Bahariya Oasis: Late Cenomanian, Egypt

List of taxa
Where & when
Geology
Taphonomy & methods
Metadata & references
Taxonomic list
Malacostraca - Decapoda - Telamonocarcinidae
Luque 2015
Schweitzer et al. 2021
see common names

Geography
Country:Egypt
Coordinates: 28.3° North, 28.7° East (view map)
Paleocoordinates:12.9° North, 34.7° East (Wright 2013)
Basis of coordinate:based on nearby landmark
Geographic resolution:outcrop
Time
Period: Cretaceous Epoch: Late Cretaceous
Stage: Cenomanian 10 m.y. bin: Cretaceous 5
Key time interval: Late Cenomanian
Age range of interval: 100.5 - 93.9 m.y. ago
Stratigraphy
Formation:Bahariya
Lithology and environment
Primary lithology:lenticular,wavy/flaser/lenticular bedding,gray,blue lithified "shale"
Lithology description: Crab fossils were found within the lowest portion of the exposed Bahariya Formation in a blue-gray indurated shale. The decapod remains were located between 0.5 and 3.0 m from a titanosaurian sauropod dinosaur caudal vertebra. Lenticular and wavy bedding within the shale indicate deposition by tidal currents. Detrital plant leaves and stems are common in this lithosome. The underlying unit is a loosely consolidated sand and mud with flaser-bedding and subvertical rhizoliths. Separating the units is an iron-concreted mangrove paleosol containing many horizontal rhizoliths that form a laterally extensive fossilized root mat.
Environment:paralic indet.
Geology comments: The succession of environments began with a tidal channel colonized by mangrove vegetation, including Weichselia. The developing mangrove soil was buried by an aggrading mud flat, which also buried crab, plant, and dinosaur remains. Finally, mangrove vegetation recolonized the area and the overlying soil developed.
The tidal flat facies containing crab fossils is part of a depositional setting we interpret as a low-energy, mangrove coast, situated along the southern shore of the Tethys Sea.
Taphonomy
Modes of preservation:body
Size of fossils:macrofossils
Collection methods and comments
Reason for describing collection:taxonomic analysis
Metadata
Database number:224574
Authorizer:J. Wolfe, P. Novack-Gottshall Enterer:J. Wolfe, P. Novack-Gottshall
Modifier:J. Fearon
Created:2022-03-20 13:16:07 Last modified:2025-02-22 15:12:02
Access level:the public Released:2022-03-20 13:16:07
Creative Commons license:CC0
Reference information

Primary reference:
80897. C. E. Schweitzer, K. J. Lacovara, J. B. Smith, M. C. Lamanna, M. A. Lyon and Y. Attia. 2003. Mangrove-dwelling crabs (Decapoda: Brachyura: Necrocarcinidae) associated with dinosaurs from the Upper Cretaceous (Cenomanian) of Egypt. Journal of Paleontology 77(5):888-894 [J. Wolfe/J. Wolfe]

Secondary references:

80898 J. Luque. 2015. The oldest higher true crabs (Crustacea: Decapoda: Brachyura): insights from the Early Cretaceous of the Americas. Palaeontology 58(2):251-263 [J. Wolfe/J. Wolfe]
88101 C. E. Schweitzer, R. M. Feldmann, and H. Karasawa. 2021. Systematic descriptions: superfamily Dorippoidea. Treatise Online - Part R, Revised, Volume 1, Chapter 8T17 159:1-8 [M. Clapham/M. Clapham]