Ariid sea catfishes from the coeval Pirabas (Northeastern Brazil), Cantaure, Castillo (Northwestern Venezuela), and Castilletes (North Colombia) formations (early Miocene), with description of three new species

a b s t r a c tThe Pirabas Formation of Early Miocene age represents the final stage of the central western Atlantic carbonate platform in northeastern South America, predating the emplacement of the Amazon delta system. The otolith-based fossil fish fauna is represented by 38 species typical of a shallow marine environment. A total of 18 species are described new to science from the families Congridae, Batrachoididae, Bythitidae, Sciaenidae and Paralichthyidae. The fish fauna was associated with high benthic and planktic primary productivity including seagrass meadows, calcareous algae and suspension-feeders. The break of todays shallow marine bioprovince at the Amazonas delta mouth is not evident from the fish fauna of the Pirabas Fm., which shows good correlation with the Gatunian/proto-Caribbean bioprovince known from an only slightly younger time window in Trinidad and Venezuela. Differences observed to those Early Miocene faunal associations are interpreted to be mainly due to stratigraphic and geographic and not environmental differences. We postulate that the emergence of the Amazonas river mouth close to its present day location has terminated the carbonate cycle of the Pirabas Fm. and pushed back northwards a certain proportion of the fish fauna here described.

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“…is capped by the siliciclastic Barreira Fm. (G oes et al, 1990;Rossetti, 2001;Rossetti and G oes, 2004;Aguilera et al, 2013a).…”

Section: Geological Settingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Before the flood: Miocene otoliths from eastern Amazon Pirabas Formation reveal a Caribbean-type fish fauna

Aguilera

Schwarzhans

Moraes–Santos

et al. 2014

Journal of South American Earth Sciences

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“…During the Cenozoic an ancient river-dominated landscape usually called the 'Proto-Orinoco' or 'Proto-Amazon' was present in the northern of South America, collecting most of the Colombian, Ecuadorian and Peruvian Amazon tributaries and flowing mostly towards the Caribbean Sea (Rod, 1981;Hoorn et al, 1995;Díaz de Gamero, 1996;Lundberg et al, 1998;Hooghiemstra et al, 2006;Wesselingh and Salo, 2006;Shephard et al, 2010;Mora et al, 2010;Aguilera et al, 2013). Based on the fluvial and deltaic sediments of Paleocene age of the Orocue Group and the Marcelina Formation, the Eocene sediments of the Mirador Formation from the Venezuelan Llanos Basin, and the vast deltaic sedimentation of the Misoa and Carbonera Formations (Eocene) in the Maracaibo Basin, the existence of a large river system flowing in a general south-north direction during Paleocene to Eocene in the Maracaibo Basin is accepted (Kasper and Larue, 1986;Díaz de Gamero, 1996).…”

Section: Implications Of the 'Orinoco River Shifting' Hypothesismentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A second hypothesis proposed that during the Oligocene-Miocene boundary the major river system ('Proto-Orinoco') drained into the Falcón Basin northwestern of Venezuela (Rod, 1981;Díaz de Gamero, 1996;Aguilera et al, 2013). It is due to some geological evidence from the Falcón Basin, besides the biogeographical relationships of the rich fresh-water vertebrate fossil fauna found in the northwestern Falcón (Socorro, Urumaco, Codore and Tío Gregorio Formations) to the recent Orinoco River system (Díaz de Gamero, 1996).…”

Section: Implications Of the 'Orinoco River Shifting' Hypothesismentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Furthermore, based in the presence of the Serrasalmidae fishes Colossoma and Mylossoma found in Cerro La Cruz, Dahdul (2004), Aguilera and Rodríguez de Aguilera (2004a), and Sánchez-Villagra et al (2004) suggest that records of 'Proto-Orinoco' shift is contained in the Miocene sections of Cerro La Cruz, Castillo Formation. Also Aguilera et al (2013) proposed the presence of a major river system in the western margin of the Falcón Basin during the earliest Miocene, with clear faunal affinities to the Amazon and Orinoco, probably referring to the Cerro La Cruz fauna.…”

Section: Implications Of the 'Orinoco River Shifting' Hypothesismentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These authors report a fauna composed of one turtle, one crocodile, two whales (Odontoceti), three sharks, along with a palm fruit, 20 molluscan species, and one crab. Subsequent studies carried out at the Cerro La Cruz locality (Sánchez-Villagra et al, 2001;Dahdul, 2004;Aguilera and Rodríguez de Aguilera, 2004a and b;Sánchez-Villagra et al, 2004;Weston et al, 2004;O'Leary, 2004;Brochu and Rincón, 2004;Aguilera and Lundberg, 2010;Sánchez-Villagra et al, 2010;Rincón et al, 2010a and b;Aguilera et al, 2013) resulted in the recognition of a diverse vertebrate assemblage.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Cronología y geología de una asociación de mamíferos del Mioceno Temprano en el Norte de América del Sur, cerro La Cruz (Formación Castillo), Estado Lara, Venezuela: implicaciones para las hipótesis del ‘cambio del curso del río Orinoco’.

