Al-Sarrar, Locality 9, Dam Formation (Miocene of Saudi Arabia)

Where: Saudi Arabia (26.0° N, 49.4° E: paleocoordinates 22.9° N, 46.8° E)

• coordinate based on nearby landmark

When: Dam Formation, Burdigalian (20.4 - 16.0 Ma)

• Late Early Miocene. There are 3 Formations in the succession - the Hadruck, Dam and Hofuf (Hofuf overlies the others). Type section of the Dam Formation is Jabal al Lidam. The depth of the formation at Al-Sarrar varies, but is around 30m. Near the Arabian Gulf the Formation is entirely marine, with more continental facies inland. The Al-Sarrar area is an area of 'continental sediments interbedded with the marine series'.

•Fauna has been collected from a number of localities which have been entered individually.

Environment/lithology: fluvial; sandstone

• 'The lithologies, sedimentary structures (presence of palaeocurrents in loc. 6 and 8), the character of the fauna exclusively continental and the deposition laid down into low energy zone (specially in loc. 6 and 8 explaining the scarcity of small vertebrates and the association of postcranial bones) suggest a fluviatile environment.'
• Cross-bedded sands, coarse grained sands and silts. Level 1, locality 9 is a 'cross-bedded complex (white and yellow sands, thin beds of green shales), including: yellow coarse sand with continental fossil vertebrates (mammals, reptiles and freshwater fishes).' Higher in the sequence is level 6, a fossilferous sandy limestone containing marine invertebrates (entered separately).

Size classes: macrofossils, mesofossils

Collection methods: bulk,

• Al-Sarrar localities 4-9 and 11-24 can all be dated within a short period of time. Localities 5,6,7,8, and 9 are considered contemporaneous.

•1 ton of unconsolidated sand and silt from localities 6,8,9 and 21, has been sifted and has produced rodent teeth.

•All fossil material housed in the Department of Antiquities and Museums at Riyadh.

Primary reference: H. Thomas, S. Sen, M. Khan, B. Battail, and G. Ligabue. 1982. The Lower Miocene Fauna of Al-Sarrar (Eastern Province, Saudi Arabia). Atlal 5(3a):109-136 [A. Turner/H. O'Regan/H. O'Regan]more details

Purpose of describing collection: general faunal/floral analysis

PaleoDB collection 47074: authorized by Alan Turner, entered by Hannah O'Regan on 07.02.2005, edited by Philip Mannion

Creative Commons license: CC BY (attribution)

Taxonomic list

• Four orders and 7 genera of fish are recognised 'mainly from localities 7, 9 and 21' but they are not all listed by locality. Those that are listed by locality have been entered on the faunal lists. The others are: Hyperopisus sp., Barbus sp., Labeo sp., Heterobranchus sp., Clarias sp. and Lates sp.

•Also finds of Viperidae may possibly be from this locality.

•Sirenia ribs found in surface deposits, but cannot be correlated with uppermost beds of localities 6, 8 and 9.

unclassified
  -
Gastropoda
 Cerithioidea - Turritellidae
Turritella sp. Lamarck 1799 turret shell
Aves
  -
Aves indet. Linnaeus 1758 bird
1 proximal tarsometatarsal (AS 1203) and a distal radius (868). The poor state of the specimens seems to exclude the possibility of a more precise identification.
Reptilia
 Loricata -
Crocodylia indet. crocodilian
 Sauria -
Sauria indet. diapsid
Lizards indet.
 Testudines - Testudinidae
Geochelone sp. Fitzinger 1835 turtle
Geochelone sensu lato sp. one or two species.
 Testudines - Carettochelyidae
Carettochelyidae indet. turtle
a new form related to Allaeochelys and Carettochelys.
 Testudines - Trionychidae
aff. Cycloderma sp. Peters 1854 softshell turtle
 Testudines - Pelomedusidae
Pelomedusidae indet. Cope 1868 sideneck turtle
 Testudines - Podocnemididae
aff. Stereogenys sp. Andrews 1901 sideneck turtle
 Squamata - Colubridae
Colubridae indet. Oppel 1811 colubrid snake
 Squamata - Boidae
Boidae indet. Gray 1825 boa
Eryx - Gongylophis group.
Python sp. Daudin 1803 boa
medium sized.
Mammalia
 Carnivora - Mustelidae
cf. Martes sp. Frisch 1775 marten
Part of a left mandble with worn M1 (AS 871).
 Perissodactyla - Rhinocerotidae
Aceratherium sp. Kaup 1834 rhinoceros
1 first phalanx of lateral digit (AS 912).
 Artiodactyla - Suidae
Listriodon sp. von Meyer 1846 pig
A fragmentary right upper molar (AS 872).
 Artiodactyla - Tragulidae
Dorcatherium cf. libiensis Hamilton 1973 chevrotain
1 upper 1 (AS 978), 1 upper M2 (AS 895), 1 molar (AS 908), 1 cubo-navicular-cuneiform (AS 904), 1 distal tibia (AS 970), 1 distal metapodial fragment (AS 902), 1 calcaneum (AS 894), 1 proximal ulna (AS 907).
 Artiodactyla - Giraffidae
cf. Canthumeryx sirtensis Hamilton 1973 giraffe
1 lower right I2.
 Artiodactyla - Bovidae
Bovidae indet. Gray 1821 antelope
An upper M3 (AS 899). Similar in size to the living Dorcas Gazelle.
 Rodentia - Dipodidae
Dipodidae indet. Waterhouse 1842 rodent
1 lower half-molar. larger than those from locality 21.
 Placentalia -
? Primates indet. Linnaeus 1758 primate
1 distal tibia (AS 896), only doubtfully referred to a primate.
Amphibia
 Salientia -
Anura indet. frog
Ranoids and Bufonoids indet.
Actinopteri
 Acanthomorphata - Centropomidae
Lates sp. Cuvier 1828 lates
 Siluriformes - Clariidae
Heterobranchus sp. Hilaire 1827 airbreathing catfish
Clarias sp. Scopoli 1777 catfish