Bassin Cabri (Pleistocene of Seychelles)

Where: Aldabra, Seychelles (9.4° S, 46.2° E: paleocoordinates 9.4° S, 46.2° E)

• coordinate estimated from map

When: Late/Upper Pleistocene (0.1 - 0.0 Ma)

• bed-level stratigraphic resolution

Environment/lithology: terrestrial; limestone

• The Bassin Cabri and Bassin Lebine area on Ile Picard at the time of the deposition of the Picard calcarenites was probably well vegetated, but with a moist, low, grassy habitat and an absence of true soil development [7]; a terrestrial gastropod fauna was abundant. Fossil pollen and spores reveal a vegetational change occurred at the time of the Takamaka deposits, showing that the atoll had an irregular rocky surface with true soil accumulation in pockets. The abundant and diverse gastropod assemblage suggests open, low vegetation habitats subject to periodic flooding, open wood and scrub with leaf litter development, to drier habitats with open scrub [7]. The diversity of vertebrates and terrestrial gastropods of Point Hodoul's pipefill deposits indicate that the atoll was probably well vegetated, with a complex open or dense scrub and scrub forest, generally xerophytic, and broken by open grass areas, perhaps similar to the present-day vegetation, but with a higher rainfall [7, 29].
• Picard calcarenite

Size classes: macrofossils, mesofossils, microfossils

Collected by John Becker in 1987; reposited in the USNM

Collection methods: chemical, mechanical

• From March 26 ±April 15, 1987, John Becker, formerly of the Smithsonian Institution, collected a large series of fossils encased in matrix from Bassin Cabri and Bassin Lebine, of which many were never fully prepared and none described

Primary reference: J. P. Hume, D. Martill, and R. HIng. 2018. A terrestrial vertebrate palaeontological review of Aldabra Atoll, Aldabra Group, Seychelles. PLoS ONE 13(3):1-20 [E. Vlachos/E. Vlachos]more details

Purpose of describing collection: taxonomic analysis

PaleoDB collection 192429: authorized by Evangelos Vlachos, entered by Evangelos Vlachos on 04.04.2018

Creative Commons license: CC BY (attribution)

Taxonomic list

Show authors, comments, and common names
Reptilia
 Squamata - Opluridae
Oplurus cf. cuvieri
Oplurus cf. cuvieri Gray 1831 Cuvier's Madagascar swift
R dentary fragment (USNM UPJ15); L dentary fragment; R humerus; x3 vertebrae
 Squamata - Scincidae
? Trachylepis sp.
? Trachylepis sp. Fitzinger 1843 skink
dentary; vertebrae.
Aves
 Accipitriformes - Accipitridae
Circus sp.
Circus sp. Lacépède 1799 harrier
 Procellariiformes - Procellariidae
Pterodroma kurodai, Puffinus sp.
Pterodroma kurodai Harrison and Walker 1978 petrel
Puffinus sp. Brisson 1760 shearwater
 Gruiformes - Rallidae
Dryolimnas cuvieri
Dryolimnas cuvieri Pucheran 1845 white-throated rail
Dryolimnas cf. aldabranus
 Strigiformes - Tytonidae
Tyto sp.
Tyto sp. Billberg 1828 barn owl
 Phaethontiformes - Phaethontidae
Phaethon rubricauda
Phaethon rubricauda Boddaert 1783 red-tailed tropicbird
Reptilia
 Testudines - Testudinidae
Aldabrachelys gigantea
Aldabrachelys gigantea Schweigger 1812 Aldabra giant tortoise
vertebra; scapula-coracoid fragment (USNM 96A); phalanx ungual