Birket Qarun 2: Priabonian, Egypt
collected by E. R. Seiffert, E. L. Simons

List of taxa
Where & when
Geology
Taphonomy & methods
Metadata & references
Taxonomic list
Reptilia - Crocodyliformes
Stefanic et al. 2019
DPC 24618 and 21120
Reptilia
Gavialoidea indet. (Brochu 1997)
Stefanic et al. 2019
DPC 24708 and 24343
Sebecosuchia indet. (Colbert 1946)
Stefanic et al. 2019
DPC 20814
Serpentes indet. (Linnaeus 1758)
McCartney and Seiffert 2016 9 elements
DPC 25620, 25661, 25665 ("large", "pertains either to Pterosphenus or Gigantophis), 25677, 25678, 25689, 25691, 25693, and 2694, all are incomplete and/or strongly eroded vertebrae
Reptilia - Tropidophiidae
McCartney and Seiffert 2016 6 elements
1 anterior trunk vertebra (DPC 25650), 3 mid-trunk vertebrae (DPC 25634, 25654, and 25664), 2 caudal vertebrae (DPC 25674 and 25692)
Reptilia
McCartney and Seiffert 2016 25 elements
1 left maxilla (DPC 21241), 3 anterior trunk vertebrae (DPC 25605, 25643, and 25655), 17 mid-trunk vertebrae (DPC 25603, 25606, 25613, 25618, 25619, 25628, 25635, 25642, 25644 to 25646, 25649, 25660, 25670, 25671, 25684, and 25690), 4 posterior trunk vertebrae (DPC 25623, 25673, 25685, and 25686)
McCartney and Seiffert 2016 12 elements
7 mid-trunk vertebrae (DPC 25610, 25614, 25615, 25629, 25639, 25651, and 25652), 5 posterior trunk vertebrae (DPC 25621, 25622, 25638, 25662, and 25672)
McCartney and Seiffert 2016 1 element
1 "badly eroded partial vertebra" (DPC 25679)
Reptilia - Russellophiidae
McCartney and Seiffert 2016 1 element
1 single mid-trunk vertebra (DPC 25663)
Reptilia
El-Hares et al. 2021
MUVP 454, an isolated mid- trunk vertebra
Reptilia - Palaeophiidae
McCartney and Seiffert 2016 9 elements
5 anterior trunk vertebrae (DPC 21270, 21287, 24291, 25666, and 25667), 4 mid-trunk vertebrae (DPC 25607, 25630, 25668, and 25680)
Reptilia - Madtsoiidae
McCartney and Seiffert 2016 2 elements
1 "giant" mid-trunk vertebra (DPC 25616), 1 "large" juvenile mid-trunk vertebra (DPC 25641)
Reptilia - Varanidae
Varanus sp. Merrem 1820
Holmes et al. 2010
Vertebrae: DPC 21355, one cervical, two trunk and two caudal; 21442, one caudal; 23257, two trunk and two caudal; 23258, four caudals; 23778, caudal
Reptilia
El-Hares et al. 2021
MUVP 453, an isolated presacral vertebra
Mammalia - Hyracoidea
Barrow et al. 2010
Mammalia
Seiffert 2010
CGM 66005 - holotype; referred material: DPC 23306E, 23307A, 23007H, 23736A, 23780C, 23784D, 23983C, 24001A, 24081B, 24103A and DPC 24108A
Mammalia - Rodentia - Anomaluridae
Sallam et al. 2010
Mammalia - Rodentia - Nementchamyidae
Sallam et al. 2010
Mammalia - Rodentia
Sallam et al. 2009
CGM 83695 - holotype; referred material: DPC specimens
Sallam et al. 2009
CGM 83690 - holotype; referred material: DPC specimens
Mammalia - Primates
Seiffert et al. 2009
Seiffert et al. 2017
CGM 83720 - holotype
Mammalia - Primates - Galagidae
Mammalia - Primates
Seiffert et al. 2010
CGM 66002 - holotype
Mammalia - Primates - Parapithecidae
Seiffert et al. 2005
Seiffert et al. 2005
Mammalia
Sánchez-Villagra et al. 2007
CGM 83699 - holotype; hypodigm: DPC 22442D; DPC 21498B probably also belongs to this taxon
Mammalia - Chiroptera
Sánchez-Villagra et al. 2007
DPC 21372A and B - possibly a marsupial
    = Chiroptera indet. Blumenbach 1779
Crespo and Goin 2021
Mammalia - Chiroptera - Rhinopomatidae
Gunnell et al. 2008
Mammalia - Chiroptera - Philisidae
Gunnell et al. 2008
Gunnell et al. 2008
Mammalia - Chiroptera - Aegyptonycteridae
Simmons et al. 2016
CGM 83740 - holotype
Thaumastophiidae
El-Hares et al. 2021
MUVP 455, mid-trunk vertebra (4.1 mm centrum length); MUVP 457, MUVP 458, MUVP 459, anterior caudal vertebrae (5.1 mm centrum length and 4.9 mm height of the neural arch and spine); MUVP 460, posterior caudal vertebra (2 mm centrum length).
McCartney and Seiffert 2016 12 elements
holotype: GCM 83731, a mid-trunk vertebra; paratypes: DPC 25657, a mid-trunk vertebra, and DPC 25627, a posterior trunk vertebra; referred specimens: 7 mid-trunk vertebrae (DPC 25609, 25611, 25633, 25640, 25656, 25657, and 25687), 2 posterior trunk vertebrae (DPC 25602 and 25608)
see common names

