Nomini Cliffs, Zone 14-16: Serravallian, Virginia

List of taxa
Where & when
Geology
Taphonomy & methods
Metadata & references
Taxonomic list
Malacostraca - Decapoda - Panopeidae
Panopeus herbstii Edwards 1834
Rathbun 1935
one finger, Cat. No. 166087
Mammalia - Cetacea - Cetotheriidae
Metopocetus durinasus n. gen., n. sp. Cope 1896
Cope 1896 1 specimen
locality info from Kellogg (1968)
Mammalia - Cetacea
Eschrichtius leptocentrus n. sp. Cope 1867
Cope 1867
nomen dubium belonging to Mysticeti
Megaptera expansa Cope 1868
Cope 1868
nomen dubium belonging to Mysticeti
Mammalia - Cetacea - Eurhinodelphinidae
Eurhinodelphis sp. Van Beneden and Gervais 1880
1 specimen
Rhabdosteus longirostris (Du Bus 1867)
1 specimen
original and current combination Eurhinodelphis longirostris
Mammalia - Cetacea
Westmorelandelphis tacheroni n. gen., n. sp. Godfrey and Lambert 2023
Godfrey and Lambert 2023 1 specimen
holotype USNM PAL 317882
Mammalia - Carnivora - Phocidae
Leptophoca lenis True 1906
Koretsky 2001
synonym of Leptophoca proxima
Reptilia - Testudines - Cheloniidae
Syllomus crispatus Cope 1896
Berry 1941
Actinopteri - Acanthuriformes - Sciaenidae
Pogonias multidentatus n. sp. Cope 1869
Cope 1869
Chondrichthyes - Myliobatiformes - Aetobatidae
Aetobatis arcuatus Agassiz 1843
Leriche 1942
synonym of Aetobatus irregularis
Chondrichthyes - Lamniformes - Cetorhinidae
Cetorhinus sp. de Blainville 1816
Gottfried 1995 2 specimens
Chondrichthyes - Lamniformes - Lamnidae
Oxyrhina retroflexa Agassiz 1838
Leriche 1942
recombined as Isurus retroflexus
Oxyrhina hastalis Agassiz 1838
Leriche 1942
recombined as Carcharodon hastalis
Chondrichthyes - Lamniformes - Alopiidae
Alopecias grandis n. sp. Leriche 1942
Leriche 1942
recombined as Alopias grandis
Chondrichthyes - Carcharhiniformes - Hemigaleidae
Hemipristis serra Agassiz 1835
Leriche 1942
Chondrichthyes - Carcharhiniformes - Carcharhinidae
Prionodon egertoni (Agassiz 1843)
Leriche 1942
Chondrichthyes - Carcharhiniformes - Galeocerdidae
Galeocerdo aduncus (Agassiz 1835)
Leriche 1942
see common names

Geography
Country:United States State/province:Virginia County:Westmoreland
Coordinates: 38.2° North, 76.8° West (view map)
Paleocoordinates:38.4° North, 74.0° West
Basis of coordinate:estimated from map
Time
Period:Neogene Epoch:Miocene
Stage:Serravallian 10 m.y. bin:Cenozoic 5
Key time interval:Serravallian
Age range of interval:13.82000 - 11.63000 m.y. ago
Stratigraphy
Geological group:Chesapeake Formation:Calvert Member:Calvert Beach
Regional section:Shattuck Regional bed:14-16
Regional order:bottom to top
Stratigraphic resolution:group of beds
Stratigraphy comments: Age after Kellogg (1968), but see (Marx & Fordyce below. Marx and Fordyce follow Case (1904) in suggesting that Metopocetus durinasus is from the St Marys Formation, but this seems unsubstantiated. Kellogg (1968) clearly states that this fossil is from Nomini Cliffs, which only exposes Zones 14-16, which are Langhian in age.

USNM 8518 was collected from “a Miocene marl from near the mouth of the Potomac river” [90: 143]. Subsequent authors interpreted this description of the type locality to refer to either the Calvert Formation [93, 163] or the St. Mary‟s Formation [164], implying either a Langhian or a Serravallian age, respectively. To date, no other cetotheriid remains from the Calvert Formation have been described, but at least two cetotheriids (Cephalotropis coronatus and “Cetotherium” megalophysum; see above) occur in the Little Cove Point Member of the St Mary‟s Formation. This, together with the fact that the suggestion of the St Mary‟s formation as a potential source unit was published just eight years after the original description of the species, might support the origin of M. durinasus from the Little Cove Point Member. The latter has been strontium dated to the early Tortonian (11.7–10.0 Ma) [48, 49], which is the age assumed here pending the emergence of better-constrained occurrence data. (Marx & Fordyce, 2015).

