Snyderville vertebrates, Osage Cuestas (Carboniferous of the United States)

Where: Greenwood County County, Kansas (38.0° N, 96.2° W)

• Paleocoordinates: 0.1° S, 27.0° W (Wright 2013)

• coordinate estimated from map

When: Snyderville Shale Member (Oread Formation), Virgilian (303.7 - 298.9 Ma)

• fossil site is located in the lower portion of the Shawnee Group (Merriam 2000). Specifically the Toronto Limestone Member is exposed nearby below the fossit site, the Snyderville Shale Member outcrops at the fossil level, and the Leavenworth Limestone Member caps nearly hills at higher elevations.

Environment/lithology: offshore; gray, calcareous shale

• The Toronto and Snyderville comprise a minor transgressive-regressive cyclothem at the bottom of the Oread Formation at the base of the Shawnee Group (Kansas Geological Survey 2013).

•

•deposition in a lagoon, estuary or lake setting

•

•...the fossil assemblage is consistent with an environment of exposed land areas, such as flood plains and tidal flats, and bordering wetlands including swamps, marshes, channels, lagoons and lakes

• In this vicinity, the Snyderville includes red, tan and gray shale and mudstone interlayered with iron- and manganese-stained sandstone. It is characterized at the fossil site by light gray weathering to light tan. Dissacociated vertebrate fossils occur below reddish zones near the center of the member. Appearing 5 m from the top is a 30-cm thick, dense, well-cemented, fine-grained gry sandstone weathering to dark brown. This layer exhibits prominent rectangular joint blocks. A thin, irregular-bedded, light gray limestone of variable thickness appears 1.5 m from the top, and marine fossils (Chonetes, a strophomenid brachiopod) occur in places near the top of the Snyderville Shale.

•The fossiliferous strata are exposed in a long section subjected to considerable sheet and gully erosion. Bones and bone fragments are disassociated and are scattered along the outcrop. Fossil remains are derived from a light gray calcareous layer, weathering to light tan, located below a reddish claystone layer with sandstone lenses and ironstone concretions.

Size class: macrofossils

• The fossils recovered to date include whole bones, bone fragments, spines, teeth, claws, and coprolites representing a variety of amphibian, reptile, fish, and shark remains.

Primary reference: S.W. Aber, N. Peterson, W.J. May, P. Johnston, and J.S. Aber. 2014. First report of vertebrate fossils in the Snyderville Shale (Oread Formation: Upper Pennsylvanian), Greenwood County, Kansas. Transactions of the Kansas Academy of Science 117(3/4):193-202 [B. Seuss/B. Seuss/B. Seuss]more details

Purpose of describing collection: taxonomic analysis

PaleoDB collection 215555: authorized by Barbara Seuss, entered by Barbara Seuss on 13.11.2020

Creative Commons license: CC0 (CC0)

Taxonomic list

Show authors, comments, and common names
unclassified
  -
Pisces indet., Elasmobranchia indet.
Pisces indet.
bones, bone fragments, spines, teeth, claws, and coprolites
Elasmobranchia indet.
shark bones, bone fragments, spines, teeth, claws, and coprolites
Osteichthyes
 Dipnoi - Sagenodontidae
Sagenodus sp.
Sagenodus sp. Owen 1867 lungfish
 Cotylosauria - Diadectidae
Diasparactus sp.
Diasparactus sp. Case 1910 tetrapod
Reptilia
  -
Reptilia indet.
Reptilia indet. Laurenti 1768 reptile
bones, bone fragments, spines, teeth, claws, and coprolites
Osteichthyes
 Synapsida - Ophiacodontidae
Ophiacodon sp.
Ophiacodon sp. Marsh 1878 ophiacodont
 Cotylosauria -
Archeria sp.
Archeria sp. Case 1918 tetrapod
Amphibia
 Amphibia -
Amphibia indet.
Amphibia indet. tetrapod
bones, bone fragments, spines, teeth, claws, and coprolites
 Temnospondyli - Eryopidae
Eryops sp.
Eryops sp. Cope 1877 tetrapod
 Temnospondyli - Trimerorhachidae
Trimerorhachis sp.
Trimerorhachis sp. Cope 1878 tetrapod
Chondrichthyes
 Xenacanthida - Orthacanthidae
Orthacanthus sp.
Orthacanthus sp. Agassiz 1843 elasmobranch