Cerro Colorado O39 (Miocene of Peru)

Where: Peru (14.3° S, 75.9° W: paleocoordinates 14.8° S, 73.8° W)

• coordinate stated in text

• hand sample-level geographic resolution

When: Pisco Formation, Tortonian (11.6 - 7.2 Ma)

• The ziphiid skeleton with associated fish remains examined here originates in the lower allomember

•These fossiliferous deposits were first tentatively dated from the late Middle to early Late Miocene (Serravallian to early Tortonian, ca 13–11 Ma [9,18]). The recent record of Lithodesmium reynoldsii, a diatom species with a range between 9.9 and 8.9 Ma [19], points to a Late Miocene (Tortonian) age [16].

Environment/lithology: marine; lithified dolomite and poorly lithified diatomite

• Sediments of the Pisco Formation exposed at Cerro Colorado make up a remarkably thick section spanning about 200 m of

•its basal portion. This stratigraphic section, including near- shore conglomerates, fine-grained sandstones, diatomites and diatomaceous mudstones, a few dolomitic horizons, and volcanic ash layers, can be subdivided into two overall fining-upwards packages (allomembers) separated by an intraformational angu- lar unconformity [16] (figure 1).

Size class: macrofossils

Preservation: concretion

Collection methods: quarrying,

• MUSM, Museo de Historia Natural de la Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, Lima

Primary reference: B. Ramassamy, O. Lambert, A. Collareta, M. Urbina, and G. Bianucci. 2018. Description of the skeleton of the fossil beaked whale Messapicetus gregarius: searching potential proxies for deep-diving abilities. Fossil Record 21:11-323 [M. Uhen/M. Uhen]more details

Purpose of describing collection: paleoecologic analysis

PaleoDB collection 191218: authorized by Mark Uhen, entered by Mark Uhen on 16.01.2018

Creative Commons license: CC BY (attribution)

Taxonomic list

Mammalia
 Cetacea - Ziphiidae
Messapicetus gregarius Bianucci et al. 2010 beaked whale