Birket Qarun 2 (Eocene of Egypt)

Also known as BK-2; BQ-2; BQ 2; Birket Qarun Locality 2

Where: Egypt (29.6° N, 30.6° E: paleocoordinates 24.9° N, 26.5° E)

• coordinate based on nearby landmark

• small collection-level geographic resolution

When: Umm Rigl Member (Birket Qarun Formation), Priabonian (38.0 - 33.9 Ma)

• "183 m below the contact of the Qasr el Sagha and Jebel Qatrani formations... This horizon was recently placed in the lowermost (Umm Rigl) Member of the Qasr el Sagha Formation, but renewed work indicates that these fossiliferous alluvial sediments are lithologically distinctive and best retained in the Birket Qarun Formation"; according to Seiffert et al. 2005 the fossilferous beds are "229 m below Quarry L-41," "about 5 to 15 cm thick," and based on new paleomagnetic data within C17n.1n and "earliest Priabonian"

• group of beds-level stratigraphic resolution

Environment/lithology: "channel"; ferruginous, shelly/skeletal sandstone

• "alluvial" (Seiffert et al. 2003) or "deposited by meandering streams... clearly fluvial" and "close to the coast" (Gunnell et al. 2008)
• "bioclastic ironstone conglomerate" (Seiffert et al. 2003) or "ironstone-rich fining upward sequences of medium-to-fine grained sands and muds"

Size classes: macrofossils, mesofossils

Collected by E. R. Seiffert, E. L. Simons

Collection methods: bulk, quarrying, sieve,

• fossils" recovered either by dry-sieving of loose sediment or by quarrying," and according to Seiffert et al. 2005, collections were made in 2001 through 2003

•CGM collection

Primary reference: E. R. Seiffert, E. L. Simons, and Y. Attia. 2003. Fossil evidence for an ancient divergence of lorises and galagos. Nature 422:421-424 [J. Alroy/J. Alroy]more details

Purpose of describing collection: taxonomic analysis

PaleoDB collection 67706: authorized by John Alroy, entered by John Alroy on 06.12.2006, edited by Torsten Liebrecht, Philip Mannion, Pauline Coster and Grace Varnham

Creative Commons license: CC BY (attribution)

