Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gxg78 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-18T20:15:01.711Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Palaeoecology of the marine reptiles of the Redwater Shale Member of the Sundance Formation (Jurassic) of central Wyoming, USA

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 July 2013

JUDY A. MASSARE ,
WILLIAM R. WAHL ,
MIKE ROSS  and
MELISSA V. CONNELY
JUDY A. MASSARE*
Affiliation:
Earth Sciences Department, SUNY College at Brockport, Brockport, NY 14420, USA
WILLIAM R. WAHL
Affiliation:
Wyoming Dinosaur Center, Thermopolis, WY 82443, USA
MIKE ROSS
Affiliation:
2614 Navarre Street, Casper, WY 82601, USA
MELISSA V. CONNELY
Affiliation:
Earth Science Department, Casper College, Casper, WY 82601, USA
*
†Author for correspondence: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The Redwater Shale Member (Oxfordian) of the Sundance Formation was deposited in the foreland basin of the Cordillera during the last and largest marine transgression of the Jurassic in North America. One ichthyosaur (Ophthalmosaurus natans), two cryptocleidoid plesiosaurs (Tatenectes laramiensis, Pantosaurus striatus) and one pliosauromorph (Megalneusaurus rex) are known from the Redwater Shale Member. Ichthyosaurs are much more abundant than plesiosaurs, making up almost 60% of the fauna. No actinopterygian fish have been found, although four species have been identified from the lower Sundance Formation. At least one hybodont shark and one neoselachian are known from rare isolated teeth. The main food source for the marine reptiles was belemnoids, as indicated by preserved gut contents for all four species. In comparison, the better known and slightly older Peterborough Member of the Oxford Clay Formation of England, has a much higher taxonomic and ecological diversity, especially in the plesiosaurs, marine crocodiles, and fish. The lower diversity in the Redwater Shale Member probably reflects a much lower primary productivity in the Sundance Sea, as well as restricted migration from the open ocean to the north.

Keywords

ichthyosaurplesiosaurPantosaurusOphthalmosaurusTatenectesMegalneusaurusOxford Clay Formation
Type
Original Articles
Information
Geological Magazine , Volume 151 , Issue 1 , January 2014 , pp. 167 - 182
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2013 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Anderson, T. F., Popp, B. N., Williams, A. C., Ho, L.-Z. & Hudson, J. D. 1994. The stable isotopic records of fossils from the Peterborough Member, Oxford Clay Formation (Jurassic), UK: palaeoenvironmental implications. Journal of the Geological Society (London) 151, 125–38.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Andersson, K. A. 1979. Early lithification of limestone in the Redwater Shale Member of the Sundance Formation (Jurassic) of Southeastern Wyoming. University of Wyoming Contributions to Geology 18, 1–17.Google Scholar
Andrews, C. W. 1910. A Descriptive Catalogue of the Marine Reptiles of the Oxford Clay Part I. British Museum, London, 205 pp.Google Scholar
Appleby, R. M. 1956. The osteology and taxonomy of the fossil reptile Ophthalmosaurus . Proceedings of the Zoological Society (London) 126, 403–47.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blake, D. B. 1971. The new Jurassic sea star genus Eokainaster and comments on the life habits and the origins of the modern Asteroidea. Journal of Paleontology, 55, 33–46.Google Scholar
Brenner, R. L. & Davies, D. 1974. Oxfordian sedimentation in western interior United States. American Association of Petroleum Geologists, Bulletin 58, 407–28.Google Scholar
Brenner, R. L. & Peterson, J. A. 1994. Jurassic sedimentary history of the northern portion of the Western Interior Seaway, USA. In Mesozoic Systems of the Rocky Mountain Region, USA (eds Caputo, M. V., Peterson, J. A. & Franczyk, K. J.), pp. 217–32. Rocky Mountain Section, Society of Economic Paleontologists and Mineralogists, Special Publication.Google Scholar
Brenner, R. L., Swift, D. J. P. & Gaynor, G. C. 1985. Re-evaluation of coquinoid sandstone depositional model, Upper Jurassic of central Wyoming and south-central Montana. Sedimentology 32, 363–72.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Connely, M. 2006. Paleoecology of pterosaur tracks from the Upper Sundance and Lower Morrison Formations in central Wyoming. New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science, Bulletin 36, 199–202.Google Scholar
