PBDB Collection

Gran Barranca: Middle Eocene - Early Miocene, Argentina

List of taxa

Where & when

Geology

Taphonomy & methods

Metadata & references

Taxonomic list

Mammalia - Notoungulata - Notohippidae

	Notohippidae indet. Ameghino 1894	Vera et al. 2015	1 specimen
	MGP-PD 29070 B: left M3?
Mammalia - Notoungulata - Oldfieldthomasiidae

	Oldfieldthomasia sp. Ameghino 1901	Vera et al. 2015	1 specimen
	MGP-PD 31581, P4?
Mammalia - Notoungulata - Archaeohyracidae

	Archaeohyracidae indet. Ameghino 1897	Vera et al. 2015	1 specimen
	"MGP-PD 29082: two right lower molars, left m3 and right upper molar"
Mammalia - Astrapotheria - Astrapotheriidae

	Parastrapotherium crassum n. sp. Ameghino 1902	Kramarz and Bond 2010
	Described as being from Colhuehuapian levels at Gran Barranca, but the preservation of the type specimens is characteristic of the Deseadan levels.
Mammalia - Sparassodonta

	Cladosictis sp. Ameghino 1887	Sinclair 1930	1 specimen
	FMNH P 13521, mandible

	Proborhyaena sp. Ameghino 1897	Sinclair 1930	1 specimen
	FMNH P 13526, partial left dentary

	Borhyaena riggsi n. sp. Sinclair 1930	Sinclair 1930	1 specimen
	FMNH P 13433, skull. Said to come from the "Deseado horizon (Astraponotus beds) at the southern end of Lake Colhue Huapi", suggesting the Deseadan ("Deseado") or Mustersan ("Astraponotus") SALMA, but the species is now thought to be Colhuehuapian in age (e.g., Marshall, 1978; Goin et al., 2007).
see common names

Geography

Country:	Argentina	State/province:	Chubut
Coordinates:	45.7° South, 68.7° West (view map)
Paleocoordinates:	45.8° South, 62.6° West (Wright 2013)
Basis of coordinate:	estimated from map
Geographic resolution:	local area

Time

Period:	Paleogene - Neogene	Epoch:	Eocene - Miocene
10 m.y. bin:	Cenozoic 2-3 - Cenozoic 5
Key time interval:	Middle Eocene - Early Miocene
Age range of interval:	47.8 - 15.98 m.y. ago

Stratigraphy

Formation:	Sarmiento
Stratigraphic resolution:	formation
Stratigraphy comments: Deposits of the Sarmiento Formation, ranging in age from the Barrancan to "Pinturan" SALMAs (Middle Eocene to Early Miocene). This locality has yielded a long, complex, and very important sequence of mammal-bearing fossil deposits. This collection lists a small number of specimens of uncertain stratigraphic provenance; other collections are listed below. Gran Barranca was discovered in the 1890s and the first extensive collections were made by Carlos Ameghino. Later, many others have collected here, including the Scarritt Expedition under G.G. Simpson in the 1930s. On the basis of more recent collections, Madden et al. (2010) reviewed the complete stratigraphic sequence, spanning at least five South American Land Mammal Ages and more than 20 million years. Stratigraphically, all deposits at Gran Barranca are assigned to the Sarmiento Formation. From bottom to top, it includes the Gran Barranca, Rosado, Lower Puesto Almendra, Vera, Upper Puesto Almendra, and Colhue-Huapi Members (Bellosi, 2010). Absolute dates for the succession were provided by Ré et al. (2010) and Dunn et al. (2013). Collections based on material from Gran Barranca are listed below. Older collections frequently only include a general stratigraphic origin (corresponding to a SALMA), but recent collections (reviewed by Madden et al., 2010) use a sequence of localities prefixed with GBV. Barrancan SALMA ---------------------- The Barrancan "sub-age" of the Casamayoran SALMA was proposed by Cifelli (1985) on the basis of the oldest fossils preserved at Gran Barranca. This age coincides with the Gran Barranca Member. Cifelli (1985) provided species lists for a number of faunules within the Barrancan of Gran Barranca, based on Scarritt Expedition collections, but several of these faunules are post-Barrancan in age and listed below. Most Barrancan material cannot be assigned to a more precise level. Collections: - 13779, general Barrancan locality - 176176, faunule 1 - 176177, faunule 2 - 176178, faunule 3 - 176180, faunule 5 - 176181, faunule 6 - 176182, faunule 7 - 176183, faunule 9 - 176184, faunule 10 - 176185, faunule 11 - 176186, aunule 12 - 176187, faunule 13 - 176188, faunule 14 - 176190, faunule 18 - 176191, faunule 19 - 176192, faunule 20 - 176193, faunule 21 El Nuevo and Mustersan SALMA ---------------------- The main modern Mustersan locality is known as El Rosado and located in the Rosado Member. Lower in the Rosado Member is another fossiliferous level known as El Nuevo, which appears to contain a fauna intermediate in age between the Barrancan and Mustersan. The Scaritt Expedition also found Mustersan fossils in the overlying Lower Puesto Almendra Member, but apparently all modern collections come from the Rosado Member. A number of old specimens do not have a more precise provenance than "Mustersan of Gran Barranca". Collections: - 176287, general Mustersan locality - 23371, Feruglio collection (assigned to Mustersan but presence of _Eomorphippus_ suggests a Tinguirican age instead) - 105837, invertebrates only ("MACN Gran Barranca 1") - 176189, GBV-60 El Nuevo = faunule 15 (Madden et al. 2010:428). - 176194, GBV-3 El Rosado = faunule 8. Madden et al. (2010:428) says that Cifelli (1985) assigned this level to the Barrancan and recorded only _Notostylops_ sp. and _Antepithecus brachystephanus_, which matches only faunule 8. - 176169, GBV-64 Coley's Quarry = faunule 4. Cifelli (1985) already assigned this faunule to the Mustersan and Madden et al. (2010:429) gave an informal faunal list that matches only faunule 4. GBV-65 is also said to be possibly Mustersan, but there is no further information about it. Tinguirirican SALMA ---------------------- The Tinguirirican is represented at Gran Barranca in the Vera Member. Ameghino apparently found some Tinguirican specimens here, which he assigned to the "Astraponotéen plus supérieure" (APS; =upper Mustersan). The main modern collection is known as La Cancha. Two of Cifelli's (1985) faunules, 16 and 17, are also Tinguirican in age. Both Ameghino's APS specimens and the specimens from the modern La Cancha collection tend to be covered in manganese. - 38611, Astraponotéen plus supérieur (possibly not all from Gran Barranca) - 176200, GBV-4 La Cancha - 176195, faunule 16 - 176196, faunule 17 La Cantera ---------------------- La Cantera, also in the Vera Member, is a modern collection that appears to represent a distinct time interval between the Tinguirirican and Deseadan SALMAs, which has been informally called the "Canteran" SALMA. - 176201, GBV-19 La Cantera Deseadan SALMA ---------------------- The Deseadan is represented by some poor collections in the Upper Puesto Almendra Member. - 176235, general locality - 176202, GBV-1 - 176203, GBV-34 - 176204, GBV-35 Colhuehuapian SALMA ---------------------- The Colhuehuapian SALMA is represented by abundant fossils from the Colhue-Huapi Member, collected by Ameghino and by many others since. Modern records assign these to the Lower Fossil Zone of the Colhue-Huapi Member. Many specimens are associated with the place name Puesto Almendra. Within the Lower Fossil Zone, several stratigraphic levels apparently exist, but most literature does not indicate the precise provenance of specimens. - 141368, general locality - 74771, penguin locality said to be from the Colhuehuapian of Gran Barranca. - 176236, GBV-8 - 176240, GBV-9 - 176237, GBV-10 - 176238, GBV-38 - 176239, GBV-43 "Pinturan" SALMA ---------------------- The uppermost fossil locality on Gran Barranca, still in the Colhue-Huapi Member, is in the Upper Fossil Zone. It is assigned to the informal "Pinturan" SALMA, which is also represented at the Pinturas Formation elsewhere in Patagonia and appears to represent an interval between the Colhuehuapian and Santacrucian SALMAs. - 176205, Upper Fossil Zone, GBV-54 and 55

