Scarritt Quarry (Paleocene of the United States)

Also known as Simpson's Locality 56

Where: Sweetgrass County, Montana (45.8° N, 109.8° W: paleocoordinates 51.8° N, 89.1° W)

• coordinate based on political unit

• small collection-level geographic resolution

When: Melville Formation, Tiffanian (61.7 - 56.8 Ma)

• in a stratigraphically isolated reversed polarity zone interpreted as chron C26r: Butler et al. 1987

•Scarritt Quarry, (early Tiffanian, Ti2) Melville Formation, eastern Crazy Mountains Basin, Montana, USA

Environment/lithology: terrestrial; lithology not reported

Size classes: macrofossils, mesofossils

Collected by D.R. Krause in 1985

Collection methods: quarrying, surface (in situ),

Primary reference: D. W. Krause and M. C. Maas. 1990. The biogeographic origins of late Paleocene - early Eocene mammalian immigrants to the Western Interior of North America. Geological Society of America Special Paper 243:71-105 [J. Alroy/J. Alroy/M. Uhen]more details

Purpose of describing collection: general faunal/floral analysis

PaleoDB collection 15064: authorized by John Alroy, entered by John Alroy on 18.02.1993, edited by Roger Benson

Creative Commons license: CC BY (attribution)

Taxonomic list

• see Simpson 1937a for level in CMB section
exact NISP counts are given and sum to 772; however, Hartman and Krause 1993 state that there are "over 1000 identifiable specimens"
many of the types are described in Simpson 1936c
Mammalia
 Multituberculata - Neoplagiaulacidae
Ectypodus cf. powelli Jepsen 1940 multituberculate
Neoplagiaulax sp. Lemoine 1882 multituberculate
said to be new
Neoplagiaulax hunteri n. sp. Simpson 1936 multituberculate
Mesodma pygmaea Sloan 1987 multituberculate
 Multituberculata - Ptilodontidae
Ptilodus sp. Cope 1881 multituberculate
two species, both said to be new; one of them is P. sp. "C" according to Gunnell 1994
 Primates - Paromomyidae
Ignacius frugivorus Matthew and Granger 1921 primate
 Primates - Plesiadapidae
Nannodectes sp. Gingerich 1975 primate
Plesiadapis anceps n. sp. Simpson 1936 primate
 Primates - Carpolestidae
Carpodaptes hazelae n. sp. Simpson 1936 primate
 Dermoptera -
Elpidophorus elegans1 Simpson 1927 colugo
 Theriamorpha - Nyctitheriidae
Leptacodon cf. tener Matthew and Granger 1921 placental
 Procreodi - Arctocyonidae
"Arctocyon montanensis" = Arctocyon corrugatus1 Cope 1883 condylarth
Thryptacodon cf. australis Simpson 1935 condylarth
Chriacus cf. pelvidens Cope 1881 condylarth
 Theriamorpha - Viverravidae
Protictis sp. Matthew placental
 Acreodi - Mesonychidae
Dissacus sp. Cope 1881 condylarth
 Macroscelidea -
Litocherus notissimus n. sp. Simpson 1936 elephant shrew
 Proteutheria - Palaeoryctidae
Pararyctes pattersoni Van Valen 1966 eutherian
 Cimolesta - Apatemyidae
Unuchinia asaphes n. sp. Simpson 1936 eutherian
 Cimolesta - Cimolestidae
Paleotomus senior n. sp. Simpson 1937 eutherian
Paleotomus senior2 Simpson 1937 eutherian
AMNH 33991 - type (Right M1); referred specimen: AMNH 33828 (Right M2); considered a junior synonym of Paleotomus senior by Krause and Gingerich 1983
 Cimolesta - Pantolestidae
Bessoecetor septentrionalis2 Russell 1929 eutherian
includes type of "Bessoecetor thomsoni"
 Cimolesta - Titanoideidae
Titanoides sp. Gidley 1917 pantodont
Reptilia
 Testudines - Trionychidae
Axestemys montinsana n. sp.3 Vitek 2012 softshell turtle
Holotype UMMP 27029, a skull, partial lower jaw, partial carapace, fragmentary entoplastron, hyoplastron, and hypoplastron, xiphiplastron, five cervical vertebrae, a partial pelvic girdle, two humeri, a femur, and various disarticulated appendicular elements