Ghost Ranch Quarry (Triassic of the United States)

Also known as Whitaker Quarry, Coelophysis Quarry

Where: Rio Arriba County, New Mexico (36.3° N, 106.5° W: paleocoordinates 14.8° N, 46.4° W)

• coordinate stated in text

• small collection-level geographic resolution

When: Siltstone Member (Chinle Formation), Rhaetian (208.5 - 201.3 Ma)

• Apachean LVF. Has been placed variously previously in the "upper Petrified Forest Member", in the "siltstone member" of the Chinle Formation, the Owl Rock Member and the Rock Point Member.

• group of beds-level stratigraphic resolution

Environment/lithology: crevasse splay; bioturbated, intraclastic, brown, green, red, muddy siltstone and pebbly, calcareous conglomerate

• "pond [underlying the main quarry layer] represented a topographic depression in which the dinosaurs and associated carcasses accumulated...carcasses were washed into the quarry by a single [flood] event that also ripped up underlying lacustrine siltstones and even introduced some bones into the uppermost level of the lacustrine interval"
• "The quarry itself is in a sequence of 11 siltstone beds...These beds are intensively bioturbated, contain many silt rip-up clasts"; "predominately of reddish-brown, yellowish-brown, and light greenish-grey siltstones interbedded with carbonate pebble conglomerates; 10-20 m of interbedded sandstone and siltstone comprise the top of the section."

Size classes: macrofossils, mesofossils, microfossils

Collected by E. H. Colbert in 1947-1982; reposited in the AMNH, CM, MCZ, YPM

Collection methods: bulk, quarrying, surface (float), surface (in situ), mechanical,

• 1947 AMNH expedition under E. H. Colbert

•Material also in MNA, NMMNH, TMP

Primary reference: E. H. Colbert. 1947. The little dinosaurs of Ghost Ranch. Natural History 59(9):392-399-427-428 [A. Behrensmeyer/A. Behrensmeyer/A. Murch]more details

Purpose of describing collection: general faunal/floral analysis

PaleoDB collection 48422: authorized by Matthew Carrano, entered by Matthew Carrano on 18.03.2005, edited by Richard Butler, Bethany Allen and Pete Wagner

Creative Commons license: CC BY (attribution)

Taxonomic list

unclassified
  -
Ostracoda
 Podocopida - Darwinulidae
Darwinula sp.9 Brady and Robertson 1885 ostracod
Branchiopoda
 Diplostraca - Shipingiidae
Shipingia sp.9 Shen 1976 clam shrimp
Coelacanthimorpha
 Coelacanthiformes - Mawsoniidae
Chinlea sorenseni11 Schaeffer 1967 coelacanth
AMNH 5657
Reptilia
  -
Reptilia indet.9 Laurenti 1768 reptile
NMMNH P-55352
 Diapsida -
Archosauriformes indet.9 Gauthier 1986 archosauromorph
NMMNH P-41307, 41601, 42571, teeth
 Loricata -
Crocodylomorpha indet.4 crocodilian
CM 73372, articulated skeleton. GR 1007, ilium
Hesperosuchus cf. agilis10 Colbert 1952 crocodilian
CM 29894, skull and articulated partial postcranial skeleton. NMMNH P-57654, osteoderms
 Pseudosuchia - Shuvosauridae
Effigia okeeffeae n. gen. n. sp.5
Effigia okeeffeae n. gen. n. sp.5 Nesbitt and Norell 2006 archosaur
AMNH 30587 (holotype), articulated skeleton. AMNH 30588 -30590, postcranial material
 Phytosauria - Parasuchidae
Redondasaurus bermani n. sp.2 Hunt and Lucas 1993 archosaur
"Nicrosaurus/Pseudopalatus-grade"
Redondasaurus gregorii3 Hunt and Lucas 1993 archosaur
NMMNH P-44920, skull of juvenile
 Dinosauromorpha - Silesauridae
Eucoelophysis sp.9 Sullivan and Lucas 1999 ornithodiran
TMP 84-63-33, partial skeleton
 Theropoda -
Daemonosaurus chauliodus n. gen. n. sp.12
Daemonosaurus chauliodus n. gen. n. sp.12 Sues et al. 2011 theropod
CM 76821, nearly complete but crushed skull and anterior cervical vertebrae
 Theropoda - Coelophysidae
Coelophysis bauri n. sp. Cope 1887 coelophysoid
Numerus skeletons including designated neotype material for Coelophysis bauri
 Diapsida - Doswelliidae
Vancleavea campi6 Long and Murry 1995 archosauromorph
 Eosuchia -
Whitakersaurus bermani n. gen. n. sp.1
Whitakersaurus bermani n. gen. n. sp.1 Heckert et al. 2008 lepidosaur
 Diapsida - Drepanosauridae
Drepanosauridae indet.8 Berman and Reisz 1992 diapsid
NMMNH P-57651, partially articulated hindlimb
Drepanosaurus sp.8 Pinna 1980 diapsid
GR 1113, pectoral girdle
Avicranium renestoi n. gen. n. sp.7 Pritchard and Nesbitt 2017 diapsid
AMNH FARB 30834, partial skull and articulated cervical series
Osteichthyes
 Palaeonisciformes - Redfieldiidae
"Synorichthys cf. stewarti" = Lasalichthys stewarti9
"Synorichthys cf. stewarti" = Lasalichthys stewarti9 Gibson 2018
AMNH 5719