Connely, M. & Talbot, B. 2008. Investigations and documentation of rare and well preserved invertebrate fossils from the Sundance Formation of Central Wyoming. In Topics in Wyoming Geology (eds Woods, A. & Lawlor, J.), pp. 187–96. Wyoming Geological Association Guidebook.Google Scholar
Cruickshank, A. R. I., Martill, D. M. & Noè, L. F. 1996. A pliosaur (Reptilia, Sauropterygia) exhibiting pachyostosis from the Middle Jurassic of England. Journal of the Geological Society (London) 153, 873–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Doyle, P. 1987. Lower Jurassic–Lower Cretaceous belemnite biogeography and the development of the Mesozoic Boreal realm. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, and Palaeoecology 61, 237–54.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Druckenmiller, P. S. & Maxwell, E. E. 2010. A new Lower Cretaceous (lower Albian) ichthyosaur genus from the Clearwater Formation, Alberta, Canada. Canadian Journal of Earth Science 47, 1037–53.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Duff, K. L. 1975. Paleoecology of a bituminous shale-the lower Oxford Clay of central England. Palaeontology 18, 443–82.Google Scholar
Feldmann, R. M. & Titus, A. L. 2006. Eryma jungostrix n. sp. (Decapoda; Erymidae) from the Redwater Shale Member of the Stump Formation (Jurassic; Oxfordian) of Utah. Journal of Crustacean Biology 26, 63–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fernández, M. S. & Herrera, Y. 2009. Paranasal sinus system of Geosaurus araucanensis and the homology of the antorbital fenestra of metriorhynchids (Thalattosuchia: Crocodylomorpha). Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 29, 702–14.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fischer, V., Maisch, M. W., Naish, D., Kosma, R., Liston, J., Joger, U., Krüger, F. J., Pardo Pérez, J., Tainsh, J. & Appleby, R. M. 2012. New ophthalmosaurid ichthyosaurs from the European Lower Cretaceous demonstrate extensive ichthyosaur survival across the Jurassic–Cretaceous boundary. PLoS ONE 7, e29234.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gasparini, Z., Cichowolski, M. & Lazo, D. G. 2005. First record of Metriorhynchus (Reptilia: Crocodyliformes) in the Jurassic (Bathonian) of the Eastern Pacific. Journal of Paleontology, 79, 801–5.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gilmore, C. W. 1905. Osteology of Baptanodon (Marsh). Memoirs of the Carnegie Museum 2, 77–129.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gilmore, C. W. 1906. Notes on osteology of Baptanodon. With a description of a new species. Memoirs of the Carnegie Museum 2, 325–37.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gilmore, C. W. 1907. A new species of Baptanodon from the Jurassic of Wyoming. American Journal of Science, (Series 4) 23, 123–98.Google Scholar
Hudson, J. D. & Martill, D. M. 1991. The Lower Oxford Clay: production and preservation of organic matter in the Callovian (Jurassic) of central England. In Modern and Ancient Continental Shelf Anoxia. (eds Tyson, R. V. & Pearson, T. H.), pp. 363–79. Geological Society of London, Special Publication no. 58.Google Scholar
Humphries, S. & Ruxton, G. D. 2002. Why did some ichthyosaurs have such large eyes? Journal of Experimental Biology 205, 439–41.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hunter, A. W. & Zonneveld, J.-P. 2008. Palaeoecology of Jurassic encrinites: reconstructing crinoid communities from the Western Interior Seaway of North America. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 263, 58–70.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Imlay, R. W. 1947. Marine Jurassic of the Black Hills area, South Dakota and Wyoming. American Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin 31, 227–73.Google Scholar
Imlay, R. W. 1980. Jurassic paleobiogeography of the conterminous United States in its continental setting. US Geological Survey Professional Paper 1170, 134 pp.Google Scholar
Imlay, R. W. 1982. Jurassic (Oxfordian and late Callovian) ammonites from the Western Interior region of the United States. US Geological Survey Professional Paper 1232, 44 pp.Google Scholar
Johnson, E. 1992. Depositional history of Jurassic rocks in the area of the Power River Basin, northeastern Wyoming and southeastern Montana. US Geological Survey Bulletin 1917-J, 38 pp.Google Scholar