Taxonomic list

• additional taxa that are not primates and therefore not worth describing include "proboscideans, hyracoids, herodotiines, ptolemaiids, creodonts, anomaluroid and hystricognathous rodents, chiropterans, and insectivores" (Seiffert et al. 2005)
Mammalia
 Rodentia -
Protophiomys aegyptensis n. sp.9, "Waslamys attiai n. gen. n. sp." = Protophiomys attiai9
Protophiomys aegyptensis n. sp.9 Sallam et al. 2009 rodent
CGM 83695 - holotype; referred material: DPC specimens
"Waslamys attiai n. gen. n. sp." = Protophiomys attiai9 Sallam et al. 2009 rodent
CGM 83690 - holotype; referred material: DPC specimens
 Rodentia - Nementchamyidae
Kabirmys qarunensis n. gen. n. sp.8
Kabirmys qarunensis n. gen. n. sp.8 Sallam et al. 2010 rodent
 Rodentia - Anomaluridae
Shazurus minutus n. gen. n. sp.7
Shazurus minutus n. gen. n. sp.7 Sallam et al. 2010 scaly-tailed squirrel
 Primates -
Karanisia clarki n. gen. n. sp., Afradapis longicristatus n. gen. n. sp.13, Masradapis tahai n. sp.12
Karanisia clarki n. gen. n. sp. Seiffert et al. 2003 primate
Afradapis longicristatus n. gen. n. sp.13 Seiffert et al. 2009 primate
Masradapis tahai n. sp.12 Seiffert et al. 2017 primate
CGM 83720 - holotype
 Primates - Galagidae
Saharagalago misrensis n. gen. n. sp.
Saharagalago misrensis n. gen. n. sp. Seiffert et al. 2003 galago
 Primates - Parapithecidae
Biretia fayumensis n. sp.15 Seiffert et al. 2005 monkey
Biretia megalopsis n. sp.15 Seiffert et al. 2005 monkey
 Primates -
Nosmips aenigmaticus n. gen. n. sp.14
Nosmips aenigmaticus n. gen. n. sp.14 Seiffert et al. 2010 primate
CGM 66002 - holotype
 Theriamorpha -
Ghamidtherium dimaiensis n. gen. n. sp.10
Ghamidtherium dimaiensis n. gen. n. sp.10 Sánchez-Villagra et al. 2007 placental
CGM 83699 - holotype; hypodigm: DPC 22442D; DPC 21498B probably also belongs to this taxon
 Placentalia -
Chiroptera indet.2 Blumenbach 1779 bat
DPC 21372A and B - possibly a marsupial
 Chiroptera - Rhinopomatidae
Qarunycteris moerisae n. gen. n. sp.4
Qarunycteris moerisae n. gen. n. sp.4 Gunnell et al. 2008 mouse-tailed bat
 Chiroptera - Aegyptonycteridae
Aegyptonycteris knightae n. gen. n. sp.16
Aegyptonycteris knightae n. gen. n. sp.16 Simmons et al. 2016 bat
CGM 83740 - holotype
 Chiroptera - Philisidae
Witwatia eremicus n. sp.4, Witwatia schlosseri n. gen. n. sp.4
Witwatia eremicus n. sp.4 Gunnell et al. 2008 bat
Witwatia schlosseri n. gen. n. sp.4 Gunnell et al. 2008 bat
 Hyracoidea -
Dimaitherium patnaiki n. gen. n. sp.1
Dimaitherium patnaiki n. gen. n. sp.1 Barrow et al. 2010 hyrax
 Theriamorpha -
Dilambdogale gheerbranti n. gen. n. sp.11
Dilambdogale gheerbranti n. gen. n. sp.11 Seiffert 2010 placental
CGM 66005 - holotype; referred material: DPC 23306E, 23307A, 23007H, 23736A, 23780C, 23784D, 23983C, 24001A, 24081B, 24103A and DPC 24108A
Reptilia
 Squamata -
Serpentes indet.6 Linnaeus 1758 snake
DPC 25620, 25661, 25665 ("large", "pertains either to Pterosphenus or Gigantophis), 25677, 25678, 25689, 25691, 25693, and 2694, all are incomplete and/or strongly eroded vertebrae
 Squamata - Palaeophiidae
Pterosphenus schweinfurthi6 Andrews 1901 snake
5 anterior trunk vertebrae (DPC 21270, 21287, 24291, 25666, and 25667), 4 mid-trunk vertebrae (DPC 25607, 25630, 25668, and 25680)
 Squamata - Madtsoiidae
Gigantophis garstini6 Andrews 1901 snake
1 "giant" mid-trunk vertebra (DPC 25616), 1 "large" juvenile mid-trunk vertebra (DPC 25641)
 Squamata -
Caenophidia indet.6 Hoffstetter 1939 snake
1 "badly eroded partial vertebra" (DPC 25679)
 Squamata - Russellophiidae
Russellophiidae indet.6 Rage 1978 snake
1 single mid-trunk vertebra (DPC 25663)
 Squamata - Tropidophiidae
Tropidophiidae indet.6 Cope 1894 dwarf boa
1 anterior trunk vertebra (DPC 25650), 3 mid-trunk vertebrae (DPC 25634, 25654, and 25664), 2 caudal vertebrae (DPC 25674 and 25692)
 Squamata -
Booidea "taxon A"6 Gray 1825 snake
1 left maxilla (DPC 21241), 3 anterior trunk vertebrae (DPC 25605, 25643, and 25655), 17 mid-trunk vertebrae (DPC 25603, 25606, 25613, 25618, 25619, 25628, 25635, 25642, 25644 to 25646, 25649, 25660, 25670, 25671, 25684, and 25690), 4 posterior trunk vertebrae (DPC 25623, 25673, 25685, and 25686)
Booidea "taxon B"6 Gray 1825 snake
7 mid-trunk vertebrae (DPC 25610, 25614, 25615, 25629, 25639, 25651, and 25652), 5 posterior trunk vertebrae (DPC 25621, 25622, 25638, 25662, and 25672)
cf. Procerophis sp.3 Rage et al. 2008 snake
MUVP 454, an isolated mid- trunk vertebra
Amphisbaenia indet.3 Gray 1844 worm lizard
MUVP 453, an isolated presacral vertebra
 Squamata - Varanidae
Varanus sp.5 Merrem 1820 monitor lizard
Vertebrae: DPC 21355, one cervical, two trunk and two caudal; 21442, one caudal; 23257, two trunk and two caudal; 23258, four caudals; 23778, caudal
 Loricata -
Crocodyliformes indet.17 crocodilian
DPC 24618 and 21120
Sebecosuchia indet.17 crocodilian
DPC 20814
 Crocodylia -
Gavialoidea indet.17 Brochu 1997 crocodilian
DPC 24708 and 24343
 Life - Thaumastophiidae
Renenutet sp.3 McCartney and Seiffert 2016
MUVP 455, mid-trunk vertebra (4.1 mm centrum length); MUVP 457, MUVP 458, MUVP 459, anterior caudal vertebrae (5.1 mm centrum length and 4.9 mm height of the neural arch and spine); MUVP 460, posterior caudal vertebra (2 mm centrum length).
Renenutet enmerwer n. gen. n. sp.6 McCartney and Seiffert 2016
holotype: GCM 83731, a mid-trunk vertebra; paratypes: DPC 25657, a mid-trunk vertebra, and DPC 25627, a posterior trunk vertebra; referred specimens: 7 mid-trunk vertebrae (DPC 25609, 25611, 25633, 25640, 25656, 25657, and 25687), 2 posterior trunk vertebrae (DPC 25602 and 25608)