Síntesis sobre el registro fósil de los mamíferos mesozoicos mexicanos

M. Montellano Ballesteros

doi:10.21701/bolgeomin.126.1.001

Authors

M. Montellano Ballesteros Departamento de Paleontología, Instituto de Geología. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.21701/bolgeomin.126.1.001

Keywords:

Cretaceous, Jurassic, mammaliaforms, mammals, Mexico

Abstract

The Mesozoic mammal fossil record in Mexico is poor, but it spans from the Jurassic to the Cretaceous, and is diverse in its forms. For many years, the only Mesozoic mammalian record was that from the Campanian El Gallo Formation, in Baja California. The described mammals included Mesodma sp. cf. M. formosa, ?Stygimys sp., Pediomys sp. and Gallolestes pachymandibularis. In 2004 paleontological field work was taken up again with the objective of collecting microvertebrates. The fossil mammal remains are rare; but there is the important discovery of a skull and a complete lower jaw of the multituberculate Cimolodon. The faunal association is peculiar; it may be due to the age of the fauna and its geographic position. In the Jurassic outcrops of the La Boca Formation, in the Huizachal Canyon, Tamaulipas, remains of mammaliaforms and the tritylodontid Bocatherium mexicanum were recovered. Bocaconodon tamaulipensis is a mammaliform of morganucodont-grade; Victoriaconodon inaequalis, a primitive triconodontid and Huasteconodon wiblei, a ?gobiconodontid triconodont. The diversity of forms suggests that at the end of the Early Jurassic several mammaliaform taxa with variations in the dental pattern and in the lower jaw morphology existed. The Huizachal fauna is composed of more derived mammaliaforms than those present during the Late Triassic and Early Jurassic and more primitive than those present in the middle Jurassic. In the Campanian Cerro del Pueblo Formation, in Coahuila, the presence of multituberculates and marsupials: Turgidodon sp. cf. T. russelli, Pediomys sp., cf. P. elegans is registered.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

Aguillón-Martínez, M.C. 2010. Fossil vertebrates from the Cerro del Pueblo Formation, Coahuila, Mexico, and the distribution of Late Campanian (Cretaceous) Terrestrial Vertebrate Faunas. Ms Dissertation, Southern Methodist University, 135 pp.

Aguillón-Martínez, M., Zelenitsky, D., Brinkman, D. and Eberth, D. 2004. Eggshell fragments from the Uppermost Cerro del Pueblo Formation (Upper Cretaceous; Mexico). Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 24 (3), Suppl 33A.

Archibald, J.D. and Averianov, A. 2001. Paranyctoides and allies from the Late Cretaceous of North America and Asia. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica, 46 (4), 533-551.

Archibald, D.J. and Averianov, A. 2012. Phylogenetic analysis, taxonomic revision, and dental ontogeny of the Cretaceous Zhelestidae (Mammalia, Eutheria). Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 164, 361-426. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1096-3642.2011.00771.x

Brinkman, D. and Rodríguez de la Rosa, R. 2006. Non marine turtles from the Cerro del Pueblo Formation (Campanian) Coahuila State, Mexico. New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science Bulletin, 35, 229-233.

Brinkman, D., Aguillon-Martinez, M.C., De Leon Dávila, C.A., Jamniczky, H., Eberth, D. and Colbert, M. 2009. Euclastes coahuilaensis sp. nov., a basal cheloniid turtle from the late Campanian Cerro del Pueblo Formation of Coahuila State, Mexico. PaleoBios, 28, 76-88.

Calvillo-Canadell, L. and Cevallos-Ferriz, S. 2007. Reproductive structures of Rhammnaceae from the Cerro del Pueblo Formation (Late Cretaceous, Coahuila) and Coatzingo (Oligocene, Puebla) formations, Mexico. American Journal of Botany, 94 (10), 1658-1669. https://doi.org/10.3732/ajb.94.10.1658

Cevallos-Ferriz, S., Estrada-Ruiz, E. and Pérez-Hernández, B. 2008. Phytolaccaceae infructescence from the Cerro del Pueblo Formation, Upper Cretaceous (Late Campanian), Coahuila, Mexico. American Journal of Botany, 95 (1), 77-83. https://doi.org/10.3732/ajb.95.1.77

Cifelli, R.L. 1990. Cretaceous mammals of southern Utah. IV Eutherian mammals from the Wahweap (Aquilan) and Kaiparowits (Judithian) formations. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 10 (2), 346-360. https://doi.org/10.1080/02724634.1990.10011819

Cifelli, R.L. 1994. Therian mammals of the Terlingua local fauna (Judithian) Aguja Formation, Big Bend of the Rio Grande, Texas. Contributions to Geology, University of Wyoming, 30, 117-136.

