) and included references. Mean annual paleotemperature estimates from Lehman (1997) and included references, Miller et al (2013), Estrada-Ruiz, Martínez-Cabrera & Cevallos-Ferriz (2010), Gates et al (2010) and included references, and Manchester, Lehman & Wheeler (2010). Full-size DOI: 10.7717/peerj.8846/ fig-8 Formation in Coahuila, Mexico (Aguillon-Martinez, 2010) to the Dinosaur Park Formation in Alberta, Canada (Gao & Fox, 1996) (Fig.…”

Section: Squamate Diversity and Biogeography On Laramidiamentioning

confidence: 99%

New fossil lizard specimens from a poorly-known squamate assemblage in the Upper Cretaceous (Campanian) San Juan Basin, New Mexico, USA

Woolley

Jjw

2020

PeerJ

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Recent collection efforts in the upper Campanian (∼76-73.5 Ma) Fruitland and Kirtland formations of northwestern New Mexico have significantly increased the taxonomic diversity of lizards in this historically poorly understood squamate assemblage. New lizard specimens from the “Hunter Wash Local Fauna” of the upper Fruitland and lower Kirtland formations include: (1) new specimens referable to Chamopsiidae; (2) new material belonging to Scincomorpha, (3) new material belonging to Anguidae; and (4) the first reported predatory lizard (Platynota) material from the Campanian of New Mexico. The increase in lizard diversity in the “Hunter Wash Local Fauna” expands our understanding of Late Cretaceous squamate taxonomy, distribution, and diversity in the Western Interior of North America (Laramidia). Collectively, the described specimens represent family-level diversity similar to that seen in other Campanian foreland basin deposits of the Western Interior, such as the mid-paleolatitude Kaiparowits Formation of southern Utah, the higher paleolatitude Dinosaur Park Formation of southern Alberta, and the lower paleolatitude Aguja Formation of southwestern Texas. The lizards of the “Hunter Wash Local Fauna” represent crucial mid-paleolatitude data from a coastal plain depositional setting in Laramidia—allowing for comparisons to more well-studied assemblages at different latitudes and in different depositional settings.

show abstract

“…There was a major, abrupt extinction of Cretaceous plant taxa across the K-Pg boundary, which caused significant changes in plant communities globally (e.g., Vajda and Bercovici 2012;Nichols and Johnson 2008). In the Big Bend area, there is a well-documented, diverse record of late Cretaceousearly Paleocene wood fossils that demonstrates a change from araucariacean conifer dominated fossil wood assemblage in the Javelina Formation to a wood assemblage made up of primarily angiosperm taxa in the Black Peaks Formation, indicating a change in plant communities across the K-Pg boundary (Wheeler et al 1994;Wheeler and Lehman 2000, 2005Lehman and Wheeler 2001;Manchester et al 2010). However, the fossil wood occurrences in the upper Javelina and Black Peaks Formations are restricted to a few stratigraphic intervals that are separated by a significant amount of time (Wheeler and Lehman 2005;, and the fossil wood record is only representative of a portion of the total plant community.…”

Section: Ethology Of the Tracemakersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Terrestrial evidence for the Lilliput effect across the Cretaceous-Paleogene (K-Pg) boundary

Wiest

Lukens

Peppe

et al. 2018

Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Recent research has demonstrated that the Lilliput effect (reduction of body size in biota associated with the aftermath of mass extinctions) affected all trophic levels in the marine realm following the Cretaceous-Paleogene (K-Pg) event. However, it is unclear if this size change was strictly a marine signal, or a global phenomenon that also affected continental ecosystems. Herein we present the results of an ichnological proxy for body size of soil-dwelling insects across the K-Pg boundary in Big Bend National Park, Texas, U.S.A. Quantitative efforts focused on Naktodemasis bowni, which are characterized as unbranching burrows composed of ellipsoidal packets of backfill menisci. These traces were likely produced by beetle larvae or cicada nymphs based on previous comparison with structures generated in modern soils and laboratory experiments. As an approximation for the body size of the subterranean insects, this dataset indicates that a smaller N. bowni diameter (DN) is statistically correlated (α < 0.05) with several edaphic factors including poor soil drainage and weak soil development (Entisols). Additionally, the DN in strata immediately superjacent to the highest Cretaceous-specific taxa is smaller by 23% (5.6 ± 1.8 mm) in comparison to DN within the subjacent Cretaceous interval (7.3 ± 2.7 mm). This abrupt shift occurs in a well-drained Inceptisol, and cannot be attributed to facies changes, drainage, or paleosol maturity. Furthermore, a reduced DN (6.6 ± 2.3 mm) persists above this anomalous shift for at least 20 stratigraphic meters within chron 29r. The cause for this negative response in body size within soil-dwelling biota may be attributed to plant-community shifts in taxonomic composition and ecological strategies, which would have caused fundamental alterations to the diet of the herbivorous, subterranean insects. This study provides empirical evidence that the Lilliput effect was not restricted to marine environments during the aftermath of the K-Pg event.

show abstract

Fossil Palms (Arecaceae, Coryphoideae) Associated with Juvenile Herbivorous Dinosaurs in the Upper Cretaceous Aguja Formation, Big Bend National Park, Texas

Cited by 42 publications

References 43 publications

Coryphoid Palm Leaf Fossils from the Maastrichtian–Danian of Central India with Remarks on Phytogeography of the Coryphoideae (Arecaceae)

Coryphoid Palm Leaf Fossils from the Maastrichtian–Danian of Central India with Remarks on Phytogeography of the Coryphoideae (Arecaceae)

New fossil lizard specimens from a poorly-known squamate assemblage in the Upper Cretaceous (Campanian) San Juan Basin, New Mexico, USA

Terrestrial evidence for the Lilliput effect across the Cretaceous-Paleogene (K-Pg) boundary

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About