Sharktooth Hill (Mitchell Collection) (Miocene of the United States)

Also known as UCMP V-2401

Where: Kern County, California (35.5° N, 118.9° W: paleocoordinates 35.3° N, 113.7° W)

• coordinate based on political unit

• outcrop-level geographic resolution

When: Temblor Formation, Langhian (16.0 - 13.8 Ma)

• "Upper Middle Miocene"

Environment/lithology: estuary or bay; poorly lithified, gray sandstone

• "relatively calm water... a minor tidal basin... a shallow embayment"
• "fine gray sand of fairly uniform texture that crumbles easily in the fingers"

Size class: macrofossils

Collected by Edward Mitchell; reposited in the UCMP

Collection methods: bulk, sieve,

• specimens colllected by Mitchell "during a search for mammalian remains" well after the collection of California Academy of Sciences material described by Wetmore 1930

•specimens obtained by passing sediment "through coarse sieves"

Primary reference: L. Miller. 1961. Birds from the Miocene of Sharktooth Hill, California. The Condor 63(5):399-402 [J. Alroy/J. Alroy]more details

Purpose of describing collection: taxonomic analysis

PaleoDB collection 74629: authorized by John Alroy, entered by John Alroy on 18.08.2007

Creative Commons license: CC BY (attribution)

Taxonomic list

• numerous undescribed shark teeth were present in the sieved concentrate
Show authors, comments, and common names
Aves
 Charadriiformes - Recurvirostridae
Recurvirostra sp.
Recurvirostra sp. Linnaeus 1758 avocet
 Procellariiformes - Procellariidae
Puffinus mitchelli n. sp., Puffinus priscus n. sp.
Puffinus mitchelli n. sp. Miller 1961 shearwater
Puffinus priscus n. sp. Miller 1961 shearwater
 Procellariiformes - Diomedeidae
"Diomedea californica n. sp." = Phoebastria anglica
"Diomedea californica n. sp." = Phoebastria anglica Lydekker 1891 albatross
 Suliformes - Sulidae
Morus sp., Morus vagabundus
Morus sp. Vieillot 1816 gannet
Morus vagabundus Wetmore 1930 gannet
 Anseriformes - Anatidae
Branta sp.
Branta sp. Scopoli 1769 goose