Borehole VLC-812, Lake Maracaibo (Paleocene of Venezuela)

Where: Zilia, Venezuela (9.3° N, 71.5° W: paleocoordinates 6.7° N, 58.2° W)

• coordinate stated in text

• hand sample-level geographic resolution

When: Guasare Formation, Selandian (61.6 - 59.2 Ma)

• The specimen occurs at 13776 ft (4200 m), within a laminated shale bed 3.5 m thick. This bed is the topmost shale in an interval of limestone and shales known as the Guasare Formation (Paleocene). Sharply overlying the crab-bearing bed is the basal sandstone of the Misoa Formation, which consists of sandstones and shales date as lower to middle Eocene. The contact between the Guasare and Misoa Formation is an unconformity.

•The upper part of the Guasare Formation belongs to the middle Paleocene T-03a (F. annae) zone on the basis of palynology (Ayala et al., 2012).

• bed-level stratigraphic resolution

Environment/lithology: coastal; shale

• Marine shelf environment, based on a diverse fauna of molluscs and foraminifera. Occurrences of Costacopluma are generally consistent with a shallow marine environment (up to 50 m deep).
• Laminated shale.

Size class: macrofossils

Preservation: mold/impression

Collection methods: core,

• Collected by two of the authors during sedimentological studies of an oilwell core

Primary reference: J.S.H. Collins, R. Higgs, and B. Cortitula. 1994. A new crab, Costacopluma bifida (Crustacea, Decapoda) from the Paleocene of Venezuela. Bulletin of the Mizunami Fossil Museum 21:29-34 [A. Miller/A. Hendy/A. Hendy]more details

Purpose of describing collection: taxonomic analysis

PaleoDB collection 51433: authorized by Austin Hendy, entered by Austin Hendy on 05.06.2005

Creative Commons license: CC BY (attribution)

Taxonomic list

• Not exhaustive for this locality, although no other macrofauna are described as being observed by authors in the same core.
Show authors, comments, and common names
Malacostraca
 Decapoda - Retroplumidae
Costacopluma bifida
Costacopluma bifida Collins et al. 1994 crab