NMMNH L-3650, Elephant Butte (lower): Late/Upper Campanian - Maastrichtian, New Mexico
collected by G. Mack 1997

List of taxa
Where & when
Geology
Taphonomy & methods
Metadata & references
Taxonomic list
Reptilia - Ceratopsidae
Torosaurus sp. Marsh 1891
1 individual
partial skeleton, NMMNH P-76870
    = Sierraceratops turneri n. gen., n. sp. Dalman et al. 2022
Dalman et al. 2022
Holotype. NMMNH P-76870 (incomplete skeleton comprising the following skeletal elements: premaxilla, jugal, epijugal, quadratojugal, quadrate, pterygoid, postorbital horncore, partial, squamosal, dentary, a cervical centrum and separate cervical vertebra, two dorsal vertebrae, sacral vertebrae, two dorsal ribs, scapulocoracoid, ulna, ilium, ischial peduncle, and an ungual manual phalanx))
see common names

Geography
Country:United States State/province:New Mexico County:Sierra
Coordinates: 33.2° North, 107.2° West (view map)
Paleocoordinates:40.5° North, 81.1° West
Basis of coordinate:based on nearby landmark
Altitude:1327 meters
Geographic resolution:small collection
Time
Period:Cretaceous Epoch:Late/Upper Cretaceous
Key time interval:Late/Upper Campanian - Maastrichtian
Age range of interval:83.60000 - 66.00000 m.y. ago
Stratigraphy
Geological group:McRae Formation:Hall Lake
Stratigraphic resolution:bed
Stratigraphy comments: Hall Lake Formation of the McRae Group, Upper Cretaceous (latest Campanian–Maastrichtian) (Lucas et al., 2019).

"Most dinosaur fossils come from a narrow stratigraphic interval 23–43 m above the base of the Hall Lake Formation (Fig. 1). This includes a tyrannosaurid (cf. Tyrannosaurus sp.), and abundant ceratopsids, including the type material of Sierraceratops turneri. Amato et al., (2017, fig. 4) reported a U–Pb age of 73.2 ± 0.7 Ma on a tuff bed about 10 m above the base of the Hall Lake Formation, and this latest Campanian age suggests the Hall Lake dinosaurs in the 23–43 m thick interval above the Hall Lake base, including Sierraceratops, are likely late Campanian in age."
Lithology and environment
Primary lithology:gray,green,red mudstone
Includes fossils?Y
Lithology description: "grayish red and olive gray mudstone"
Environment:terrestrial indet.
Taphonomy
Modes of preservation:body
Size of fossils:macrofossils
Preservation of anatomical detail:medium
Fragmentation:frequent
Temporal resolution:snapshot
Spatial resolution:parautochthonous
Collection methods and comments
Collection methods:selective quarrying,surface (in situ),field collection
Reason for describing collection:general faunal/floral analysis
Museum repositories:NMMNH
Collectors:G. Mack Collection dates:1997
Metadata
Also known as:NMMNH Locality 3650; Armendaris Ranch
Database number:178745
Authorizer:M. Carrano, P. Mannion Enterer:M. Carrano, P. Mannion
Modifier:M. Carrano Research group:vertebrate
Created:2016-05-13 13:02:50 Last modified:2022-09-21 14:02:16
Access level:the public Released:2016-05-13 13:02:50
Creative Commons license:CC BY
Reference information

Primary reference:
59148. S. G. Lucas, G. H. Mack, and J. W. Estep. 1998. The ceratopsian dinosaur Torosaurus from the Upper Cretaceous McRae Formation, Sierra County, New Mexico. In J. W. Estep, G. S. Austin, & J. M. Barker (eds.), New Mexico Geological Society, 49th Field Conference, Las Cruces Country II. New Mexico Geological Society Guidebook 49:223-227 [M. Carrano/M. Carrano]

Secondary references:

78571 S. G. Dalman, S. G. Lucas, S. E. Jasinski and N. R. Longrich. 2022. Sierraceratops turneri, a new chasmosaurine ceratopsid from the Hall Lake Formation (Upper Cretaceous) of south-central New Mexico. Cretaceous Research 130:105034 [E. Dunne/E. Dunne/P. Mannion]
82649 A. A. Farke. 2002. A review of Torosaurus (Dinosauria: Ceratopsidae) specimens from Texas and New Mexico. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 22(3 (suppl.)):52A [M. Carrano/M. Carrano]