Tooth Draw Quarry (TD), Deer's Ears Butte (Cretaceous of the United States)

Also known as Tooth Draw West, TDW, Tooth Draw Site B, Becca's Tooth Draw

Where: Butte County, South Dakota (45.0° N, 103.2° W: paleocoordinates 51.1° N, 77.1° W)

• coordinate stated in text

• outcrop-level geographic resolution

When: Hell Creek Formation (Montana Group), Late/Upper Maastrichtian (70.6 - 66.0 Ma)

• "it was determined that the Tooth Draw Quarry (TD) is approximately, 58 meters below the suspected K-Pg boundary. This places it somewhere in the lower middle of the Hell Creek Formation, equivalent to the lower “Marmath Member” of Frye, (1969) or at the base of the informally named “JenRex Sandstone”, “East Ried Coulee Unit”, as per the lectostratatype section by Hartman et. al (2014)."

•- Single major bonebed with several subunits (Horizons A through E)

• bed-level stratigraphic resolution

Environment/lithology: channel lag; fine-grained, coarse sandstone and ferruginous, pebbly conglomerate

• "a 1-2 meter thick, channel lag deposit"
• "interbedded FG-CG lithic wacke sandstone, ironstone pebble conglomerate and clay pebble conglomerate w/abundant vertebrate and organic remains"

Size classes: macrofossils, mesofossils

Collected by M. Licking, W, Stein in 1980, 2006, 2009–

Collection methods: bulk, surface (float), surface (in situ), sieve,

• "Field collection by the author and PaleoAdventures field crews continues to the present day. Since this is a private locality, all specimens recovered here were placed into three distinct categories: “common”, “commercial” or “scientifically significant”. "

Primary reference: W. W. Stein. 2019. Taking count: a census of dinosaur fossils recovered from the Hell Creek and Lance formations (Maastrichtian). The Journal of Paleontological Sciences JPS.C.2019:01:1-42 [M. Carrano/M. Carrano]more details

Purpose of describing collection: taphonomic analysis

PaleoDB collection 224484: authorized by Matthew Carrano, entered by Matthew Carrano on 09.03.2022

Creative Commons license: CC BY (attribution)

