Paleontological inventory of Paleozoic, Late Mesozoic, and Cenozoic plant, invertebrate, and vertebrate fossil species from Big Bend National Park, Texas, USA - over a century of paleontological discovery

Abstract

The extraordinary paleontological record from Big Bend National Park (BIBE), Texas chronicles nearly 120 million years of largely uninterrupted deposition through Late Cretaceous, Paleogene and Neogene time. Therefore, the park records one of the most complete and continuous fossil records of its kind in North America, if not the world. Paleontologists have collected and studied fossils from BIBE for over a century and nearly 1400 fossil species have been reported thus far. The BIBE paleontological record includes type specimens representing 44 scientifically valid species (five plants, nine invertebrates, and 30 vertebrates). Numerous other reported specimens are very likely new to science but have yet to be formally named. The present catalog presents the currently known assemblage of fossil plant, invertebrate, and vertebrate species from BIBE within a single, comprehensive record with significant references for each. This work is designed and written to be a research and resource management tool for scientists and non-scientists alike.

Supplemental Material: Stratigraphy and depositional history of the Aguja Formation (Upper Cretaceous, Campanian) of West Texas, southwestern USA

“…Vertebrate fossils occur most abundantly within this interval; consequently, much of the paleontological literature has focused on this zone. Most faunal lists presented previously for the Aguja Formation are exclusively for zone II (Langston et al, 1989;Rowe et al, 1992;Anglen and Lehman, 2000;Lehman and Busbey, 2007;Wick and Corrick, 2015). Lehman and Busbey (2007) referred to this interval as the "Deinosuchus zone" in recognition of one of its most distinctive taxa; however, a few specimens from both the Abajo Shale (zone I) and upper Alto Shale (zone III) indicate that the stratigraphic range of Deinosuchus may extend below and above this zone (Lehman et al, 2018).…”

Supplemental Material: Stratigraphy and depositional history of the Aguja Formation (Upper Cretaceous, Campanian) of West Texas, southwestern USA

“…These beds exhibit a spectrum of primary and biogenic structures, from parallel-laminated and current ripple cross-laminated shelf turbidites to hummocky cross-stratified and oscillation-rippled tempestites (e.g., Dott and Bourgeois, 1982;Li et al, 2015) and storm-generated shell beds that preserve a diverse nearshore shallow marine fauna (e.g., Kidwell et al, 1986;Kauffman, 1969, faunal assemblages 27-30). Much of the marine invertebrate fauna known from intertonguing parts of the Pen and Aguja Formations has been obtained from these thin sandstone beds (Eley, 1938;Lehman, 1985a;Wick, 2021c).…”