Also known as Zone of Xenodontomys ellipticus

Where: Buenos Aires, Argentina (38.8° S, 62.2° W: paleocoordinates 38.9° S, 59.9° W)

• coordinate stated in text

• outcrop-level geographic resolution

When: Huayquerian mammal zone, Saldungaray Formation, Huayquerian (8.0 - 5.0 Ma)

• the stratotype is recognized in Level 2 of the Saldungaray Formation

•This zone is also recognized in the lower levels of

•the Saldungaray formation at Barrancas de Sarmiento (Buenos

•Aires Province, and in the ‘‘Irene Formation’’ ( partim)

•outcropping at the area of Quequén Salado River (Arroyo Indio Rico, Irene, Paso del Médano and Oriente localities; Buenos

•Aires Province)

•

•The Cerro Azul formation was assigned exclusively to the Huayquerian (Late Miocene; e.g., Montalvo and Casadío, 1988 and literature therein; Albino and Montalvo, 2006), whereas the Saldungaray formation was considered Montehermosan or even younger (Pliocene; e.g., Furque, 1967, González, 1984, Marshall et al., 1983, Verzi and Deschamps, 1996). However, recent biochronological data suggest a Chasicoan-Huayquerian age for the Cerro Azul Formation (Late Miocene; Verzi, 1999, Verzi et al., 2003, Verzi et al., 2004b, Montalvo et al., 2005), and a Huayquerian age for the localities here studied of the Saldungaray Formation (Verzi et al., 2004b, Deschamps, 2005).

Environment/lithology: terrestrial; brown, red, silty sandstone

Size classes: macrofossils, mesofossils

Primary reference: D. H. Verzi, C. I. Montalvo, and C. M. Deschamps. 2008. Biostratigraphy and biochronology of the Late Miocene of central Argentina: Evidence from rodents and taphonomy. Geobios 41:145-155 [C. Jaramillo/M. Vallejo]more details

Purpose of describing collection: biostratigraphic analysis

PaleoDB collection 152068: authorized by Carlos Jaramillo, entered by Maria Vallejo on 05.11.2013

Creative Commons license: CC BY (attribution)