PBDB Collection

Gueran (Eocene of Western Sahara)

Also known as Guerran, Garouan, Garouaz, Punta Güera, Punta Güeran, Krebb Afedeira

Where: Western Sahara (25.1° N, 13.9° W)

• Paleocoordinates: 19.2° N, 9.6° W (Wright 2013)

• coordinate stated in text

• outcrop-level geographic resolution

When: Aridal Formation, Bartonian (41.0 - 37.7 Ma)

• ~11 m above the base of the section

• bed-level stratigraphic resolution

Environment/lithology: shallow subtidal; gray, white, argillaceous, silty sandstone

• neritic zone of a shallow shelf

• The sand- stone is white to light gray in color, clayey, silty, poorly-sorted, and very fine to coarse in grain size (F 1⁄4 þ4 to 1). The larger sand grains include clear quartz grains and opaque lithic fragments, all subrounded to rounded, and polished. Sandstone cement is calcareous. Marl and clay casts up to several centimeters in diam- eter are common, and fish coprolites on the order of 1.0e1.5 cm long and 4e5 mm in diameter are present.

Size class: macrofossils

Collected in 2014-2016

Primary reference: P. D. Gingerich and S. Zouhri. 2015. New fauna of archaeocete whales (Mammalia, Cetacea) from the Bartonian middle Eocene of southern Morocco. Journal of African Earth Sciences 111:273-286 [M. Uhen/M. Uhen/M. Uhen]more details

Purpose of describing collection: general faunal/floral analysis

PaleoDB collection 175734: authorized by Mark Uhen, entered by Mark Uhen on 07.01.2016, edited by Philip Mannion, Patricia Holroyd and Evangelos Vlachos

Creative Commons license: CC0 (CC0)