Ketchum, H. & Benson, R. 2011. A new pliosaurid (Sauropterygia, Plesiosauria) from the Oxford Clay Formation (Middle Jurassic, Callovian) of England: evidence for a gracile, longirostrine grade of Early–Middle Jurassic pliosaurids. Special Papers in Palaeontology 86, 109–29.Google Scholar
Knight, W. C. 1895. A new Jurassic plesiosaur from Wyoming. Science, New Series, 2, 449.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Knight, W. C. 1898. Some new Jurassic vertebrates from Wyoming. American Journal of Science, Series 4 5, 378–81.Google Scholar
Knight, W. C. 1900. Some new Jurassic vertebrates. American Journal of Science, Series 4 10 (56), 115–19.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Knight, W. C. 1903. Notes on the genus Baptanodon, with a description of a new species. American Journal of Science, Series 4 16, 76–81.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Koch, D. L. 1972. Isocrinus from the Jurassic of Wyoming. Journal of Paleontology, 36, 1313–18.Google Scholar
Kocurek, G. & Dott, R. H. 1983. Jurassic paleogeography and paleoclimate of the central and southern Rocky Mountains region. In Mesozoic Paleogeography of the West-central United States(eds Reynolds, M. W. & Dolly, E. D.), pp. 101–16. Rocky Mountain Section, Society of Economic Paleontologists and Mineralogists, Rocky Mountain Paleogeography Symposium no. 2. Denver, CO, USA.Google Scholar
Kvale, E. P., Johnson, G. D., Mickelson, D. L., Keller, K., Furer, L. C. & Archer, A. W. 2001. Middle Jurassic (Bajocian and Bathonian) dinosaur megatracksites, Bighorn Basin, Wyoming, U. S. A. Palaeos 16, 322–254.Google Scholar
Maisch, M. W. & Matzke, A. T. 2000. The Ichthyosauria. Stuttgarter Beiträge zur Naturkunde, Serie B 298, 1–159.Google Scholar
Markwick, P. J. 1998. Fossil crocodiles as indicators of Late Cretaceous and Cenozoic climates: implications for using palaeontological data in reconstructing palaeoclimate. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 137, 205–71.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marsh, O. C. 1879. A new order of extinct reptiles (Sauranodonta) from the Jurassic Formation of the Rocky Mountains. American Journal of Science, Series 3 17, 85–6.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marsh, O. C. 1880 a. On the limbs of Sauranodon, with notice of a new species. American Journal of Science, Series 3 19, 169–71.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marsh, O. C. 1880 b. Note on Sauranodon . American Journal of Science, Series 3 19, 491.Google Scholar
Marsh, O. C. 1891. Geological horizons as determined by vertebrate fossils. American Journal of Science, Series 3 42, 336–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Martill, D. M. & Hudson, J. D. 1991. Fossils of the Oxford Clay. Palaeontological Association Field Guide to Fossils 4, 286 pp.Google Scholar
Martill, D., Taylor, M. A. & Duff, K. 1994. The trophic structure of the biota of the Peterborough Member, Oxford Clay Formation (Jurassic), UK. Journal of the Geological Society of London 151, 173–94.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Massare, J. A. 1987. Tooth morphology and prey preference of Mesozoic marine reptiles. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 7, 121–37.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Massare, J. A. 1988. Swimming capabilities of marine reptiles: implications for method of predation. Paleobiology 14, 187–205.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Massare, J. A. 1994. Swimming capabilities of extinct marine reptiles: a review. In Mechanics and Physiology of Animal Swimming (eds Maddock, L., Bone, Q. & Rayner, J. M. V.), pp. 133–49. Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Massare, J. A. & Young, H. A. 2005. Gastric contents of an ichthyosaur from the Sundance Formation (Jurassic) of central Wyoming. Paludicola 5, 20–7.Google Scholar
Massare, J. A., Buchholtz, E. A., Kenney, J. & Chomat, A.-M. 2006. Vertebral morphology of Ophthalmosaurus natans (Reptilia: Ichthyosauria) from the Jurassic Sundance Formation of Wyoming. Paludicola 5, 242–54.Google Scholar
McGowan, C. & Motani, R. 2003. Handbook of Paleoherpetology, Part 8 Ichthyopterygia, Verlag Dr. Friedrich Pfeil, Munich, 175 pp.Google Scholar
Mehl, M. G. 1912. Muraenosaurus? reedi, sp. nov. and Tricleidus? laramiensis Knight, American Jurassic plesiosaurs. Journal of Geology 20, 344–52.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Miller, A. K. & Unklesbay, A. G. 1943. A new asteroid from the Jurassic of central Wyoming. Journal of Paleontology, 17, 179–80.Google Scholar
