Lirio Norte (Las Cascadas Fm) ( of Panama)

Where: Panama, Panama (9.1° N, 79.7° W: paleocoordinates 7.6° N, 77.3° W)

• coordinate based on unpublished field data

• outcrop-level geographic resolution

When: Las Cascadas Formation, Arikareean (30.8 - 20.4 Ma)

• The Las Cascadas Formation is overlain by the Culebra Formation and separated from it by a slightly angular unconformity (Montes et al., 2012). The overlaying volcaniclastic sequence is composed of the marine transgressive system of the Culebra Formation and the prograding sequence of the Cucaracha Formation (Kirby et al., 2008). Despite the abundance of volcanic material, efforts to date these rocks have been unsuccessful and the geochronology available for the section is restricted to Strontium (Sr87/Sr86) chemostratigraphy (Kirby et al., 2008) on calcareous biogenic shells and corals. Therefore, the upper Las Cascadas fossiliferous sequence represents an interval older than the lower part of the Culebra Formation, for which several dates have been published between 20.62 ± 0.58 and 23.07 ± 0.53 Ma (Kirby et al., 2008) and 19.3 ± 0.4 Ma (Montes et al., 2012). The lower boundary of the Las Cascadas Formation could be constrained by andesitic water-saturated arc lavas of the underlying Bas Obispo Formation dated using Ar40/Ar39 age as 25.37 ± 0.13 Ma (Rooney et al., 2010; Farris et al., 2011). Therefore, the duration of the Las Cascadas Formation might span the late Oligocene to early Miocene (<25 Ma to >19.3 ± 0.4 Ma), likely representing the middle-to-late Arikareean NALMA sensu MacFadden and Hunt (1998) and Albright et al. (2008).

Environment/lithology: terrestrial; lithified, conglomeratic tuff

• The Las Cascadas Formation is composed of andesitic flows and agglomeratic tuffs with cobbles of andesite and basalt set in a fine-grained tuffaceous matrix (Montes et al., 2012), which constitutes the main lithology associated with the vertebrate fossils. The structural complexity of the area, as well as the limited and ephemeral outcrops along the canal, restrict the exposures of the Las Cascadas fossiliferous interval to the northern part of the Gaillard Cut, where volcaniclastic sequences are more common and paleosols are well developed. The lower part of the Las Cascadas Formation is characterized by massive accumulations of volcanic rocks (mainly agglomerated breccias) and fluvial sediments. Conversely, the upper part of the Las Cascadas Formation is characterized by massive accumulations of volcanic blocks ranging from welded tuffaceus agglomerates to pyroclastic fall deposits and discrete intervals of fluvial sediments (Woodring, 1982; Kirby et al., 2008).

Size class: macrofossils

Preservation: original phosphate

Collected by Rincón, A. F.; reposited in the FLMNH

Primary reference: A. F. Rincon, J. I. Bloch, C. Suarez, B. J. MacFadden, and C. A. Jaramillo. 2012. New floridatragulines (Mammalia, Camelidae) from the early Miocene Las Cascadas Formation, Panama. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 32(2):456-475 [C. Jaramillo/A. Cardenas ]more details

Purpose of describing collection: taxonomic analysis

PaleoDB collection 152378: authorized by Carlos Jaramillo, entered by Andrés Cárdenas on 19.11.2013, edited by Juan Carrillo

Creative Commons license: CC BY (attribution)

Taxonomic list

Mammalia
 Perissodactyla - Chalicotheriidae
Schizotheriinae indet.4 Holland and Peterson 1913 chalicothere
UF 280165
 Artiodactyla - Camelidae
Aguascalientia panamaensis Rincon et al. 2012 camel
Aguascalientia minuta Rincon et al. 2012 camel
 Artiodactyla - Anthracotheriidae
Arretotherium meridionale3 Rincon et al. 2013 anthracothere
 Artiodactyla - Protoceratidae
Paratoceras aff. tedfordi2 Webb et al. 2003 protoceratid
 Primates - Cebidae
Panamacebus transitus n. gen. n. sp.1
Panamacebus transitus n. gen. n. sp.1 Bloch et al. 2016 monkey