Rincón

Solórzano

Benammi

et al. 2014

Andgeo

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ABSTRACT.In general the geology of paleontological sites in Venezuela is poorly known. With the purpose of improving this knowledge we describe the geology of the Castillo Formation (Late Oligocene to Early Miocene) at Cerro La Cruz locality, in Lara state, Venezuela, that contains several records of vertebrate and invertebrate fauna. Lithologically, the Cerro La Cruz sequence is composed by alternating packages of siliciclastic and carbonate sediments, with a predominance of mudstone. The paleoenvironment is inferred as a mainly near-shore marine complex that could be associated with regressive and transgressive phases. Nevertheless, into the middle part of the Cerro La Cruz outcrops two levels containing at least six mammalian remains were found, confirming the early continental mammal assemblage in Venezuela. The continental vertebrate assemblage includes Xenarthra, Notoungulata and Litopterna mammals, fresh water fishes, the turtle Chelus, wood and leaves, allows us to interpret the paleoenvironment of the continental episodes of this locality as a mosaic composed of an humid forest and lowland savanna. Four isotopic dates using Strontium ( 87 Sr/ 86 Sr), from the Cerro La Cruz locality were obtained, which bracket of the sediments to between 17.21 to 19.27 Ma, confirming an Early Miocene age for this locality. Biochronologically, the mammalian assemblage so far recovered does not permit to assign this fauna to any of the recognized South American Land Mammal Ages, however the isotopic ages suggest affinities with a Pansantacrucian mammalian sub-cycle. Our interpretation of the geology at Cerro La Cruz shows no evidence for the presence of a major river system crossing over that zone during the Early Miocene and does not support the hypothesis of the possible draining of a 'Proto-Orinoco' river into Maracaibo or Falcón basin during the Early Miocene. Keywords: Early Miocene, Pansantacrucian, Castillo Formation, Venezuela. 508 Chronology and geology of an early MioCene MaMMalian asseMblage in north of south aMeriCa... RESUMEN. Cronología y geología de una asociación de mamíferos del MiocenoTemprano en el Norte de América del Sur, cerro La Cruz (Formación Castillo), estado Lara, Venezuela: implicaciones para las hipótesis del 'cambio del curso del río Orinoco'. En general los estudios geológicos detallados de las localidades paleontológicas de Venezuela son escasos. Con la finalidad de mejorar este conocimiento, se describe la geología de la Formación Castillo (Oligoceno Tardío a Mioceno Temprano) en afloramientos localizados en cerro La Cruz, estado Lara, Venezuela, la cual contiene reportes de una diversa fauna de vertebrados e invertebrados. Litológicamente la secuencia observada en cerro La Cruz está compuesta por una intercalación de paquetes siliciclásticos y carbonáticos, con predominio de lutita. El paleoambiente inferido para esta localidad es principalmente de un complejo marino-costero asociado a fases transgresivas y regresivas. Sin embargo, hacia la parte media de la sección del cerro La Cruz...

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A fossil fish assemblage from the middle Miocene of the Cocinetas Basin, northern Colombia

Ballen

Jaramillo

Dagosta

et al. 2021

Papers in Palaeontology

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Freshwater fossil fish faunas have long been used to infer past drainage connections, given that they are bounded by physical freshwater barriers. Here we study a middle Miocene (15.0–15.5 Ma) freshwater fish fossil fauna (Makaraipao) from the Castilletes Formation in northern Colombia, nowadays west of the Andes. We record the presence of lungfishes (Lepidosiren), pacus (Mylossoma and Piaractus), armoured catfishes (Callichthyidae), and red‐tail catfishes (Phractocephalus). Extant members of all those groups (except the Callichthyidae, due to lack of taxonomic resolution) are found in Amazonian faunas east of the Andes and are absent from faunas west of the Andes, indicating that the riverine systems of the Guajira Peninsula were connected to Amazonia during the middle Miocene. The similarity of La Venta (west of the Andes) and Rio Acre (east of the Andes) fish faunas during the late Miocene further indicates that the northern Andean uplift was not a complete barrier at least until c. 11 Ma. However, there is a continental‐wide structuring of the Miocene fish faunas that is also found in the extant faunas, suggesting that other factors such as ecological conditions, in addition to the uplift of the Andes, have shaped the biogeographic evolution of South American fish faunas.

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Ariid sea catfishes from the coeval Pirabas (Northeastern Brazil), Cantaure, Castillo (Northwestern Venezuela), and Castilletes (North Colombia) formations (early Miocene), with description of three new species

Cited by 44 publications

References 42 publications

Before the flood: Miocene otoliths from eastern Amazon Pirabas Formation reveal a Caribbean-type fish fauna

Before the flood: Miocene otoliths from eastern Amazon Pirabas Formation reveal a Caribbean-type fish fauna

Cronología y geología de una asociación de mamíferos del Mioceno Temprano en el Norte de América del Sur, cerro La Cruz (Formación Castillo), Estado Lara, Venezuela: implicaciones para las hipótesis del ‘cambio del curso del río Orinoco’.

A fossil fish assemblage from the middle Miocene of the Cocinetas Basin, northern Colombia

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