Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-g7gxr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-09T23:00:17.919Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Shastasaurus altispinus (Ichthyosauria, Shastasauridae) from the Upper Triassic of the El Antimonio district, northwestern Sonora, Mexico

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 May 2016

Jack M. Callaway  and
Judy A. Massare
Jack M. Callaway
Affiliation:
Department of Geological Sciences, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York 14627
Judy A. Massare
Affiliation:
Department of Geological Sciences, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York 14627
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

New specimens of Shastasaurus altispinus Merriam are recognized from the Upper Triassic Antimonio Formation in the El Antimonio district of northwestern Sonora, Mexico. This represents the first occurrence of the species outside of its type locality in Shasta County, California, and the first known occurrence of Triassic ichthyosaurs from Mexico. Some remains are well preserved, but in general they are fragmented, structurally distorted, and incomplete; however, they enhance the current understanding of the morphology of a species that has been known hitherto only from an even more incomplete holotype. The material is the first from any Shastasaurus that preserves the anterior portions of the skull and lower jaw and implanted teeth. Revised diagnoses for the genus and species are given on the basis of the new material. Biostratigraphic zonation furnishes an early Late Carnian age for the specimens, which is in accord with that for the holotype.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Paleontology , Volume 63 , Issue 6 , November 1989 , pp. 930 - 939
Copyright
Copyright © The Paleontological Society 