Clark, J.M. and Hernández-Rivera, R. 1994. A new burrowing diapsid from the Jurassic La Boca Formation of Tamaulipas, México. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 14 (2), 180-195. https://doi.org/10.1080/02724634.1994.10011551

Clark, J.M. and Hopson, J.A. 1985. Distictive mammal-like reptile from Mexico and its bearing on the phylogeny of the Tritylodontidae. Nature, 315, 398-400. https://doi.org/10.1038/315398a0

Clark, J.M., Hopson, J.A., Hernández, R.R., Fastovsky, D.E., and Montellano, M. 1998. Foot posture in a primitive pterosaur. Nature, 391, 886-889. https://doi.org/10.1038/36092

Clark, J.M., Montellano, M., Hopson, J.A., Hernández, R., and Fastovsky, D.E. 1994. An early or middle Jurassic tetrapod assemblage from the La Boca formation, north-eastern Mexico. In: Fraser, N.C., and Sues, H.D., (eds.), In the shadow of the Dinosaurs: Early Mesozoic Tetrapods. Cambridge University Press, 294-302.

Clemens, W.A. 1980. Gallolestes pachymandibularis (Theria, incertae sedis, Mammalia) from Late Cretaceous deposits in Baja California Norte, Mexico. PaleoBios, 33, 1-10.

Cuenca-Bescós, G., and Canudo, J. I. 2003. A new gobicon-odontid mammal from the Early Cretaceous of Spain and its palaeogeographic implications. Acta Paleontologica Polonica, 48 (4), 575-582.

Eberth, D., Delgado-de Jesús, C., Leberkmo, J., Brinkman, D., Rodríguez de la Rosa, R., and Sampson, S. 2004. Cerro del Pueblo Fm. (Difunta Group, Upper Cretaceous), Parras Basin, southern Coahuila, Mexico, reference sections, age, and correlation. Revista Mexicana de Ciencias Geológicas, 21 (3), 335-352.

Estrada-Ruiz, E. and Cevallos-Ferriz, S. 2007. Infructescences from the Cerro del Pueblo Formation (Late Campanian), Coahuila and El Cien Formation (Oligocene-Miocene), Baja California Sur, Mexico. International Journal of Plant Sciences, 168 (4), 507-519. https://doi.org/10.1086/511787

Fastovsky, D.E., Clark, J.M. and Hopson, J.A. 1987. Preliminary report of a vertebrate fauna from an unusual paleoenvironmental setting, Huizachal Group, Early or Mid-Jurassic, Tamaulipas, Mexico. In: Currie, P.M. and Koster, E.H. (eds.), Fourth Symposium on Mesozoic Terrestrial Ecosystems, Short Papers: Occasional Papers of the Tyrrell Museum of Paleontology, 3, 82-87.

Fastovsky, D.E., Clark, J.M., Strater, N.H., Montellano, M., Hernández, R. and Hopson, J.A. 1995. Depositional environments of a Middle Jurassic vertebrate assemblage, Huizachal Canyon, Mexico: Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 15 (3), 561-675. https://doi.org/10.1080/02724634.1995.10011249

Fastovsky, D.E., Hermes, O.D., Strater, N.H., Bowring, S.A., Clark, J.M., Montellano, M. and Hernández, R. 2005. Pre-Late Jurassic, fossil-bearing volcanic and sedimentary red beds of Huizachal Canyon, Tamaulipas, México. In, Anderson, T.H., Nourse, J.A., McKee, J.W. and Steiner, M.B. (eds.) The Mojave-Sonora Megashear Hypothesis, Development, Assessment and Alternatives: Geological Society of American Special Paper 393, 401-426. https://doi.org/10.1130/0-8137-2393-0.401

Fulbord, M.M. and Busby, C.J. 1993. Tectonic controls on non-marine sedimentation in a Cretaceous fore-arc basin, Baja California, Mexico. In: Frostick, L.E. and Steel, R.J. (eds.), Tectonic Controls and Signatures in Sedimentary Successions. International Association of Sedimentologists, Special Publication, 20, 301-333. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781444304053.ch17

García, R. and Reynoso, V.H. 2002. The southernmost record of the turtle Bothremys (Testudine: Pleurodira) in the Cerro del Pueblo Formation, near Saltillo, Coahuila, Mexico. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 22 (3), Suppl 56A.