Lithology and environment

Primary lithology:	claystone
Lithology description: Bentonite and tuffs
Environment:	terrestrial indet.

Taphonomy

Modes of preservation:	body
Size of fossils:	macrofossils,mesofossils,microfossils

Collection methods and comments

Collection methods:	survey of museum collection
Reason for describing collection:	taxonomic analysis

Metadata

Also known as:	South of Lake Colhué-Huapí, Puesto Almendra, Colhué-Huapí
Database number:	176461
Authorizer:	J. Zijlstra	Enterer:	J. Zijlstra
Modifier:	M. Kouvari	Research group:	vertebrate
Created:	2016-02-13 12:04:27	Last modified:	2025-02-22 15:12:02
Access level:	the public	Released:	2016-02-13 12:04:27
Creative Commons license:	CC0

Reference information

Primary reference:

57837.

R. H. Madden, R. F. Kay, M. G. Vucetich and A. A. Carlini. 2010. Gran Barranca: a twenty-three million year record of Middle-Cenozoic faunal evolution in Patagonia. In R. H. Madden, A. A. Carlini, M. G. Vucetich, R. F. Kay (eds.), The Paleontology of Gran Barranca: Evolution and Environmental Change through the Middle Cenozoic of Patagonia 423-439 [J. Zijlstra/J. Zijlstra]

Secondary references:

57912		A. G. Kramarz and M. Bond. 2010. Colhuehuapian Astrapotheriidae (Mammalia) from Gran Barranca south of Lake Colhue Huapi. In R. H. Madden, A. A. Carlini, M. G. Vucetich, R. F. Kay (eds.), The Paleontology of Gran Barranca: Evolution and Environmental Change through the Middle Cenozoic of Patagonia 182-192 [J. Zijlstra/J. Zijlstra]
13081		L. G. Marshall, R. L. Cifelli, R. E. Drake and G. H. Curtis. 1986. Vertebrate paleontology, geology, and geochronology of the Tapera de López and Scarritt Pocket, Chubut Province, Argentina. Journal of Paleontology 60(4):920-951 [D. Croft/D. Croft/D. Croft]
58074		W. J. Sinclair. 1930. New carnivorous marsupials from the Deseado Formation of Patagonia. Field Museum of Natural History, Geology, Memoirs 1(1):35-39 [J. Zijlstra/J. Zijlstra]
58073		B. Vera, M. Fornasiero, and L. Del Favero. 2015. The Egidio Feruglio's collection in the Museum of Geology and Palaeontology of the University of Padova: its importance to the knowledge of Cenozoic mammals from South America. Museologia Scientifica 9:35-44 [J. Zijlstra/J. Zijlstra]