Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

A Late Cretaceous Dinosaur and Reptile Assemblage from South Carolina, USA

2015; Volume: 105; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

2325-9264

David R. Schwimmer, Albert E. Sanders, Bruce R. Erickson, Robert E. Weems,

Evolution and Paleontology Studies

Transactions 105/1 (AGAINST TIME: Letters from Nazi Germany, 1938-1939) will not be available until July or August 2015. We apologize for the delay, and appreciate your patience.PREFACEThis volume describes a new assemblage of Late Cretaceous dinosaur and reptile remains from Campanian and Maastrichtian deposits of eastern South Carolina. Six of the fourteen localities include new occurrences of theropod and hadrosaur dinosaurs, substantially increasing the known localities in the eastern United States that have produced dinosaur remains. Dinosaur remains were associated with abundant bones and skull fragments of the marine pleurodire (sidenecked) turtle Bothremys, as well as marine and freshwater cryptodire turtles, including species of Adocus, Osteopygis, and Trionychidae, and, among the chelonioids, Toxochelys, Peritresius, Euclastes, and a new species of the dermochelyid Corsochelys described herein. Other reptilian remains in these localities are three identifiable crocodilian genera (Deinosuchus, Bottosaurus, and Borealosuchus) and an indeterminate longirostrine, mosasaurs, plesiosaurs, and a teiid lizard. This assemblage overall consists of fragmented bones and isolated teeth, characteristic of lag deposits, containing admixed marine and nonmarine taxa, dominated by turtles and crocodilians. Taphonomic and paleoecological aspects of the fauna are discussed, including coprolites and bite marks on bones.The important but seldom-mentioned role that South Carolina played in the early history of studies of North American Cretaceous deposits and faunas is outlined, and the stratigraphic settings of fourteen localities are analyzed. Of the six localities where dinosaur bones were found, two principal sites yielded the majority: one at Stokes Quarry, Darlington County, in the mid-Campanian Coachman Formation; the other at Kings tree, Williamsburg County, from the late Campanian Donoho Creek Formation.ACKNOWLEDGMENTSThis volume would not exist were it not for the foresight and efforts of Derwin Hudson and Frank Morning, Jr., of Florence, South Carolina, and Ray Ogilvie, of Hartsville, South Carolina, three avocational collectors who recognized the potential scientific value of the fossil vertebrate material that they began collecting in Florence and Darlington counties two decades ago. Their persistence in searching out localities and specimens has added more information to the fossil record of their region of the state than has ever been recorded before, and we are sincerely grateful to them for sharing their knowledge of the area with us, for their unflagging interest and assistance in the field, and for their contributions of the vast majority of the specimens used in this study.Charleston Museum volunteer Billy T. Palmer collected many of our specimens, and his activities at the Kingstree locality shed new light on the vertebrate material found there. We also thank Bruce C. Lampright and Robert C. Melchior (Bemidji State University), who assisted with the recovery of specimens from the Kingstree site in 1984 and 1985. We are especially grateful to Mr. L. H. Stokes, of the Stokes Sand and Gravel Company, for permitting Ogilvie, Morning, and others associated with this project to collect fossils at Stokes Quarry while it was under his ownership, and to the new owner, Mr. William E. Dauksch, who graciously permitted Ogilvie and Morning to continue collecting activities at the site. Thanks are also extended to Karen Knight, Vance McCollum, David Cicimurri, Mike Bruggerman, and Eric Ogilvie for their fieldwork at the Stokes Quarry site. This book would not have been completed without the help of James L. Knight, formerly of the South Carolina State Museum, who arranged the loan of important specimens in that collection.We are especially grateful to Dr. C. W. Clendinin, Director of the South Carolina Geological Survey, for authorizing the drilling of auger holes by Survey personnel to determine the age of the Cretaceous sediments at two of our sites, and to Ralph H. …