Re #1152 - Cantaure Formation (Miocene of Venezuela)

Where: Falcon, Venezuela (11.9° N, 69.8° W: paleocoordinates 11.2° N, 66.6° W)

• coordinate based on nearby landmark

• local area-level geographic resolution

When: Cantaure Formation, Burdigalian (20.4 - 16.0 Ma)

• Clays, sandstone, and limestones of up to 75, thick, although no single section is completely exposed. Collection apparently derived from near middle part of that thickness. Overlies unconformably Cretaceous rocks and is conformably overlain by limestones on middle to upper Miocene. Jung (1965) regarded the collection as early Middle Miocene, though more recent authors, including Vermeij (2001) indicate an Early Miocene (Burdigalian) age. Formation formerly referred to as "Cerro Pelado".

• group of beds-level stratigraphic resolution

Environment/lithology: coastal; unlithified, micaceous, shelly/skeletal, silty claystone

• Tropical shallow-water assemblage, neritic, no deep-water genera present, normal salinity, perhaps nearby brackish source.
• Clay, massive, micaceous, slightly silty, and locally containing abundant fossils.

Size class: macrofossils

Reposited in the BMNH, NMB, PRI, USNM

Collection methods: quarrying,

• All material is reposited in the Natural History Museum (NMB), Basel, Switzerland, with some voucher specimens in the British Museum, PRI, and USNM.

Primary reference: P. Jung. 1965. Miocene Mollusca from the Paraguana Peninsula, Venezuela. Bulletins of American Paleontology 49(223):389-652 [A. Miller/A. Hendy]more details

Purpose of describing collection: taxonomic analysis

PaleoDB collection 60705: authorized by Austin Hendy, entered by Austin Hendy on 20.05.2006

Creative Commons license: CC BY (attribution)

Taxonomic list

• Exhaustive for Bivalvia and Gastropoda. Balanus, corals, numerous otoliths, and Calianassa fragments are commonly found, though not listed.
Gastropoda
 Heterostropha - Pyramidellidae
 Heterostropha - Architectonicidae
"Architectonica (Architectonica) nobilis" = Architectonica nobilis
"Architectonica (Architectonica) nobilis" = Architectonica nobilis Röding 1798 sundial
Subspecies: A. (A.) nobilis nobilis
 Cerithioidea - Turritellidae
Turritella cocoditana Hodson 1926 turret shell
 Neogastropoda - Melongenidae
Melongena melongena Linnaeus 1758 snail
Subspecies: M. melongena consors
 Neogastropoda - Terebridae
"Terebra (Strioterebrum) ulloa" = Strioterebrum ulloa, Terebra (Paraterebra) inaequalis
"Terebra (Strioterebrum) ulloa" = Strioterebrum ulloa Olsson 1932 auger snail
Terebra (Paraterebra) inaequalis Sowerby 1849 auger snail
 Neogastropoda - Conidae
Conus aristos cone shell
Conus talis Jung 1965 cone shell
Conus aff. imitator Brown and Pilsbry 1911 cone shell
Conus aff. molis Brown and Pilsbry 1911 cone shell
 Neogastropoda - Costellariidae
Knefastia kugleri ribbed mitre
 Sorbeoconcha - Eocypraeidae
"Marginocypraea wegeneri" = Sphaerocypraea wegeneri
"Marginocypraea wegeneri" = Sphaerocypraea wegeneri Schilder 1939 snail
 Sorbeoconcha - Bursidae
Bursa rugosa Sowerby 1835 frog shell
Subspecies: B. (C.) caelata amphitrites
Bivalvia
 Arcida - Noetiidae
Noetia dauleana Marks 1951 clam
Subspecies: N. dauleana paraguenensis
 Arcida - Arcidae
"Anadara (Scapharca) tirantensis" = Anadara (Rasia) tirantensis
"Anadara (Scapharca) tirantensis" = Anadara (Rasia) tirantensis Hodson et al. 1927 ark
 Cardiida - Veneridae
Clementia (Clementia) dariena Conrad 1855 venus clam