Main Callison Quarry, FPA (Jurassic of the United States)

Also known as LACM Loc. #5572; Fruita, Quarry 4, CO-33

Where: Mesa County, Colorado (39.1° N, 108.8° W: paleocoordinates 35.5° N, 55.9° W)

• coordinate estimated from map

• outcrop-level geographic resolution

When: Brushy Basin Member (Morrison Formation), Tithonian (152.1 - 145.0 Ma)

• "Drab flood-plain facies" at the base of the Brushy Basin Member of the Morrison Formation immediately above the "clay change" horizon (see Kirkland 2006, New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science Bulletin, 36:67-95, fig. 6, pg. 93). Turner & Peterson (1999, Vertebrate Paleontology in Utah, Utah Geol. Survey Misc. Publ. 99-1, 77-114) placed the Fruitadens localities (listed as CO-33 in their stratigraphic sections) within the Kimmeridgian, and within their "Dinosaur Zone 2" and "charophyte-ostracod Zone 4". Stratigraphic horizons closely equivalent to the Fruitadens quarries yield 40Ar/39Ar isotopic dates of 150.3 +/- 0.3 Ma and 150.2 +/- 0.5 Ma (see Turner & Peterson 1999). This would place the Fruita quarries within the early Tithonian on recent timescales.

•"middle of the formation near the base of the Brushy Basin Member"

• bed-level stratigraphic resolution

Environment/lithology: crevasse splay; gray mudstone and sandstone

• Drab flood-plain facies is characterised by interbedded crevasse splay sandstones and mudstones with minor sandstone and siltstone interals (see Kirkland 2006, New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science Bulletin, 36:67-95)

Size classes: macrofossils, mesofossils

Collected by G. L. Callison & party in July/August 1979; reposited in the LACM

Collection methods: surface (float), mechanical,

Primary reference: G. Callison and H. M. Quimby. 1984. Tiny dinosaurs: are they fully grown?. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 3(4):200-209 [M. Carrano/M. Carrano]more details

Purpose of describing collection: general faunal/floral analysis

PaleoDB collection 53040: authorized by Matthew Carrano, entered by Kaitlin Maguire on 01.09.2005, edited by Matthew Carrano

Creative Commons license: CC BY (attribution)

Taxonomic list

Malacostraca
 Decapoda - Cambaridae
cf. Cambaridae indet.6 Hobbs 1942 decapod
Mammalia
 Mammalia -
 Multituberculata -
Glirodon grandis6 Engelmann and Callison 1999 multituberculate
 Symmetrodonta -
Symmetrodonta indet.2 symmetrodont
 Theriamorpha - Herpetotheriidae
Paurodontidae indet.6 Marsh 1887 marsupial
Dryolestidae indet.2 Marsh 1879 marsupial
 Marsupialia - Herpetotheriidae
Priacodon fruitaensis n. sp.6 Rasmussen and Callison 1981 marsupial
LACM 120451
Reptilia
 Testudines -
"Chelonia indet." = Testudines5
"Chelonia indet." = Testudines5 Batsch 1788 turtle
eggshell
 Squamata -
"Parviraptor gilmorei" = Diablophis gilmorei6
"Parviraptor gilmorei" = Diablophis gilmorei6 Evans 1996 snake
 Squamata - Paramacellodidae
Saurillodon sp.6 Estes 1983 squamates
Paramacellodus sp.6 Hoffstetter 1967 squamates
 Squamata -
Anguimorpha indet.2 Fürbringer 1900 squamates
 Squamata - Dorsetisauridae
Dorsetisaurus sp.2 Hoffstetter 1967 squamates
 Loricata - Goniopholididae
Goniopholis sp.2 Owen 1842 crocodilian
 Loricata -
Macelognathus vagans3 Marsh 1884 crocodilian
LACM 5572/150148 (cranial and postcranial elements), 5572/150211 (metatarsal III and both calcanea)
 Ornithischia - Heterodontosauridae
Fruitadens haagarorum1 Butler et al. 2010 heterodontosaurid
"n. gen."; LACM 120478
 Ornithischia -
Ornithopoda indet.2 Marsh 1881 ornithopod
  - Prismatoolithidae
"Prismatoolithus coloradensis" = Preprismatoolithus coloradensis4
"Prismatoolithus coloradensis" = Preprismatoolithus coloradensis4 Hirsch 1994 dinosaur
 Theropoda -
Theropoda indet.2 Marsh 1881 theropod
Coelurosauria indet.2 Huene 1914 coelurosaur
 Saurischia - Camarasauridae
Camarasaurus sp.2 Cope 1877 camarasaurid
 Saurischia - Diplodocidae
 Pterosauria -
Pterosauria indet.6 Kaup 1834 pterosaur
 Eosuchia -
Sphenodontia indet.2 Jaekel 1910 lepidosaur
cf. Opisthias sp.6 Gilmore 1909 lepidosaur
Opisthias sp.2 Gilmore 1909 lepidosaur
 Eosuchia - Sphenodontidae
Eilenodon sp.2 Rasmussen and Callison 1981 lepidosaur
Actinopteri
 Amiiformes -
Amioidea indet.6 Bonaparte 1838 bowfin