Cerro Cometa (Eocene of Venezuela)

Where: Falcon, Venezuela (11.0° N, 69.8° W: paleocoordinates 8.8° N, 63.2° W)

• coordinate based on nearby landmark

When: Santa Rita Formation, Late/Upper Eocene (37.2 - 33.9 Ma)

• Overlying Formations(s): Jarillal Formation. In conjunction with the Jarillal Formation, it is overlain by the Castillo Formation in the North and South, and by the El Paraiso and Pecaya Formations in the central part of the basin. Underlying Formation: It unconformably overlies Matatare Formation. Thickness: 400-500 m. (Guevara, 1967; Macellari 1995; Baquero et al., 2009).

Environment/lithology: coastal; coarse-grained conglomerate and sandstone

• This formation was deposited in continental to shallow marine environments. There is also mention that part of it could be from an alluvial fan (Baquero et al., 2009).
• The Santa Rita Formation consists of coarse conglomerate, very fine grained sandstones, and marl with interbedded limestone (Guevara, 1967; Baquero et al., 2009).

Size class: macrofossils

Primary reference: O. Aguilera, D. Rodrigues de Aguilera, F. J. Vega and M. R. Sanchez-Villagra. 2010. Mesozoic and Cenozoic decapod crustaceans from Venezuela and related trace-fossil assemblages. In M. R. Sanchez-Villagra, O. A. Aguilera, A. A. Carlini (eds.), Urumaco and Venezuelan Paleontology: The Fossil Record of the Northern Neotropics 103-129 [J. Wolfe/A. Lynch]more details

Purpose of describing collection: general faunal/floral analysis

PaleoDB collection 228729: authorized by Joanna Wolfe, entered by Arthur Lynch on 29.12.2022

Creative Commons license: CC BY (attribution)

Taxonomic list

Show authors, comments, and common names
Malacostraca
 Decapoda - Raninidae
Raninoides rathbunae
Raninoides rathbunae Van Straelen 1933 crab
 Decapoda - Aethridae
Eriosachila rathbunae
Eriosachila rathbunae Maury 1930 crab