Gates, T., Sampson, S., Delgado de Jesus, C., Zanno, L., Eberth, D., Hernández-Rivera, R., Aguillon, Martínez, M. and Kirkland, J. 2007. Velafrons coahuilensis a new lambeosaurine hadrosaur (Dinosauria. Ornithopoda) from the Late Campanian Cerro del Pueblo Formation, Coahuila, Mexico. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 27 (4), 917-930. https://doi.org/10.1671/0272-4634(2007)27[917:VCANLH]2.0.CO;2

Hernández-Rivera, R., 1992. New dinosaur finds in the Cerro del Pueblo Fm. (Upper Cretaceous, Campanian) from Coahuila state, Mexico. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 12 (3), 32A.

Hilton, R. 2003. Dinosaurs and other Mesozoic reptiles of California. University of California Press, Berkeley, 318 pp. https://doi.org/10.1525/california/9780520233157.001.0001

Janensch, W. 1926. Dinosaurier reste aus Mexiko. Centralblatt für Mineralogie Geologie und Paläontologie (B), 192-197.

Kielan-Jaworowska, Z., Cifelli, R.L. and Luo, Z.X. 2004. Mammals from the age of dinosaurs origins, evolution, and structure. Columbia University Press, New York, 649 pp. https://doi.org/10.7312/kiel11918

Kilmer, F.H. 1963. Cretaceous and Cenozoic stratigraphy and paleontology, El Rosario area, Baja California, México. Tesis de Doctorado en Paleontología, University of California, Berkeley, 216 pp.

Kirkland, J., Hernández, R., Aguillon, M., Delgado, R., Gómez, R. and Vallejo, I. 2000. The Late Cretaceous Difunta Group of the Parras Basin, Coahuila, Mexico. Guidebook for the field trips. Society of Vertebrate Paleontology, Special Publication, 131-172.

Lehman, Th. 1987. Late Maestrichtian paleoenvironments and dinosaur biogeography in the Western Interior of North America. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, and Palaeoecology, 60,189-217. https://doi.org/10.1016/0031-0182(87)90032-0

Lehman, T.M. 2001. Late Cretaceous dinosaur provinciality In Tanke, D.H., and Carpenter, K. (eds.), Mesozoic Vertebrate Life: Indiana University Press, Bloomington, 310-328.

Lillegraven, J.A., 1972. Preliminary report on Late Cretaceous mammals from the El Gallo Fm., Baja California Norte, Mexico. Contributions in Science of Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History, 232, 1-11. https://doi.org/10.5962/p.241216

Lillegraven, J.A., 1976. A new genus of therian mammal from the Late Cretaceous El Gallo Formation, Baja California. Journal of Paleontology, 50 (3), 437-443.

Loewen, M.A., Sampson, S.D., Lund, E.K., Farke, A.A., Aguillón-Martínez, M.C., de Leon, C.A., Rodríguez-de la Rosa, R.A., Getty, M.A. and Eberth, D.A. 2010. "Horned Dinosaurs (Ornithischia: Ceratopsidae) from the Upper Cretaceous (Campanian) Cerro del Pueblo Formation, Coahuila, Mexico", In: Ryan, M.J., Chinnery-Allgeier, B.J. and Eberth D.A. (eds.), New Perspectives on Horned Dinosaurs: The Royal Tyrrell Museum Ceratopsian Symposium, Indiana University Press, Bloomington, 99-116.

Lockley, M., Harris, J.D. and Mitchell, L. 2008. "A global overview of pterosaur ichnology: tracksite distribution in space and time." Zitteliana, B28, 187-198.

McBride, E., Weidei, A, Wolleben, J. and Laudon, R. 1974. Stratigraphy and structure of the Parras and La Popa Basins, northeastern Mexico. Geological Society of American Bulletin, 4, 1603-1622. https://doi.org/10.1130/0016-7606(1974)85<1603:SASOTP>2.0.CO;2

Molnar, R. 1974. A distinctive theropod dinosaur from the Upper Cretaceous of Baja California (Mexico). Journal Paleontology, 48 (5), 1009-1017.

Montellano, M., Hopson, J.A., Clark, J.M., Fastovsky, D.F. and Hernández-Rivera, R. 1995. Mammals from the Middel Jurassic of Huizachal Canyon, Tamaulipas, Mexico. Journal Vertebrate Paleontology, 15(3), Suppl 45A.

