Mason Pocket (Paleocene of the United States)

Also known as Tiffany (in part)

Where: La Plata County, Colorado (37.1° N, 107.6° W: paleocoordinates 43.0° N, 89.4° W)

• coordinate based on nearby landmark

• small collection-level geographic resolution

When: Tiffanian (61.7 - 56.8 Ma)

• bed-level stratigraphic resolution

Environment/lithology: fissure fill; fine-grained, shelly/skeletal, gray shale

• "it might be a fissure filling"
• "dark gray shale very fine in texture... full of bones and fragments" (Matthew 1917)

Size class: macrofossils

Collected by W. Granger in 1916; reposited in the AMNH

Primary reference: G. G. Simpson. 1935. The Tiffany fauna, Upper Paleocene. 1, Multituberculata, Marsupialia, Insectivora, and ?Chiroptera. American Museum Novitates 795:1-19 [J. Alroy/J. Alroy/P. Mannion]more details

Purpose of describing collection: taxonomic analysis

PaleoDB collection 14967: authorized by John Alroy, entered by John Alroy on 27.09.1993, edited by Jonathan Marcot

Creative Commons license: CC BY (attribution)

Taxonomic list

• fauna known only from 1916 Granger collection
sec 20 T 33 N R 6 W
"Most other localities in the vicinity of Tiffany are stratigraphically higher than Mason Pocket": Butler et al. 1981
the "Bayfield" or "Tiffany" fauna includes many localities other than Mason Pocket such as Carracas Station and Crowbar Creek (see); additional records based on Simpson and other sources include the following: Chriacus sp., named Chriacus metocometi by Van Valen 1978 ? Dissacus sp. Phenacodus grangeri type Phenacodus matthewi type (includes type of "P. gidleyi"; see Thewissen 1990) additional Phenacodus sp. Phenacodus magnus Thewissen 1990: collected after Simpson 1935 Periptychus "superstes" type Aletodon ("Platymastus") mellon of Van Valen 1978 from 50 m above quarry: Gingerich 1983c Oxyaena sp. Gingerich 1980a from "near Tiffany"; probably the same as O. sp. from "just north of Mason Pocket" of Van Valen 1966 "Ignatiolambda barnesi" type Simons 1960: "presumed basal part of Tiffany formation, east of the Florida River and west of the Ignacio, north of the Mesa Mountains, SW 1/4, Sec. 29, R 8 W, T 34 N, La Plata County"
Aves
 Strigiformes - Ogygoptyngidae
Ogygoptynx wetmorei n. gen. n. sp.5
Ogygoptynx wetmorei n. gen. n. sp.5 Rich and Bohaska 1976 owl
Mammalia
 Multituberculata - Ptilodontidae
Ptilodus kummae4 Krause 1977 multituberculate
"Mason Pocket"
 Multituberculata - Neoplagiaulacidae
Ectypodus musculus n. sp. Matthew and Granger 1921 multituberculate
 Theriamorpha - Leptictidae
Xenacodon mutilatus n. sp. Matthew and Granger 1921 eutherian
 Cimolesta - Apatemyidae
Labidolemur soricoides n. sp. Matthew and Granger 1921 eutherian
 Cimolesta - Barylambdidae
Ignatiolambda barnesi n. gen. n. sp.6
Ignatiolambda barnesi n. gen. n. sp.6 Simons 1960 pantodont
"east of the Florida River and west of Ignacio, north of the Mesa Mountains"
 Macroscelidea - Apheliscidae
Utemylus latomius n. sp.3 Gingerich 1983 elephant shrew
collected in 1940
 Procreodi - Arctocyonidae
Thryptacodon australis n. sp. Simpson 1935 condylarth
 Theriamorpha - Nyctitheriidae
Leptacodon tener n. sp. Matthew and Granger 1921 placental
 Primates - Carpolestidae
Carpodaptes aulacodon n. sp. Matthew and Granger 1921 primate
 Primates - Picrodontidae
Zanycteris paleocenus n. gen. n. sp.
Zanycteris paleocenus n. gen. n. sp. Matthew 1917 primate
 Primates - Plesiadapidae
Nannodectes gidleyi1 Matthew 1917 primate
Chiromyoides caesor2 Gingerich 1973 primate
new UCMP specimen
 Primates - Microsyopidae
Navajovius kohlhaasae n. sp. Matthew and Granger 1921 primate
 Primates - Paromomyidae
Ignacius frugivorus1 Matthew and Granger 1921 primate
 Theriamorpha - Peradectidae
Peradectes elegans n. sp. Matthew and Granger 1921 marsupial