Geography
Country:Egypt
Coordinates: 29.6° North, 30.6° East (view map)
Paleocoordinates:19.3° North, 32.1° East (Wright 2013)
Basis of coordinate:based on nearby landmark
Geographic resolution:small collection
Time
Period: Paleogene Epoch: Eocene
Stage: Priabonian 10 m.y. bin: Cenozoic 3
Key time interval: Priabonian
Age range of interval: 37.71 - 33.9 m.y. ago
Stratigraphy
Formation:Birket Qarun Member:Umm Rigl
Stratigraphic resolution:group of beds
Stratigraphy comments: "183 m below the contact of the Qasr el Sagha and Jebel Qatrani formations... This horizon was recently placed in the lowermost (Umm Rigl) Member of the Qasr el Sagha Formation, but renewed work indicates that these fossiliferous alluvial sediments are lithologically distinctive and best retained in the Birket Qarun Formation"; according to Seiffert et al. 2005 the fossilferous beds are "229 m below Quarry L-41," "about 5 to 15 cm thick," and based on new paleomagnetic data within C17n.1n and "earliest Priabonian"
Lithology and environment
Primary lithology:ferruginous,shelly/skeletal sandstone
Includes fossils?Y
Lithology description: "bioclastic ironstone conglomerate" (Seiffert et al. 2003) or "ironstone-rich fining upward sequences of medium-to-fine grained sands and muds"
Environment:"channel"
Geology comments: "alluvial" (Seiffert et al. 2003) or "deposited by meandering streams... clearly fluvial" and "close to the coast" (Gunnell et al. 2008)
Taphonomy
Modes of preservation:body
Size of fossils:macrofossils,mesofossils
Collection methods and comments
Collection excludes:all microfossils
Collection methods:bulk,selective quarrying,sieve,field collection
Reason for describing collection:taxonomic analysis
Collectors:E. R. Seiffert, E. L. Simons
Collection method comments: fossils" recovered either by dry-sieving of loose sediment or by quarrying," and according to Seiffert et al. 2005, collections were made in 2001 through 2003
CGM collection
Taxonomic list comments:additional taxa that are not primates and therefore not worth describing include "proboscideans, hyracoids, herodotiines, ptolemaiids, creodonts, anomaluroid and hystricognathous rodents, chiropterans, and insectivores" (Seiffert et al. 2005)
Metadata
Also known as:BK-2; BQ-2; BQ 2; Birket Qarun Locality 2
Database number:67706
Authorizer:J. Alroy, P. Coster, J. Mueller, J. Head, P. Mannion Enterer:J. Alroy, P. Coster, G. Varnham, T. Liebrecht, P. Mannion
Modifier:G. Varnham Research group:vertebrate
Created:2006-12-06 11:19:28 Last modified:2025-02-22 15:12:02
Access level:the public Released:2006-12-06 11:19:28
Creative Commons license:CC0
Reference information

Primary reference:
19346. E. R. Seiffert, E. L. Simons, and Y. Attia. 2003. Fossil evidence for an ancient divergence of lorises and galagos. Nature 422:421-424 [J. Alroy/J. Alroy]

Secondary references:

34064 E. Barrow, E. R. Seiffert, and E. L. Simons. 2010. A primitive hyracoid (Mammalia, Paenungulata) from the early Priabonian (Late Eocene) of Egypt. Journal of Systematic Palaeontology 8(2):213-244 [J. Alroy/J. Alroy]
47472 P. Coster, M. Benammi, M. Mahboubi, R. Tabuce, M. Adaci, L. Marivaux, M. Bensalah, S. Mahoubi, A. Mhboubi, F. Mebrouk, C. Mameri and J.-J. Jaeger. 2012. Chronology of the Eocene continental deposits of Africa: Magnetostratigraphy and biostratigraphy of the El Kohol and Glib Zegdou Formations, Algeria. GSA Bulletin 124(9/10):1590-1606 [M. Uhen/M. Uhen]
84792 V. D. Crespo and F. J. Goin. 2021. Taxonomy and affinities of african cenozoic metatherians. Spanish Journal of Palaeontology 36(2):1-16 [P. Mannion/P. Mannion/P. Mannion]
81400 M. A. El-Hares, H. Zaher, D. El-Mekkawy, S. El-Sayed, E. R. Seiffert and H. M. Sallam. 2021. New records of legless squamates from the lowest upper Eocene deposits of the Fayum Depression, Egypt. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 41(4):e1992770 [P. Mannion/G. Varnham]
28499 G. F. Gunnell, E. L. Simons, and E. R. Seiffert. 2008. New bats (Mammalia: Chiroptera) from the late Eocene and early Oligocene, Fayum Depression, Egypt. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 28(1):1-11 [J. Alroy/J. Alroy]
83105 R. B. Holmes, A. M. Murray, Y. S. Attia, E. L. Simons, and P. Chatrath. 2010. Oldest known Varanus (Squamata: Varanidae) from the upper Eocene and lower Oligocene of Egypt: support for an African origin of the genus. Palaeontology 53(5):1099-1110 [J. Head/G. Varnham]
64568 J. A. McCartney and E. R. Seiffert. 2016. A late Eocene snake fauna from the Fayum Depression, Egypt. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 36(1):e1029580 [M. Uhen/M. Uhen]
59580 H. M. Sallam, E. R. Seiffert, M. E. Steiper and E. L. Simons. 2009. Fossil and molecular evidence constrain scenarios for the early evolutionary and biogeographic history of hystricognathous rodents. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 106(39):16722-16727 [P. Mannion/P. Mannion]
34044 H. M. Sallam, E. R. Seiffert, and E. L. Simons. 2010. A highly derived anomalurid rodent (Mammalia) from the earliest Late Eocene of Egypt. Palaeontology 53(4):803-813 [J. Alroy/J. Alroy/J. Alroy]
34063 H. M. Sallam, E. R. Seiffert, E. L. Simons and C. Brindley. 2010. A large-bodied anomaluroid rodent from the earliest late Eocene of Egypt: phylogenetic and biogeographic implications. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 30(5):1579-1593 [J. Alroy/J. Alroy]
59544 M. R. Sánchez-Villagra, E. R. Seiffert, T. Martin, E. L. Simons, G. F. Gunnell and Y. Attia. 2007. Enigmatic new mammals from the late Eocene of Egypt. Palaeontologische Zeitschrift 81(4):406-415 [P. Mannion/P. Mannion]
59615 E. R. Seiffert. 2010. The oldest and youngest records of afrosoricid placentals from the Fayum Depression of northern Egypt. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 55(4):599-616 [P. Mannion/P. Mannion]
62205 E. R. Seiffert, D. M. Boyer, J. G. Fleagle, G. F. Gunnell, C. P. Heesy, J. M. G. Perry, and H. M. Sallam. 2017. New adapiform primate fossils from the late Eocene of Egypt. Historical Biology [P. Mannion/P. Mannion]
31039 E. R. Seiffert, J. M. G. Perry, E. L. Simons and D. M. Boyer. 2009. Convergent evolution of anthropoid-like adaptations in Eocene adapiform primates. Nature 461:1118-1121 [J. Alroy/J. Alroy]
24348 E. R. Seiffert, E. L. Simons, W. C. Clyde, J. B. Rossie, Y. Attia, T. M. Bown, P. Chatrath and M. E. Mathison. 2005. Basal anthropoids from Egypt and the antiquity of Africa's higher primate radiation. Science 310:300-304 [J. Alroy/J. Alroy/J. Alroy]
59477 E. R. Seiffert, E. L. Simons, D. M. Boyer, J. M. G. Perry, T. M. Ryan and H. M. Sallam. 2010. A fossil primate of uncertain affinities from the earliest late Eocene of Egypt. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 107(21):9712-9717 [P. Mannion/P. Mannion]
61141 N.B. Simmons, E.R. Seiffert, and G.F. Gunnell. 2016. A New Family of Large Omnivorous Bats (Mammalia, Chiroptera) from the Late Eocene of the Fayum Depression, Egypt, with Comments on Use of the Name “Eochiroptera”. American Museum Novitates (3857)1-43 [P. Coster/P. Coster]
72053 C. M. Stefanic, J. H. Nestler, E. R. Seiffert and A. H. Turner. 2019. New crocodylomorph material from the Fayum Depression, Egypt, including the first occurrence of a sebecosuchian in African late Eocene deposits. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 39(6):e1729781:1-10 [P. Mannion/P. Mannion/P. Mannion]