Laguna Umayo LU-3 level (Paleocene to of Peru)

Also known as LURMU

Where: Puno, Peru (15.7° S, 70.2° W: paleocoordinates 18.3° S, 59.0° W)

• coordinate based on nearby landmark

• outcrop-level geographic resolution

When: Muñani Formation (Puno Group), Thanetian to Thanetian (59.2 - 47.8 Ma)

• Lower Muñani Formation. Likely correlative to Chron 26r (early Late Paleocene) or Chron 24r (latest Paleocene–earliest Eocene), or, less likely, to Chron 29r (latest Cretaceous–earliest Paleocene). Correlation to Chron 24r is favored (Sige et al. 2004).

•Chron 24r (Thanetian– Ypresian) (Sigé et al. 2004).

•Originally attributed to Vilquechico Formation (Maastrichtian-Danian) on paleobotanical evidence (charophytes).

• group of beds-level stratigraphic resolution

Environment/lithology: lacustrine; argillaceous, calcareous conglomerate and lithified sandstone

• "The fossils are found in thin banks of heterogeneous sediment, a sort of microconglomerate formed from fine, irregular, more or less rounded calcareous nodules, and clayey and partially calcitic cement. Within these beds, some last thin clay layers preserve dessication marks. This matrix is often superficially altered and friable, more compact in-depth. The series includes several beds of this nature, which alternate with thicker deposits of red clays, grayish-red marls, and banks of compact sandstone. Throughout this ensemble, and particularly in the fossiliferous levels, cross-bedded stratifications abound. At the base, the series rests by soft layers (clays?) on an ensemble where compact sandstones dominate in thick banks. At the summit, they terminate by a strong thickness of soft beds, and pass to an essentially detritic ensemble, beginning with very ferruginous sandstones." (Translation by M. Carrano)

Size classes: macrofossils, mesofossils

Collected in 1967 onwards

Collection methods: chemical, mechanical,

Primary reference: B. Sigé. 1968. Dents de micromammifères et fragments de coquilles d'oeufs de dinosauriens dans la faune de vertébrés du Crétacé supérieur de Laguna Umayo (Andes péruviennes). Comptes Rendus Hebdomadaires des Seances de l'Academie des Sciences, Paris, série D 267(19):1495-1498 [M. Carrano/M. Carrano/J. Alroy]more details

Purpose of describing collection: general faunal/floral analysis

PaleoDB collection 28230: authorized by Matthew Carrano, entered by Matthew Carrano on 31.01.2003, edited by Philip Mannion

Creative Commons license: CC BY (attribution)

Taxonomic list

• Anuran fossils described as "more probably leptodactylid than bufonid or ranid." The lepidosirenid dipnoans are from "two closely related types." The bird fossils are "primtiive", "comparable to unpublished North American forms from the Lance Formation." The mammal is certainly marsupial and "probably didelphid".
unclassified
  -
 Charales - Porocharaceae
 Charales - Characea
Osteichthyes
 Dipnoi - Ceratodontidae
Ceratodus sp.5 Agassiz 1838 lungfish
 Ceratodontiformes - Lepidosirenidae
Lepidosiren cf. paradoxa5 Fitzinger 1837 South American lungfish
Amphibia
 Salientia - Leptodactylidae
? Leptodactylidae indet. Stirton 1953 frog
Mammalia
 Panameriungulata - Didolodontidae
? Didolodontidae indet.5 Simpson 1934 placental
Umayodus raimondi n. gen. n. sp.3 Gelfo and Sigé 2011 placental
LU3−801 - holotype (right m3)
 Notoungulata - Perutheriidae
Perutherium altiplanense2 Grambast et al. 1967 notoungulate
 Marsupialia -
"Didelphimorphia indet." = Didelphimorphia5
"Didelphimorphia indet." = Didelphimorphia5 Gill 1872 marsupial
 Didelphimorphia -
"Peradectia indet." = Didelphimorphia5
"Peradectia indet." = Didelphimorphia5 Gill 1872 marsupial
?Pediomyidae or ?Microbiotheriidae
 Didelphimorphia - Didelphidae
 Theriamorpha - Peradectidae
"Alphadon austrinum" = Peradectes austrinum2
"Alphadon austrinum" = Peradectes austrinum2 Sige 1971 marsupial
 Theriamorpha - Pediomyidae
Pediomyidae indet.2 Simpson 1927 metatherian
Reptilia
 Testudines - Podocnemidoidae
? Roxochelys vilavilensis1 de Broin 1971 sideneck turtle
 Squamata -
cf. Coniophis sp.5 Marsh 1892 snake
 Loricata -
Crocodylia indet. crocodilian
  - Fusioolithidae
"Megaloolithus pseudomamillare" = Fusioolithus baghensis4
"Megaloolithus pseudomamillare" = Fusioolithus baghensis4 Khosla and Sahni 1995 dinosaur
The unreproduced find of this rare shell type at LU-3 actually makes its origin dubious (see text, p. 12) Birds or dinosaurians: ornithoid, ratite or dinosauroid angustispherulitic type (Sige et al. 2004)
Aves
  -
Aves indet. Linnaeus 1758 bird
Actinopteri
 Perciformes - Latidae
Latidae indet.5 perch-like fish
Latidae nov. gen.
 Characiformes - Characidae
Tetragonopterinae indet.5 Lundberg 1997
 Teleostei -
Siluriformes indet.5 catfish
“Doradoida” indet. nov. gen.