San Jose de Cocodite (Miocene of Venezuela)

Where: Falcon, Venezuela (11.9° N, 70.0° W: paleocoordinates 11.2° N, 66.7° W)

• coordinate estimated from map

When: Cantaure Formation, Burdigalian (20.4 - 16.0 Ma)

• The base of the unit is a Balanus bed containing blocks of granite, passing upwards through sands and calcareous sands. The top of the Cantaure Formation is conformably overlain by limestone layers that have been interpreted by Jung (1965) and Hunter and Bartok (1974) as post-Cantaure and pre-Pliocene sedimentation. Rey (1996) suggested that the upper contact of the Cantaure Formation represents an unconformity with the Amuay Member (early Pliocene) of the Paraguaná Formation. (Landau and Vermeij 2010; Carrillo-Briceño et al., 2016).

Environment/lithology: marginal marine; silty shale and medium-grained, silty sandstone

• These fossils are indicative of a tropical-marine, clear shallow-water inner to middle shelf coastal environment that was likely between 0 and 50 m. More specifically, some of the fauna are characteristic of a complex and stable neritic littoral ecosystem that may have also included lagoons. (Aguilera et al., 2010, 2013; Carrillo-Briceno et al., 2016).
• Hunter and Bartok (1974) divided the Cantaure Formation into three sections: 1) fossiliferous basal breccia unconformably overlying the granite basement, 2) lower section comprised mainly of shales and some sandy horizons [including the mollusk rich horizons illustrated by Jung (1965)], and 3) upper section represented by silty shales interbedded with thin algal limestones and shell beds. A diverse fossil fauna, particularly rich in mollusks, decapods, and fishes, has been identified along the Cantaure section (Jung 1965; Thomas and MacDonald 1970; Nolf and Aguilera 1998; Aguilera 2010; Aguilera and Lundberg 2010; Aguilera et al. 2010, 2013).

Size class: macrofossils

Primary reference: O. Aguilera, D. Rodrigues de Aguilera, F. J. Vega and M. R. Sanchez-Villagra. 2010. Mesozoic and Cenozoic decapod crustaceans from Venezuela and related trace-fossil assemblages. In M. R. Sanchez-Villagra, O. A. Aguilera, A. A. Carlini (eds.), Urumaco and Venezuelan Paleontology: The Fossil Record of the Northern Neotropics 103-129 [J. Wolfe/A. Lynch]more details

Purpose of describing collection: general faunal/floral analysis

PaleoDB collection 228724: authorized by Joanna Wolfe, entered by Arthur Lynch on 29.12.2022

Creative Commons license: CC BY (attribution)

Taxonomic list

Show authors, comments, and common names
Malacostraca
 Decapoda - Inachoididae
Eoinachoides sp.
Eoinachoides sp. Van Straelen 1933 spider crab
 Decapoda - Parthenopidae
Parthenope sp.
Parthenope sp. Weber 1795 crab
 Decapoda - Aethridae
Eriosachila sp., "Hepatella amazonica" = Miohepatus amazonicus
Eriosachila sp. Blow and Manning 1996 crab
"Hepatella amazonica" = Miohepatus amazonicus Beurlen 1958 crab
 Decapoda - Calappidae
Calappa sp.
Calappa sp. Weber 1795 box crab
 Decapoda - Leucosiidae
Iliacantha sp.
Iliacantha sp. Stimpson 1871 crab
 Decapoda - Portunidae
Portunus oblongus, Saratunus sp.
Portunus oblongus Rathbun 1920 swimming crab
Saratunus sp. Collins et al. 2003 swimming crab
 Decapoda - Annuntidiogenidae
Paguristes sp.
Paguristes sp. Dana 1851 hermit crab
 Decapoda - Diogenidae
Petrochirus sp.
Petrochirus sp. Stimpson 1858 hermit crab