Taxonomic list

Show authors, comments, and common names

Chondrichthyes
Rhinopristiformes - Pristidae	Pristis cf. lathami², Propristis schweinfurthi² Pristis cf. lathami² Galeotti 1837 sawfish 12 broken rostral teeth. Propristis schweinfurthi² Priem 1897 sawfish Five rostral denticles, figured material includes FSAC Bouj-348.
Carcharhiniformes - Carcharhinidae	Carcharhinus sp.², Abdounia sp.², Physogaleus sp.² Carcharhinus sp.² de Blainville 1816 requiem shark A dozen isolated teeth, figured material includes FSAC Bouj-345, 346 and 347. Abdounia sp.² Cappetta 1980 requiem shark A dozen isolated teeth, figured material includes FSAC Bouj-344. Physogaleus sp.² Cappetta 1980 requiem shark 40 isolated teeth, figured material includes FSAC Bouj-340, 341, 342 and 343.
Carcharhiniformes - Galeocerdidae	Galeocerdo eaglesomei² Galeocerdo eaglesomei² White 1926 tiger shark
Carcharhiniformes - Hemigaleidae	Hemipristis curvatus³ Hemipristis curvatus³ Dames 1883 ground shark Five broken isolated teeth, figured material includes FSAC Bouj-343.
Lamniformes - Otodontidae	Otodus sp.², Otodus cf. sokolowi³ Otodus sp.² Agassiz 1838 mackerel shark A dozen isolated teeth, figured material includes FSAC Bouj-323. Otodus cf. sokolowi³ Jakel 1895 mackerel shark
Lamniformes - Carchariidae	Carcharias koerti³, "Carcharias" koerti³ Carcharias koerti³ sand shark "Carcharias" koerti³ sand shark
Lamniformes - Odontaspididae	Tethylamna cf. twiggsensis³ Tethylamna cf. twiggsensis³ sand tiger shark 50 isolated teeth, figured material includes FSAC Bouj-331, 332, 333, 334, 335 and 336.
Lamniformes - Lamnidae	Macrorhizodus praecursor² Macrorhizodus praecursor² Leriche 1905 mackerel shark Hundreds of isolated teeth, figured material includes FSAC Bouj-327, 328, 329 and 330.
Aves
Odontopterygiformes - Pelagornithidae	Pelagornis sp.³ Pelagornis sp.³ Lartet 1857 bird FSAC Bouj-373, distal portion of maxillary rostrum bearing pseudo-teeth (two fragments).
Reptilia
Loricata -	Crocodyliformes indet.¹, Eusuchia indet.² Crocodyliformes indet.¹ crocodilian FSAC BOUJ-355, fragment of a right dentary; FSAC BOUJ-406, posterior fragment of a left mandibular ramus Eusuchia indet.² crocodilian FSAC BOUJ-410, a ninth cervical vertebra; FSAC BOUJ-1b, an anterior? cervical vertebra; FSAC BOUJ-400, a posterior dorsal vertebra; FSAC BOUJ-1a, a first caudal vertebra; FSAC BOUJ-124, a caudal vertebra; FSAC BOUJ-96, two fragments of large dorsal osteoderms; FSAC BOUJ-94, a fragment of an osteoderm
Crocodylia -	Gavialoidea indet.³ Gavialoidea indet.³ crocodilian FSAC BOUJ-403, FSAC BOUJ-404, and FSAC BOUJ-401, anterior to posterior portions of a left maxilla; FSAC BOUJ-407, posterior portion of a left maxilla; FSAC BOUJ-402, mid-portion of a right maxilla. All these specimens are from the same individual. FSAC BOUJ-405, portion of a left dentary
Testudines -	Pleurodira indet.³ Pleurodira indet.³ sideneck turtle FSAC Bouj-196, fragmentary hypoplastron (Fig. 5N).
Testudines - Dermochelyidae	Dermochelyidae indet.³ Dermochelyidae indet.³ Lydekker 1889 leatherback FSAC Bouj-350 (Fig. 5M), pelvis fragment.
Testudines - Cheloniidae	Cheloniidae indet.³ Cheloniidae indet.³ Bonaparte 1832 sea turtle FSAC Bouj-109 (Fig. 5H), costal fragment; 352 (Fig. 5I), fragmentary hyoplastral process; 351 (Fig. 5J) fragmentary hypoplastron; 353 (Fig. 5K) and 354 (Fig. 5L), dermal plate fragments.
Squamata - Palaeophiidae	Pterosphenus cf. schweinfurthi³ Pterosphenus cf. schweinfurthi³ Andrews 1901 snake Four vertebrae recovered from the Garouaze Locality in Gueran Depression. Two of the specimens (FSAC Bouj -300 and 317) clearly belong to the Palaeophiidae. The two other vertebrae (FSAC Bouj -316 and 318) are very incomplete, but they also likely belong to palaeophiids.
Mammalia
Proboscidea - Barytheriidae	? Barytherium sp.² ? Barytherium sp.² Andrews 1901 barythere FSAC Bouj-380a, 380b, and 380c, dental fragments.
Cetacea - Basilosauridae	Chrysocetus fouadassii n. sp., Platyosphys aithai n. sp. Chrysocetus fouadassii n. sp. Gingerich and Zouhri 2015 whale Platyosphys aithai n. sp. Gingerich and Zouhri 2015 whale
Cetacea - Protocetidae	Protocetidae indet., Pappocetus lugardi, Eocetus schweinfurthi Protocetidae indet. Stromer 1908 whale species A, species B Pappocetus lugardi Andrews 1920 whale Eocetus schweinfurthi Fraas 1904 whale
Actinopteri
Acanthopterygii -	Percomorpha indet.² Percomorpha indet.² FSAC Bouj-141, 363 (Fig.5C), 364, 365, 366, 367, 368, 369, isolated centra.
Scombriformes - Scombridae	Scombridae indet.³ Scombridae indet.³ Rafinesque 1815 FSAC-Bouj-358 (Fig. 5F), fragment of toothed bone.
Acanthopterygii -	Cylindracanthus sp.³ Cylindracanthus sp.³ Leidy 1856 FSAC Bouj-141, 356 (Fig. 5A), 357, 358, 359, 360, 361, 362, fragments of rostra.
Teleostei -	Perciformes indet.³, Siluriformes indet.³ Perciformes indet.³ Bleeker 1859 perch-like fish Siluriformes indet.³ catfish FSAC-Bouj-372 (Fig. 5G), proximal fragment of a right pectoral spine.

¹Jouve et al. 2019; ²Zouhri et al. 2021; ³Zouhri et al. 2018