Paspotansa Member (Potamac River, Virginia) fauna (Paleocene of the United States)

Also known as Belvedere Beach, Potamac River (Virginia) fauna

Where: King George County, Virginia (38.3° N, 77.3° W: paleocoordinates 39.0° N, 58.9° W)

• coordinate based on nearby landmark

• local area-level geographic resolution

When: Paspotansa Member (Aquia Formation), Late/Upper Paleocene (58.7 - 55.8 Ma)

• Underlain by Piscataway Member (upper Paleocene) of the Aquia Formation, overlain by Marlboro Clay (upper Paleocene). May be overlain by Potapaco Member of the Najemoy Formation (lower Eocene) if the latter is eroded.

• member-level stratigraphic resolution

Environment/lithology: interdistributary bay; lithified, micaceous, shelly/skeletal, gray sandstone

• Paspotansa Member frops out in a broad arc frome astern shore of Maryland to the James River in Virginia. Most extensive outcrop is along the Potamac River. 61ft exposed at Aquia Creek.
• "consists of olive-gray, very fine, micaceous, glauconitic sands."

Size class: macrofossils

Preservation: cast, mold/impression, concretion, dissolution traces

Reposited in the UNSM

• Description of museum reposited specimen, other taxa collected and observed in the field are listed in the text

Primary reference: L. W. Ward and T.R. Waller. 1988. A new species of Pulvinites (Mollusca: Bivalvia) from the upper Paleocene Paspotansa Member of the Aquia Formation in Virginia. Journal of Paleontology 62(1):51-55 [A. Miller/A. Hendy/A. Hendy]more details

Purpose of describing collection: taxonomic analysis

PaleoDB collection 35062: authorized by Austin Hendy, entered by Austin Hendy on 28.10.2003, edited by Mark Uhen

Creative Commons license: CC BY (attribution)

Taxonomic list

• Not a complete taxonomic list from the authors opinion, though representative (most common taxa listed)
Aves
  -
Aves indet. Linnaeus 1758 bird
Gastropoda
 Cerithioidea - Turritellidae
"Turritella mortoni" = Kapalmerella mortoni, Turritella humerosa
"Turritella mortoni" = Kapalmerella mortoni Conrad 1830 turret shell
Turritella humerosa Conrad 1835 turret shell
 Sorbeoconcha - Naticidae
Euspira marylandica Conrad 1865 moon snail
Bivalvia
 Ostreida - Malleidae
 Ostreida - Gryphaeidae
Pycnodonte sp. Fischer von Waldheim 1835 oyster
 Ostreida - Ostreidae
 Arcida - Cucullaeidae
Cucullaea gigantea Conrad 1862 clam
 Cardiida - Veneridae
 Carditida - Carditidae
"Venericardia (Venericardia) regia" = Venericardia (Venericor) regia
"Venericardia (Venericardia) regia" = Venericardia (Venericor) regia Conrad 1865 clam
 Carditida - Crassatellidae
"Crassatella alaeformis" = Bathytormus alaeformis
"Crassatella alaeformis" = Bathytormus alaeformis Conrad 1830 clam