Mesilla Valley Shale, Cerro de Cristo Rey, New Mexico (Cretaceous of the United States)

Where: Dona Ana County, New Mexico (31.4° N, 106.5° W: paleocoordinates 30.9° N, 69.0° W)

• coordinate stated in text

• outcrop-level geographic resolution

When: Mesilla Valley Shale Formation, Late/Upper Albian (105.3 - 99.6 Ma)

• formation-level stratigraphic resolution

Environment/lithology: shallow subtidal; poorly lithified shale and lithified, silty limestone

• Olive to dark gray shale containing a few interbeds of limestone and siltstone

Size class: macrofossils

Collection methods: quarrying, peel or thin section,

Primary reference: D. Turnsek, D. V. LeMone, and R. W. Scott. 2003. Tethyan Albian corals, Cerro de Cristo Rey Uplift, Chihuahua and New Mexico. Cretaceous Stratigraphy and Paleoecology, Texas and Mexico: Perkins Memorial Volume. Gulf Coast Section Society of Economic Paleontologists and Mineralogists Foundation, Special Publications in Geology 1:147-185 [W. Kiessling/W. Kiessling/W. Kiessling]more details

Purpose of describing collection: taxonomic analysis

PaleoDB collection 35099: authorized by Wolfgang Kiessling, entered by Wolfgang Kiessling on 10.11.2003

Creative Commons license: CC BY (attribution)

Taxonomic list

• Only corals studied in detail
Echinoidea
  -
Echinoidea indet. Leske 1778 sea urchin
Polychaeta
 Sabellida - Serpulidae
Serpulidae indet. Rafinesque 1835
Gastropoda
  -
Gastropoda indet. Cuvier 1795 snail
Bivalvia
 Trigoniida - Megatrigonioidae
Pterotrigonia sp. van Hoepen 1929 clam
 Ostreida - Gryphaeidae
Brachiopoda
  -
Brachiopoda indet. Cuvier 1805
Anthozoa
 Scleractinia - Montlivaltiidae
"Rennensismilia stainbrooki" = Trochosmilia stainbrooki
"Rennensismilia stainbrooki" = Trochosmilia stainbrooki Wells 1933 stony coral
 Scleractinia - Axosmiliidae
"Sphenotrochus straini n. sp." = Kobyphyllia straini
"Sphenotrochus straini n. sp." = Kobyphyllia straini Turnsek et al. 2003 stony coral
 Scleractinia - Amphiastreidae
Budaia lovejoyi n. sp. stony coral
 Scleractinia - Caryophylliidae
Caryophyllia comanchei, "Parasmiliopsis cenomana" = Smilotrochus cenomanus
Caryophyllia comanchei Wells 1933 stony coral
"Parasmiliopsis cenomana" = Smilotrochus cenomanus Fromentel 1863 stony coral
 Scleractinia - Guyniidae
"Diegosmilia complanata" = Palaeopsammia zitteli
"Diegosmilia complanata" = Palaeopsammia zitteli Vaughan 1900 stony coral
 Scleractinia - Parasmiliidae