Motani, R., Rothschild, B. M. & Wahl, W. 1999. Large eyeballs in diving ichthyosaurs. Nature 402, 747.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nilsson, D.-E., Warrant, E. J., Johnsen, S., Hanlon, R. & Shashar, N. 2012. A unique advantage for giant eyes in giant squid. Current Biology 22, 683–8.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
O'Keefe, F. R. & Street, H. P. 2009. Osteology of the cryptocleidoid plesiosaur Tatenectes laramiensis from the Upper Sundance Formation of the Bighorn Basin, Wyoming. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 28, 48–57.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
O'Keefe, F. R., Street, H. P., Cavigelli, J. P., Socha, J. J. & O'Keefe, R. D. 2009. A plesiosaur containing an ichthyosaur embryo as stomach contents from the Sundance Formation of the Bighorn Basin, Wyoming. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 29, 1–5.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
O'Keefe, F. R., Street, H. P., Wilhelm, B. C., Richards, C. & Zhu, H. 2011. A new skeleton of the cryptoclidid plesiosaur Tatenectes laramiensis reveals a novel body shape among plesiosaurs. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 31, 330–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
O'Keefe, F. R. & Wahl, W. 2003 a. Current taxonomic status of the plesiosaur Pantosaurus striatus from the Upper Jurassic Sundance Formation, Wyoming. Paludicola 4, 37–47.Google Scholar
O'Keefe, F. R. & Wahl, W. 2003 b. Preliminary report on the osteology and relationships of a new aberrant cryptocleidoid plesiosaur from the Sundance Formation, Wyoming. Paludicola 4, 48–68.Google Scholar
Peterson, F. 1994. Sand dunes, sabkhas, streams and shallow seas; Jurassic paleogeography in the southern part of the Western Interior basin. In Mesozoic Systems of the Rocky Mountain Region, USA (eds Caputo, M. V., Peterson, J. A. & Franczyk, K. J.), pp. 233–72. Rocky Mountain Section, Society of Economic Paleontologists and Mineralogists, Special Publication.Google Scholar
Pipiringos, G. N. 1957. Stratigraphy of the Sundance, Nugget, and Jelm Formations in the Laramie Basin, Wyoming. Wyoming Geological Survey Bulletin 47, 63 pp.Google Scholar
Pipiringos, G. N. 1968. Correlation and nomenclature of some Triassic and Jurassic rocks in south-central Wyoming. US Geological Survey Professional Paper 594-D, 26 pp.Google Scholar
Pipiringos, G. N. & O'Sullivan, R. B. 1978. Principal unconformities in Triassic and Jurassic rocks, Western Interior United States-a preliminary survey. US Geological Survey Professional Paper 1035-A, 29 pp.Google Scholar
Robinson, C. S., Mapel, W. J. & Bergendahl, M. H. 1964. Stratigraphy and structure of the northern and western flanks of the Black Hills uplift, Wyoming, Montana, and South Dakota. US Geological Survey Professional Paper 404, 134 pp.Google Scholar
Robinson, J. A. 1976. The locomotion of plesiosaurs. Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie, Abhanlungen 149, 286–32.Google Scholar
Rocky Mountain Association of Geologists 1972. Geologic Atlas of the Rocky Mountain Region. A. B. Hirschfeld Press, Denver, CO, 331pp.Google Scholar
Sato, T. & Wu, X.-C. 2008. A new Jurassic pliosaur from Melville Island, Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Canadian Journal of Earth Science 45, 303–20.Google Scholar
Schaeffer, B. & Patterson, C. 1985. Jurassic fishes from the western United States with comments on Jurassic fish distribution. American Museum Novitates 2796, 86 pp.Google Scholar
Sheldon, A. 1997. Ecological implications of mosasaur bone microstructure. In Ancient Marine Reptiles (eds Callaway, J. M. & Nicholls, E. L.), pp. 333–54. Academic Press, NY.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Specht, R. W. & Brenner, R. L. 1979. Storm-wave genesis of bioclastic carbonates in Upper Jurassic epicontinental mudstones, east-central Wyoming. Journal of Sedimentary Petrology 49, 1307–22.Google Scholar
