Grillental: Early/Lower Miocene, Namibia
collected by M. Pickford and B. Senut 1990, 2000

List of taxa
Where & when
Geology
Taphonomy & methods
Metadata & references
Taxonomic list
Mammalia - Anthracotheriidae
Brachyodus depereti Fourtau 1918
Pickford 2003
unnumbered South African Museum
Mammalia - Creodonta
Isohyaenodon sp. (Savage 1965)
Morales et al. 2008 1 specimen
original and current combination Hyaenodon (Isohyaenodon)
EF 208’01, left P4/
Mammalia - Creodonta - Hyaenodontidae
Hyaenodontidae informal unnamed species
Morales et al. 2008 2 specimens
GT 53’06, GT 58’06, "Hyainailouros or Megistotherium indet."
Mammalia - Carnivora - Nimravidae
Afrosmilus africanus (Andrews 1914)
Morales et al. 2008 2 specimens
original and current combination Pseudaelurus africanus
GT 77’07 left Mt II; GT 79’07, left scapholunar
Mammalia - Carnivora - Viverridae
Leptoplesictis senutae n. sp. Morales et al. 2008
Morales et al. 2008 1 specimen
GT6 - 1’06 right mandible with p/1-m/2.
Mammalia - Carnivora - Amphicyonidae
Ysengrinia sp. Ginsburg 1965
Morales et al. 2008 1 specimen
GT 4’04: right Mt IV.
Reptilia - Testudines - Testudinidae
Namibchersus cf. namaquensis (Stromer 1926)
de Lapparent de Broin 2003
Reptilia
Scolecophidia indet. (Duméril and Bibron 1844)
1 element
1 trunk vertebra (GT 36’97p)
Reptilia - Boidae
Boidae indet. Gray 1825
8 elements
4 teeth (GT 36’97n), 3 vertebrae of juveniles (GT 36’97m), 1 caudal vertebra (GT 36’97t)
Reptilia - Colubridae
"Colubrinae" indet. Oppel 1811
1 element
1 trunk vertebra (GT 36’97)
Natricinae indet. Bonaparte 1838
1 element
1 trunk vertebra (GT 139’04), from "GT Quarry"
Reptilia
Lacertilia informal unidentified gen. et sp. 1
1 fragment
1 fragment of dentigerous bone (GT 36’97m)
Lacertilia indet. (Owen 1842)
1 element
1 trunk vertebra (GT 36’97n)
Amphisbaenia indet. (Gray 1844)
2 elements
2 incomplete trunk vertebrae
see common names

Geography
Country:Namibia State/province:Karas County:Luderitz
Coordinates: 27.0° South, 15.3° East (view map)
Paleocoordinates:27.9° South, 12.8° East
Basis of coordinate:stated in text
Geographic resolution:local area
Time
Period:Neogene Epoch:Miocene
10 m.y. bin:Cenozoic 5
Key time interval:Early/Lower Miocene
Age range of interval:23.03000 - 15.97000 m.y. ago
Stratigraphy
Formation:Elisabeth Bay
Stratigraphic resolution:group of beds
Stratigraphy comments: The fossiliferous beds were assigned to the Elisabeth Bay Formation by Greenman (1966, unpubl. MSc thesis) but this unit, as originally defined, is penetrated by a major unconformity comprising a hiatus of about 15 Ma (Pickford & Senut, 1999, p. 61 & 76). The name Elisabeth Bay Formation here refers only to the lower, fluvial part of the series which is of Lower Miocene age (Pickford & Senut, 1999, p. 76).
Lithology and environment
Primary lithology: "siliciclastic"
Environment:fluvial indet.
Geology comments: The Miocene sediments of the Grillental localities have been deposited in an incised valley that was cut into the pre-Miocene bedrock of the Namib Coastal Plain during the late Oligocene or earliest Miocene, "when the sea level was appreciably lower than it is today." Incised valley and Miocene deposits represent the so-called Proto-Kaukausib drainage system (Pickford & Senut, 1999, fig. 4-2/p. 62).
Taphonomy
Modes of preservation:body
Size of fossils:macrofossils,mesofossils
Collection methods and comments
Collection methods:survey of museum collection
Reason for describing collection:taxonomic analysis
Collectors:M. Pickford and B. Senut Collection dates:1990s, 2000s
Collection method comments: The squamate material listed by Rage (2008) was collected by Martin Pickford and Brigitte Senut in the course of the Namibia Paleontology Expedition (NPE) in the 1990s and 2000s and is reposited in the Geological Survey of Namibia in Windhoek.
Metadata
Also known as:Sperrgebiet
Database number:168036
Authorizer:J. Mueller, E. Vlachos, P. Holroyd, R. Butler Enterer:T. Liebrecht, P. Holroyd, E. Vlachos, R. Butler
Modifier:R. Butler Research group:vertebrate
Collections that are a subset of this one:168035
Created:2015-04-13 12:14:34 Last modified:2015-12-31 04:23:14
Access level:the public Released:2015-04-13 12:14:34
Creative Commons license:CC BY
Reference information

Primary reference:

55022. J.-C. Rage. 2008. Squamate reptiles from the Lower Miocene of the Sperrgebiet, Namibia. In M. Pickford and B. Senut (eds.), Geology and palaeobiology of the northern Sperrgebiet, Namibia. Memoir of the Geological Survey of Namibia (Ministry of Mines and Energy, Windhoek) 20:93-103 [J. Mueller/T. Liebrecht]

Secondary references:

66484 F. de Lapparent de Broin. 2003. Miocene Chelonians from southern Namibia. Memoir of the Geological Survey of Namibia 19:67-102 [E. Vlachos/E. Vlachos]
57517 J. Morales, M. Pickford, and M. J. Salesa. 2008. Creodonta and Carnivora from the Early Miocene of the Northern Sperrgebiet, Namibia. Memoir of the Geological Survey of Namibia 20:291-310 [R. Butler/R. Butler]
72379 M. Pickford . 2003. Early and middle Miocene Anthracotheriidae (Mammalia, Artiodactyla) from the Sperregebiet, Namibia. Memoirs of the Geological Survey of Namibia 19:283-289 [P. Holroyd/P. Holroyd]