FPA General Site (LACM) (Jurassic of the United States)

Also known as Fruita Paleontological Area, LACM Loc. 4684, 6174, CO-33

Where: Mesa County, Colorado (39.1° N, 108.8° W: paleocoordinates 35.6° N, 56.1° W)

• coordinate stated in text

• outcrop-level geographic resolution

When: Brushy Basin Member (Morrison Formation), Early/Lower Tithonian (150.8 - 145.0 Ma)

• Base of the Brushy Basin Member of the Morrison Formation immediately above the "clay change" horizon (see Kirkland 2006, New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science Bulletin, 36:67-95, fig. 6, pg. 93). Turner & Peterson (1999, Vertebrate Paleontology in Utah, Utah Geol. Survey Misc. Publ. 99-1, 77-114) placed the Fruita localities (listed as CO-33 in their stratigraphic sections) within the Kimmeridgian, and within their "Dinosaur Zone 2" and "charophyte-ostracod Zone 4". Stratigraphic horizons closely equivalent to the Fruitadens quarries yield 40Ar/39Ar isotopic dates of 150.3 +/- 0.3 Ma and 150.2 +/- 0.5 Ma (see Turner & Peterson 1999). This would place the Fruita quarries within the early Tithonian on recent timescales.

• group of beds-level stratigraphic resolution

Environment/lithology: "floodplain"; sandstone and siltstone

Size classes: macrofossils, mesofossils

Preservation: trace

Collected by G. L. Callison & party in the 1970s to early 1980s; reposited in the LACM

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

Primary reference: Anonymous. 1977. The Fruita Paleontological Report 1-82 [M. Carrano/M. Carrano]more details

Purpose of describing collection: taxonomic analysis

PaleoDB collection 71476: authorized by Matthew Carrano, entered by Matthew Carrano on 26.04.2007, edited by Roger Benson

Creative Commons license: CC BY (attribution)

Taxonomic list

Mammalia
  -
Mammalia indet.4 Linnaeus 1758 mammal
 Triconodonta -
Triconodonta indet.4 Osborn 1888 triconodont
 Symmetrodonta -
Symmetrodonta indet.4 symmetrodont
 Allotheria -
Multituberculata indet.7 Cope 1884 multituberculate
new species
 Multituberculata -
Glirodon grandis2 Engelmann and Callison 1999 multituberculate
LACM 120453 (partial skull), 120452 (mandible), 120688 (partial mandible), 120458 (maxilla)
 Theriamorpha - Paurodontidae
Paurodontidae indet.4 Marsh 1887 mammal
 Theriamorpha - Dryolestidae
Dryolestidae indet.4 Marsh 1879 mammal
new species
Reptilia
 Squamata -
Squamata indet.5 Oppel 1811 squamates
lizard or sphenodontian track
 Serpentes -
 Squamata -
"Parviraptor gilmorei n. sp." = Diablophis gilmorei3
"Parviraptor gilmorei n. sp." = Diablophis gilmorei3 Evans 1996 snake
LACM 4684/140572, 5572/120732, 5572/135535, 5572/135513, 5573/135533
 Squamata - Paramacellodidae
Saurillodon sp.3 Estes 1983 squamates
LACM 5573/135517, 5573/120590
Paramacellodus sp.3 Hoffstetter 1967 squamates
LACM 5573/135674
 Squamata - Dorsetisauridae
Dorsetisaurus sp.3 Hoffstetter 1967 squamates
LACM 5572/120504
 Loricata - Goniopholididae
Goniopholis sp.4 Owen 1842 crocodilian
 Loricata - Shartegosuchidae
"Fruitachampsa" sp.4 Clark 2011 crocodilian
 Loricata -
Macelognathus vagans6 Marsh 1884 crocodilian
LACM 4684/1282772 (L femur), 4684/133772 (cranial elements)
 Ornithischia - Heterodontosauridae
Fruitadens haagarorum n. gen. n. sp.1
Fruitadens haagarorum n. gen. n. sp.1 Butler et al. 2010 heterodontosaurid
 Ornithischia - Stegosauridae
Stegosaurus sp.4 Marsh 1877 ornithischian
 Theropoda -
Theropoda indet.4 theropod
includes tracks
Coelurosauria indet.7 coelurosaur
 Saurischia - Brachiosauridae
Brachiosaurus sp.4 Riggs 1903 brachiosaurid
 Saurischia - Camarasauridae
Camarasaurus sp.4 Cope 1877 camarasaurid
 Saurischia - Diplodocidae
Apatosaurus sp.4 Marsh 1877 diplodocid
Diplodocus sp.4 Marsh 1878 diplodocine
 Pterosauria -
 Eosuchia -
Opisthias sp.4 Gilmore 1909 lepidosaur
new species