Zones 14-16A are regarded as Serravallian in age.
Lithology and environment
Primary lithology:brown,yellow sandy claystone
Environment:foreshore
Geology comments: sparse molluscs, low in diversity; subtropical environment in embayment and dry onshore; area not far from shore, bay, short-term eustatic transgression events, long-term regression trend
Taphonomy
Modes of preservation:body
Size of fossils:macrofossils
Collection methods and comments
Reason for describing collection:general faunal/floral analysis
Metadata
Database number:71798
Authorizer:M. Uhen, C. Schweitzer Enterer:M. Uhen, S. Yost, K. Feoli
Modifier:G. Varnham Research group:vertebrate
Created:2007-05-10 12:16:58 Last modified:2022-03-03 05:34:23
Access level:the public Released:2007-05-10 12:16:58
Creative Commons license:CC BY
Reference information

Primary reference:
24251. M. D. Uhen. 2007. USNM Chesapeake Group Cetacean Collection Data. [M. Uhen/M. Uhen]

Secondary references:

34996 C. T. Berry. 1941. The Dentary of Syllomus crispatus Cope. The American Museum of Natural History (1132) [M. Uhen/K. Feoli/J. Alroy]
14163 E. D. Cope. 1867. [Descriptions of Eschrichtius cephalus, Rhabdosteus latiradix, Squalodon atlanticus, and S. mento.]. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Science of Philadelphia 1867:131-132 [M. Uhen/M. Uhen/M. Uhen]
12174 E. D. Cope. 1868. Second contribution to the history of the Vertebrata of the Miocene period of the United States. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia 1868:184-194 [M. Uhen/M. Uhen/M. Uhen]
36147 E. D. Cope. 1869. Description of some extinct fishes previously unknown. Proceedings of the Boston Society of Natural History 12:310-317 [M. Uhen/M. Uhen]
12327 E. D. Cope. 1896. Sixth contribution to the knowledge of the marine Miocene fauna of North America. Proceedings of the American Philosophical Soceity 35(150):139-146 [M. Uhen/M. Uhen/M. Carrano]
85660 S. J. Godfrey and O. Lambert. 2023. Miocene Toothed Whales (Odontoceti) from Calvert Cliffs, Atlantic Coastal Plain, USA. Smithsonian Contributions to Paleobiology 107:29-186 [M. Uhen/M. Uhen]
30103 M. D. Gottfried. 1995. Miocene basking sharks (Lamniformes: Cetorhinidae) from the Chesapeake Group of Maryland and Virginia. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 15(2):443-447 [M. Uhen/M. Uhen]
12835 R. Harlan. 1842. Description of a new extinct species of dolphin from Maryland. Bulletin of the Proceedings of the National Institution for the Promotion of Science 2:195-196 [M. Uhen/M. Uhen/M. Uhen]
11927 R. Kellogg. 1968. Miocene Calvert mysticetes described by Cope. Bulletin of the United States National Museum 247(5):103-132 [M. Uhen/M. Uhen/M. Uhen]
17253 I. Koretsky. 2001. Morphology and systematics of Miocene Phocinae (Mammalia: Carnivora) from Paratethys and the North Atlantic region. Geologica Hungarica Series Palaeontologica 54:1-109 [M. Uhen/M. Uhen]
28099 M. Leriche. 1942. Contribution a l'etude des faunes ichthyologiques marines des terrains tertiaires de la plaine cotiere Atlantique et du centre des Etats-Unis. Memoires de la Societe Geologique de France (Nouvelle Serie) 45:1-111 [M. Uhen/M. Uhen]
45555decapod,fossil record M. J. Rathbun. 1935. Fossil Crustacea of the Atlantic and Gulf Coastal Plain. Geological Society of America Special Paper (2)1-160 [C. Schweitzer/S. Yost]
32709 L. W. Ward and G. W. Andrews. 2008. Stratigraphy of the Calvert, Choptank, and St. Marys Formations (Miocene) in the Chesapeake Bay Area, Maryland and Virginia. Virginia Museum of Natural History Memoir 1-169 [M. Uhen/M. Uhen]