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

Alencáster de Cserna, G. 1961a. Estratigrafía del Triásico Superior de la parte central del Estado de Sonora. Paleontología Mexicana, 11(1), 18 p.Google Scholar
Alencáster de Cserna, G. 1961b. Fauna fósil de la Formación Santa Clara (Cárnico) del Estado de Sonora. Paleontología Mexicana, 11(3), 38 p.Google Scholar
Appleby, R. M. 1961. On the cranial morphology of ichthyosaurs. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London, 137:333–370.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blainville, M. H. D. de. 1835. Description de quelques espèces de reptiles de la Californie, précédée de l'analyse d'un systéme général d'erpétologie et d'amphibiologie. Nouvelles Annales du Muséum d'Histoire Naturelle, 4:236–296.Google Scholar
Burckhardt, C. 1923. Quelques remarques critiques sur l'ouvrage de M. W. Fruedenberg “Geologie von Mexico.” Sociedad Científica “Antonio Alzate,” México, Memoria, 41:185.Google Scholar
Burckhardt, C. 1930. Etude synthétique sur le Mésozoique mexicain. Société Paléontologique Suisse Mémoire 49, Première Partie, 123 p.Google Scholar
Callaway, J. M. 1986a. Systematic revision of the Shastasauridae (Reptilia, Ichthyosauria) with implications for the origin of ichthyosaurs. North American Paleontological Convention IV, Abstracts with Programs, 1986, p. A8.Google Scholar
Callaway, J. M. 1986b. Implications of plate tectonics for the paleobiogeography of North American Triassic Ichthyopterygia (Reptilia). Geological Society of America, Abstracts with Programs, 18(6):555.Google Scholar
Callaway, J. M. 1989. Systematics, phylogeny, and ancestry of Triassic ichthyosaurs. Unpubl. Ph.D. dissertation, University of Rochester, Rochester, 204 p.Google Scholar
Callaway, J. M., and Massare, J. A. In press. Geographic and stratigraphic distribution of the Triassic Ichthyosauria (Reptilia; Diapsida). Neues Jahrbuch fur Geologie und Paläontologie, Abhandlungen.Google Scholar
Camp, C. L. 1926. Unpublished field notes. University of California, Berkeley, Camp Notebook, D:4–12.Google Scholar
Camp, C. L. 1980. Large ichthyosaurs from the Upper Triassic of Nevada. Palaeontographica, Abteilung A, 170(4–6):139–200.Google Scholar
Campa, M. G., and Coney, P. J. 1983. Tectono-stratigraphic terranes and mineral resource distributions in Mexico. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, 20:1040–1051.Google Scholar
Dong, Z.-M. 1972. [An ichthyosaur fossil from the Qomolangma Feng (Mt. Everest) region], p. 7–10. In Yang, Z.-J. and Dong, Z.-M. (eds.), [Aquatic Reptiles from the Triassic of China]. Academia Sinica, Institute of Vertebrate Palaeontology and Paleoanthropology Memoir 9 (in Chinese).Google Scholar
Ferguson, W. K. 1981. History of the Bureau of Economic Geology, 1909–1960. Bureau of Economic Geology, The University of Texas at Austin, 329 p.Google Scholar
Finch, J. W., and Abbott, P. L. 1977. Petrology of a Triassic marine section, Vizcaino Peninsula, Baja California Sur, Mexico. Sedimentary Geology, 19:253–273.Google Scholar
González-León, C. 1979. Geology of the Sierra del Alamo, p. 23–31. In Anderson, T. H. and Roldan-Quintana, J. (eds.), Guidebook—Fieldtrip Number 27, Geology of Northern Sonora, Geological Society of America Annual Meeting, San Diego. Instituto de Geología, Universidad National Autónoma de México, Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico, and University of Pittsburgh.Google Scholar
González-León, C. 1980. La Formación Antimonio (Triásico Superior–Jurásico Inferior) en la Sierra del Alamo, estado de Sonora. Instituto de Geología, Universidad National Autónoma de México, Revista, 4(1):13–18.Google Scholar
Huene, F. von. 1925. Shastasaurus-Reste in der alpinen Trias. Centralblatt für Mineralogie, Geologie, und Paläontologie, Abteilung B, 1925:412–417.Google Scholar
Keller, W. T. 1928. Stratigraphische Beobachtungen in Sonora (Nordwest-Mexico). Eclogae Geologicae Helvetiae, 21:327–335.Google Scholar
King, R. E. 1939. Geological reconnaissance in northern Sierra Madre Occidental of Mexico. Geological Society of America Bulletin, 50:1625–1722.Google Scholar
Linnaeus, C. 1758. Systema Naturae. Laurentii Salvii, Stockholm, 10th ed., Vol. 1, 824 p.Google Scholar
Massare, J. A. 1987. Tooth morphology and prey preference of Mesozoic marine reptiles. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 7:121–137.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mazin, J.-M. 1982. Affinités et phylogénie des Ichthyopterygia, p. 85–98. In Buffetaut, E., Janvier, P., Rage, J.-C., and Tassy, P. (eds.), Phylogénie et paléobiogéographie. Geobios, Mémoire Spécial 6.Google Scholar
Mazin, J.-M. 1983. L'implantation dentaire chez les Ichthyopterygia (Reptilia). Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie, Monatshefte, 7:406–418.Google Scholar
McGowan, C. 1972. Evolutionary trends in longipinnate ichthyosaurs with particular reference to the skull and fore fin. Royal Ontario Museum Life Sciences Contributions 83, 38 p.Google Scholar
McGowan, C. 1978. Further evidence for the wide geographical distribution of ichthyosaur taxa (Reptilia: Ichthyosauria). Journal of Paleontology, 52:1155–1162.Google Scholar
Merriam, J. C. 1895. On some reptilian remains from the Triassic of northern California. American Journal of Science, Ser. 3, 50:55–57.Google Scholar
Merriam, J. C. 1902. Triassic Ichthyopterygia from California and Nevada. University of California Publications, Bulletin of the Department of Geology, 3(4):63–108.Google Scholar
Merriam, J. C. 1908. Triassic Ichthyosauria with special reference to the North American forms. University of California Memoir 1(1), 196 p.Google Scholar
Orr, W. N. 1986. A Norian (Late Triassic) ichthyosaur from the Martin Bridge Limestone, Wallowa Mountains, Oregon, p. 41–51. In Vallier, T. L. and Brooks, H. C. (eds.), Geology of the Blue Mountains Region of Oregon, Idaho, and Washington. U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 1435.Google Scholar
Orr, W. N., and Katsura, K. T. 1985. Oregon's oldest vertebrates [Ichthyosauria (Reptilia)]. Oregon Geology, 47(7):75–77.Google Scholar
Osborn, H. F. 1903. The reptilian subclasses Diapsida and Synapsida and the early history of the Diaptosauria. Memoirs of the American Museum of Natural History, 1:449–507.Google Scholar
Ramos, E. L. 1982. Geología de México (tomo II, tercera edición). Tesis Resendiz S.A. (División Commercial), México, D.F., 454 p.Google Scholar
Schuchert, C. 1935. Historical Geology of the Antillean–Caribbean Region. John Wiley and Sons, New York, 811 p.Google Scholar
Silberling, N. J. 1956. “Trachyceras zone“ in the Upper Triassic of the western United States. Journal of Paleontology, 30:1147–1153.Google Scholar
Silberling, N. J. 1959. Pre-Tertiary stratigraphy and Upper Triassic paleontology of the Union district, Shoshone Mountains, Nevada. U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 322, 67 p.Google Scholar
Silberling, N. J., and Tozer, E. T. 1968. Biostratigraphic classification of the marine Triassic in North America. Geological Society of America Special Paper 110, 63 p.Google Scholar
Smith, J. P. 1927. Upper Triassic marine invertebrate faunas of North America. U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 141, 262 p.Google Scholar
Tozer, E. T. 1982. Marine Triassic faunas of North America: their significance for assessing plate and terrane movements. Geologische Rundschau, 71:1077–1104.Google Scholar
White, D. E., and Guiza, R. 1949. Antimony deposits of El Antimonio district, Sonora, Mexico. U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin, 962-B:81–119.Google Scholar