Muddy Creek Plesiosaur (Middle Horizon): Late/Upper Cenomanian, Utah
collected 1996

List of taxa
Where & when
Geology
Taphonomy & methods
Metadata & references
Taxonomic list
Cephalopoda - Ammonitida - Acanthoceratidae
Metoicoceras geslinianum (d'Orbigny 1841)
Gastropoda - Turritellidae
Turritella whitei
Bivalvia - Ostreida - Gryphaeidae
Pycnodonte newberryi
Reptilia - Plesiosauria - Polycotylidae
? Pliosauroidea indet. Welles 1943
    = Trinacromerum ? bentonianum Cragin 1888
Albright et al. 2007
UMNH Accession Number 96.10: partial skeleton from the tail and trunk region, consisting of two sections of vertebrae in articulation, one with approximately 18 vertebrae, the other with approximately 30 vertebrae; isolated vertebrae, two teeth, a paddle bone, and additional unidentified elements
see common names

Geography
Country:United States State/province:Utah County:Kane
Coordinates: 37.3° North, 112.7° West (view map)
Paleocoordinates:39.0° North, 75.4° West
Basis of coordinate:estimated from map
Geographic resolution:small collection
Time
Period:Cretaceous Epoch:Late/Upper Cretaceous
Stage:Cenomanian 10 m.y. bin:Cretaceous 5
*Period:Late/Upper Cretaceous *Epoch:Gallic
*International age/stage:Middle - Late/Upper Cenomanian
Key time interval:Late/Upper Cenomanian Ammonoid zone: Sciponoceras gracile
Age range of interval:99.60000 - 93.50000 m.y. ago
* legacy (obsolete) database fields
Stratigraphy
Formation:Tropic Shale
Stratigraphic resolution:bed
Stratigraphy comments: upper part of the Sciponoceras gracile Ammonoid Biozone, late Cenomanian
Lithology and environment
Primary lithology:concretionary lime mudstone
Includes fossils?Y
Lithology description: mudstone with limestone nodules
Environment:marine indet.
Geology comments: partial skeleton of a plesiosaur and associated invertebrates
Taphonomy
Modes of preservation:body,concretion
Size of fossils:macrofossils
Collection methods and comments
Collection methods:surface (in situ),field collection
Reason for describing collection:biostratigraphic analysis
Collection dates:1996
Collection method comments: UMNH, University of Utah Museum of Natural History, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA
Metadata
Also known as:UGS Loc. 42Ka008VI
Database number:5609
Authorizer:J. Alroy, R. Benson Enterer:J. Alroy, R. Benson
Modifier:M. Carrano Research group:marine invertebrate
Created:1999-10-31 14:30:49 Last modified:2023-07-26 08:19:48
Access level:the public Released:1999-10-31 14:30:49
Creative Commons license:CC BY
Reference information

Primary reference:

339. D. D. Gillette, M. C. Hayden, and A. L. Titus. 1999. Occurrence and biostratigraphic framework of a plesiosaur from the Upper Cretaceous Tropic Shale of southwestern Utah. Utah Geological Survey Miscellaneous Publication 99(1):269-273 [J. Alroy/J. Alroy/M. Uhen]

Secondary references:

33381 L. B. Albright, D. D. Gillette, and A. L. Titus. 2007. Plesiosaurs from the Upper Cretaceous (Cenomanian-Turonian) Tropic Shale of southern Utah, part 2: Polycotylidae. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 27(1):41-58 [M. Carrano/H. Street]
85420 L. B. Albright, D. D. Gillette, and A. L. Titus. 2013. Fossil vertebrates from the Tropic Shale (Upper Cretaceous), southern Utah. In A. L. Titus & M. A. Loewen (ed.), At the Top of the Grand Staircase: The Late Cretaceous of Southern Utah 536-562 [M. Carrano/M. Carrano]