Montellano, M., Wilson, G.P., Alvarez-Reyes, G., Hernández-Rivera, R., Quintero, E. and Aranda-Manteca, F. 2005. New material of Polyglyphanodon bajaensis from El Rosario Baja California, Mexico. Journal Vertebrate Paleontology, 25 (3), Suppl 93A.

Montellano, M., Wilson, G.P., Hernández, R., Álvarez-Reyes, G. and Aranda-Manteca, F. 2008. Microvertebrados de la Formación El Gallo (Cretácico Superior), Baja California, México. Libro de Resúmenes. III Congreso Latinoamericano de Paleontología de Vertebrados, Neuquén, Patagonia, Argentina.

Morris, W.J. 1966. Fossil mammals from Baja California, New evidence on Early Tertiary Migrations. Science, 153, 1376-1378. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.153.3742.1376

Morris, W.J. 1967. Baja California: Late Cretaceous dinosaurs. Science, 155, 1539-1541. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.155.3769.1539

Morris, W.J. 1973. Mesozoic and Tertiary vertebrates in Baja California, National Geographic Research Reports, 1966, 197-209.

Morris, W.J. 1974. Upper Cretaceous "El Gallo" Formation and its vertebrate fauna. Pacific Section of the Society of Economic Geology and Mineralogy, 49, 60-66 Munter, R.C. and Clark, J.M. 2006. Theropod dinosaurs from the Early Jurassic of Huizachal Canyon, Mexico. In: Carrano, M.T., Gaudin, T.J., Blob, W.R. and Wible, J.R (eds.) Amniote Paleobiology: perspectives on the evolution of mammals, birds and reptiles. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 53-75.

Murray, E., Weidie, A., Boid, D. and Lewis, P. 1962. Formational divisions of Difunta Group, Parras Basin, Coahuila and Nuevo León, Mexico. American Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin, 46 (3), 374-383. https://doi.org/10.1306/BC743829-16BE-11D7-8645000102C1865D

Nessov, L.A.1985 (New mammals from the Cretaceous of Kyzylkum) Vestnik Leningradskogo Universiteta, Seriya 7, 8-18 (en ruso).

Nessov, L., Archibald, D. and Zielan-Jaworowska, Z. 1998. Ungulate-like mammals from the Late Cretaceous of Uzbekistan and phylogenetic analysis. In: Beard, Ch. and Dawson, M. (eds.) Dawn of the Age of Mammals in Asia. Bulletin Carnegie Museum of Natural History, 34, 40-88. https://doi.org/10.5962/p.228609

Nydam, R.L. 1999. Polyglyphanodontinae (Squamata, Teiidae) from the Medial and Late Cretaceous: New taxa from Utah, U.S.A and Baja California del Norte, Mexico. In: Gillete, G.G. (ed.) Vertebrate Paleontology in Utah. Utah Geological Survey, Miscellaneous Publication, 99-1. Salt Lake City, Utah, 303-317.

Peecook, B., Wilson, J., Wilson, G., Hernández, R. and Montellano, M. 2010. New Tyrannosauroid remains from the Late Cretaceous "El Gallo" formation of Baja California, México. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 30 (3), 144A.

Peecook, B., Wilson, J., Wilson, G., Hernández, R. and Montellano, M. 2014. New Tyrannosauroid remains from the Late Cretaceous "El Gallo" formation of Baja California, México. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica, 59(1), 71-80.

Prieto-Márquez, A., Chiappe, L. and Joshi, Sh. 2012. The lambeosaurine dinosaur Magnapaulia laticaudus from the Late Cretaceous of Baja California, northwestern Mexico. PLoS One, 7 (6), e38207. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0038207

Prieto-Márquez, A. and Serrano-Brañas, C. 2014. Latirhinus uitstlani, a broad-nosed saurolophine hadrosaurid (Dinosauria, Ornithopoda) from the late Campanian (Cretaceous) of northern Mexico. Historical Biology: An international Journal of Paleobiology, 24 (6), 607-619. https://doi.org/10.1080/08912963.2012.671311

Renne, P. R., Fulford, M.M. and Busby-Spera, C. 1991. High resolution 40Ar/39Ar chronostratigraphy of the late Cretaceous El Gallo Formation, Baja California del Norte, Mexico. Geophysical Research Letters, 28 (3), 459-462. https://doi.org/10.1029/91GL00464