Street, H. P. & O'Keefe, F. R. 2010. Evidence of pachyostosis in the cryptocleidoid plesiosaur Tatenectes laramiensis from the Sundance Formation of Wyoming. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 30, 1279–82.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Talevi, M. & Fernández, M. S. 2012. Unexpected skeletal histology of an ichthyosaur from the Middle Jurassic of Patagonia: implications for evolution of bone microstructure among secondary aquatic tetrapods. Naturwissenschaften 99, 241–4.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tang, C. M. & Bottjer, D. J. 1996. Long-term faunal stasis without evolutionary coordination: Jurassic benthic marine paleocommunities, Western Interior, United States. Geology 24, 815–18.2.3.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Therriault, T. W. & Kolasa, J. 2000. Explicit links among physical stress, habitat heterogeneity and biodiversity. Oikos 89, 387–91.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wahl, W. R. 1999. Further observations on the small plesiosaurs from the Upper Redwater Shale, and the paleoenvironment of the late Jurassic (Lower Oxfordian) Sundance Formation. In Fossil Reptiles (ed. Hunter, A.), pp. 41–9. Tate Geological Museum, Guidebook 4. Casper, WY, USA.Google Scholar
Wahl, W. R. 2004. A large specimen of the lobster genus Eryma (Crustacea, Decapoda) from the latest Callovian of North America [abstract]. Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs 36, 363.Google Scholar
Wahl, W. R. 2005. A hybodont shark from the Redwater Shale Member, Sundance Formation (Jurassic), Natrona County, Wyoming. Paludicola 5, 15–19.Google Scholar
Wahl, W. R. 2006. A juvenile plesiosaur (Reptilia: Sauropterygia) assemblage from the Sundance Formation (Jurassic), Natrona County, Wyoming. Paludicola 5, 255–61.Google Scholar
Wahl, W. R. 2007 a. Starved ripples as faunal traps: collection of novel deposits in the Sundance Formation of Natrona County, Wyoming [abstract]. Annual Meeting of the Rocky Mountain Section, Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs 39 (5), 15.Google Scholar
Wahl, W. R. 2007 b. Taphonomy of a nose dive: bone and tooth displacement and mineral accretion in an ichthyosaur skull. Paludicola 7, 107–16.Google Scholar
Wahl, W. R. 2008. Decapod material associated with ichthyosaur remains from the Redwater Shale of the Sundance Formation, Natrona County, Wyoming [abstract]. Annual Meeting of the Rocky Mountain Section, Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs 40 (5), 41.Google Scholar
Wahl, W. R. 2012. Gastric contents of a plesiosaur from the Sundance Formation of Hot Springs County, Wyoming, and implications for the paleobiology of cryptocleidid plesiosaurs. Paludicola 9, 32–9.Google Scholar
Wahl, W. R., Massare, J. A. & Ross, M. 2010. New material from the type specimen of Megalneusaurus rex (Reptilia: Sauropterygia) from the Jurassic Sundance Formation, Wyoming. Paludicola 7, 170–80.Google Scholar
Wahl, W. R., Ross, M. & Massare, J. A. 2007. Rediscovery of Wilbur Knight's Megalneusaurus rex site: new material from an old pit. Paludicola 6, 94–104.Google Scholar
Weems, R. E. & Blodgett, R. B. 1994. The pliosaurid Megalneusaurus: a newly recognized occurrence in the Upper Jurassic Naknek Formation of the Alaska peninsula. US Geological Survey Bulletin 2152, 169–75.Google Scholar
Wilhelm, B. C. & O'Keefe, F. R. 2010. A new partial skeleton of a cryptoclidid plesiosaur from the Upper Jurassic Sundance Formation of Wyoming. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 30, 1736–42.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wright, R. P. 1974. Jurassic bivalves from Wyoming and South Dakota: a study of feeding relationships. Journal of Paleontology, 48, 425–33.Google Scholar
Young, M. T., Brusatte, S. L., Ruta, M. & Andrade, M. B. 2010. The evolution of Metriorhynchoidea (mesoeucrocodylia, thalattosuchia): an integrated approach using geometric morphometrics, analysis of disparity, and biomechanics. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 158, 801–59.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Young, M. T., Andrade, M. B., Desojo, J. B., Beatty, B. L., Steel, L., Fernández, M. S., Sakamoto, M., Ruiz-Omeñaca, J. I. & Schoch, R. R. 2012. The cranial osteology and feeding ecology of the metriorhynchid crocodylomorph genera Dakosaurus and Plesiosuchus from the Late Jurassic of Europe. PLoS ONE 7, e44985.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Young, M. T., Andrade, M. B., Brusatte, S. L., Sakamoto, M. & Liston, J. 2013. The oldest known metriorhynchid super-predator: a new genus and species from the Middle Jurassic of England, with implications for serration and mandibular evolution in predacious clades. Journal of Systematic Palaeontology 11, 475–513.CrossRefGoogle Scholar