Taxonomic list

Actinopteri
 Teleostei -
Teleostei indet. Müller 1846
 Lepisosteiformes - Lepisosteidae
Lepisosteus sp. Agassiz 1843 gar
 Amiiformes - Amiidae
"Kindleia fragosa" = Cyclurus fragosus
"Kindleia fragosa" = Cyclurus fragosus Jordan 1927 bowfin
Osteichthyes
 Acipenseriformes - Acipenseridae
Acipenser albertensis Lambe 1902 sturgeon
Amphibia
 Caudata - Urodela
Scapherpeton sp. Cope 1876 salamander
Habrosaurus sp. Gilmore 1928 siren
 Proteida - Batrachosauroididae
Opisthotriton sp. Auffenberg 1961 salamander
Mammalia
 Theriamorpha - Stagodontidae
Didelphodon sp. Marsh 1889 metatherian
 Multituberculata - Neoplagiaulacidae
Mesodma sp. Jepsen 1940 multituberculate
"Mesodema"
Reptilia
 Testudines -
? Tullochelys sp. Hutchison 2013 turtle
 Testudines - Trionychidae
Apalone sp. Rafinesque 1832 softshell turtle
Axestemys infernalis Joyce et al. 2019 softshell turtle
 Testudines - Pantrionychidae
Gilmoremys sp. Joyce and Lyson 2011 turtle
Aspideretoides sp. Gardner et al. 1995 turtle
 Testudines - Adocidae
Adocus sp. Cope 1868 turtle
 Testudines - Nanhsiungchelyidae
Basilemys sp. Hay 1902 turtle
 Testudinata - Baenidae
Saxochelys gilberti Lyson et al. 2019 turtle
Plesiobaena sp. Gaffney 1972 turtle
Neurankylus sp. Lambe 1902 turtle
 Loricata -
Borealosuchus sp. Brochu 1997 crocodilian
 Crocodylia - Alligatoridae
Brachychampsa sp. Gilmore 1911 crocodilian
 Crocodylia - Gavialidae
Thoracosaurus sp. Leidy 1852 crocodilian
 Pterosauria - Ornithocheiridae
 Ornithischia -
Ornithischia indet. Seeley 1888 ornithischian
 Ornithischia - Leptoceratopsidae
Leptoceratops sp. Brown 1914 leptoceratopsid
 Ornithischia - Ceratopsidae
Triceratops sp. Marsh 1889 ceratopsid
Torosaurus sp. Marsh 1891 ceratopsid
 Ornithischia -
Pachycephalosaurus sp. Brown and Schlaikjer 1943 ornithischian
"Dracorex hogwartsia" = Pachycephalosaurus wyomingensis Gilmore 1931 ornithischian
incl. atlas-intercentrum (TD-16-260)
Thescelosaurus neglectus Gilmore 1913 ornithopod
 Ornithischia - Hadrosauridae
Edmontosaurus annectens Marsh 1892 hadrosaurine
"not including shed Edmontosaurus teeth and fragments, which were very abundant and rarely counted"
 Ornithischia - Ankylosauridae
Ankylosaurus magniventris Brown 1908 ankylosaurid
 Ornithischia - Nodosauridae
"Denversaurus schlessmanni" = Edmontonia
"Denversaurus schlessmanni" = Edmontonia ankylosaur
"Denversaurus schleshmanni"
 Theropoda -
Theropoda indet. Marsh 1881 theropod
 Theropoda - Tyrannosauridae
"Tyrannosaurus rex" = Tyrannosaurus rex, "Nanotyrannus lancensis" = Tyrannosaurus rex
"Tyrannosaurus rex" = Tyrannosaurus rex Osborn 1905 tyrant lizard king
over 260 isolated teeth and at least 14 elements
"Nanotyrannus lancensis" = Tyrannosaurus rex Osborn 1905 tyrant lizard king
 Theropoda - Ornithomimidae
Ornithomimus sp. Marsh 1890 ornithomimid
Aves
 Aves -
Aves indet. bird
partial femur
Reptilia
 Theropoda - Troodontidae
Pectinodon bakkeri Carpenter 1982 maniraptoran
cf. Troodon sp. Leidy 1856 maniraptoran
 Theropoda - Dromaeosauridae
Dromaeosauridae indet. Colbert and Russell 1969 maniraptoran
"unnamed tooth taxon"
cf. Richardoestesia sp. Currie et al. 1990 maniraptoran
Dakotaraptor steini DePalma et al. 2015 maniraptoran
cf. Saurornitholestes sp. Sues 1978 maniraptoran
Acheroraptor temertyorum Evans et al. 2013 maniraptoran
 Theropoda -
Paronychodon sp. Cope 1876 maniraptoran
 Theropoda - Caenagnathidae
Anzu wyliei Lamanna et al. 2014 chicken from hell
 Theropoda - Alvarezsauridae
cf. Albertonykus sp. Longrich and Currie 2009 Alberta claw
unguals, TD-16-149 and KU-156687 (TDW-17-002)
 Choristodera -
Champsosaurus sp. Cope 1876 choristodere
 Squamata -
Cemeterius sp. Longrich et al. 2012 squamates
"Cemetarius"; L dentary (TD-13-171)
Palaeosaniwa sp. Gilmore 1928 squamates
"Paleosaniwa"; fused parietals (TD-12-044)
Chondrichthyes
 Rajiformes - Rhinobatidae
Myledaphus pustulosus Cook et al. 2014 guitarfish
 Hybodontiformes - Lonchidiidae
Lonchidion sp. Estes 1964 elasmobranch