Reynoso, V.H. 1996. A middle Jurassic Sphenodon-like sphenodontian (Diapsida: Lepidosauria) from Huizachal Canyon, Tamaulipas, Mexico. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 16 (2), 210-221. https://doi.org/10.1080/02724634.1996.10011309

Reynoso, V.H. 2005. Possible evidence of a venom apparatus in a Middle Jurassic sphenodontian from the Huizachal red beds of Tamaulipas, Mexico. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 25 (3), 646-654. https://doi.org/10.1671/0272-4634(2005)025[0646:PEOAVA]2.0.CO;2

Reynoso V.H. and Clark, J.M. 1998. A dwarf sphenodontian from the Huizachal Formation of Tamaulipas, Mexico. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 18 (3), 333-339. https://doi.org/10.1080/02724634.1998.10011061

Rivera-Sylva, H., Carpenter, K., and Aranda-Manteca, F. 2011. Late Cretaceous nodosaurids (Ankylosauria, Ornithischia) from Mexico. Revista Mexicana de Ciencias Geológicas, 28(3), 371-378.

Rivera-Sylva, H. and Espinosa-Chávez, B. 2006. Ankylosaurid (Dinosauria: Thyreophora) osteoderms from the Upper Cretaceous Cerro del Pueblo Formation of Coahuila, Mexico. Carnets de Geologie/ Notebooks on Geology-Letter 2006/02 (CG2006_L02). https://doi.org/10.4267/2042/4741

Rodriguez de la Rosa, R. and Cevallos-Ferriz, S. 1994. Upper Cretaceous zingiberlean fruits with in situ seeds from southeastern coahuila, Mexico. International Journal of Plant Sciences, 155 (6), 786-805. https://doi.org/10.1086/297218

Rodriguez de la Rosa, R. and Cevallos-Ferriz, S. 1998. Vertebrates of the El Pelillal locality (Campanian, Cerro del Pueblo Formation). Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 18(4), 751-764. https://doi.org/10.1080/02724634.1998.10011104

Rodríguez de la Rosa, R., Aguillón-Martínez, M.C. and López-Espinoza, J. 2004. The fossil record of vertebrate tracks in Mexico. Ichnos 11:27-37. https://doi.org/10.1080/10420940490428841

Romo de Vivar, P.R. 2011. Microvertebrados cretácios tardíos del área de El Rosario, Baja California, México. Tesis, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, México. 157 pp.

Rubio-Cisneros, I.I. and Lawton, T.F. 2010. Detrital zircon U-Pb ages of sandstones in continental red beds at Valle de Huizachal, Tamaulipas, NE Mexico: record of early-middle Jurassic arc volcanism and transition to cristal extension. Geosphere, 7 (1), 159-170. https://doi.org/10.1130/GES00567.1

Schile, Ch. 1974. Sedimentology of the "El Gallo Formation" (Upper Cretaceous), El Rosario, Baja California, México. Tesis de Maestría en Geología, San Diego State University, 120 pp.

Sullivan, R.M. and Lucas, S.P. 2006. The Kirtlandian land-vertebrate "age"- faunal composition, temporal and biostratigraphic correlation in the nonmarine Upper Cretaceous of Western North America. Museum of Natural History and Sciences Bulletin, 35, 7-29.

Weidi, A. and Murray, G. 1967. Geology of Parras Basin and adjacent areas of northeastern Mexico. American Association of Petroleum Geologist Bulletin, 51 (5), 678-695. https://doi.org/10.1306/5D25C0C1-16C1-11D7-8645000102C1865D

Weishampel, D.B., Dodson, P. and Osmólska, H. (eds.) 2004. The Dinosauria. University of California Press, Berkeley, 860 pp.

Wible, J.R., Novacek, M.J. Rougier G.W. and Asher, R.J. 2009. The eutherian mammal Maelestes gobiensis from the Late Cretaceous of Mongolia and the phylogeny of Cretaceous Eutheria. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, 327, 1-123. https://doi.org/10.1206/623.1

Wilson, G.P., Chen, M. and Montellano, M. 2011. A new multituberculate skull from the Upper Campanian "El Gallo Formation", Baja California, México. IV Congreso Latinoamericano de Paleontología de Vertebrados. San Juan Argentina.

Wolleben, J. 1977. Paleontology of the Difunta Group (Upper Cretaceous. Tertiary) in northern Mexico. Journal of Paleontology, 51 (2), 373-398.