Early Cretaceous (Valanginian) brachiopods from the Rosablanca Formation, Colombia, South America: Biostratigraphic significance and paleogeographic implications
Introduction
The Cretaceous fossil record of brachiopods in northern South America is relatively scarce and almost nothing is known from Tropical America (e.g., Belize, El Salvador and Honduras, to the north in Central America, southwards through Colombia to e.g., Peru, Bolivia, and Paraguay in South America). Although Cretaceous marine deposits are widely exposed in northern South America, brachiopod occurrences in the region are restricted to a few localities in the Eastern Cordillera of Colombia (Schemm-Gregory et al., 2012) and northeastern Brazil (Holmer and Bengtson, 2009). Early Cretaceous brachiopods in this region have been described exclusively from carbonate platforms of Colombia. These fossil assemblages comprise a few shells of the species Hadrosia gracilis Schemm-Gregory et al. (2012) from Santa Sofía, Boyacá Province (Schemm-Gregory et al., 2012), and the terebratulide shells described herein as Sellithyris elizabetha nov. sp. from Zapatoca, Santander Province. The latter material was referred originally to “Terebratula” sella Sowerby (Karsten, 1886, Dietrich, 1938) and Sellithyris sp. (Sandy, 1991a, Sandy, 1991b) in paleontological studies based on limited material with uncertain stratigraphic position and geographic location.
In this study we document new material collected during three field seasons carried out by the Colombian Geological Service (SGC), Florida Museum of Natural History (FLMNH), and the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) in the town of Zapatoca. We describe a new terebratulide species, Sellithyris elizabetha nov. sp. combining external and internal morphological data, the latter derived from serial sectioning a specimen. In addition, we report lingulide shells assigned provisionally to the genus Lingularia. It represents the first record of lingulide brachiopods from Lower Cretaceous rocks in northern South America. Finally, using a semi-quantitative taphonomic analysis of the terebratulide shells we identified reworked specimens in a single stratigraphic horizon, consistent with an erosional hiatus that may have affected the biochronology of the Rosablanca Formation. The new material discussed here is reposited at the Colombian Geological Service (SGC), Bogota-Colombia.
Section snippets
Sample collection
During a number of field seasons from 2012 to 2014, two stratigraphic sections 65 m and 140 m thick were sampled for macrofossils and also a number of additional sites nearby in the town of Zapatoca (Fig. 1). Here we follow the lithostratigraphic nomenclature from Guzman (1985), which is still informal but widely used by Colombian geoscientists. The sampled interval corresponds to the middle part of the Rosablanca Formation (see Gómez-Cruz et al., 2015) that was divided by Guzman (1985) into a
Systematic palaeontology
Order Lingulida Waagen, 1885
Superfamily Linguloidea Menke, 1828
Family Lingulidae Menke, 1828
Genus Lingularia Biernat and Emig, 1993
Type species: Lingularia similis Biernat and Emig (1993)
Lingularia sp.
Fig. 3U–V
Material. Dorsal valve IGM 880538-2 (Fig. 3U) (length 2.5 mm, width 1.6 mm); dorsal valve, IGM 880538-1 (Fig. 3V) (length 2.9 mm, width 1.7 mm); and 19 shell fragments IGM 880553.
Locality. Laguna del Sapo, Zapatoca Sapo (N 6° 50′ 35.26934″ W 73° 14′ 17.34847″), Santander Province,
Discussion
Available brachiopod material provides information concerning the age of the Rosablanca Formation in the Santander Province of Colombia. Although brachiopods are reported from only a few stratigraphic levels, the material is sufficient to provide some age constraint, as well as local correlations, on the examined part of this geological unit. The Rosablanca Formation is commonly considered to be Valanginian to early Hauterivian in age (e.g. Guzman, 1985), but the part of the formation that
Conclusions
- •
Brachiopods from the middle part of the Rosablanca Formation, Zapatoca, Colombia, are located and described in detail for the first time.
- •
Statistical analysis of external morphological characters confirms the presence of different species of Early Cretaceous Sellithyris.
- •
A new species, Sellithyris elizabetha nov. sp. is described from Zapatoca, Colombia.
- •
A taphonomic analysis differentiates in situ from reworked Sellithyris. This implies a large-scale erosional hiatus affecting the biochronology
Acknowledgments
Thanks to Michal Kowalewski and Roger Portell (Florida Museum of Natural History) for their support. AR is grateful to Dr. Etayo-Serna (Colombian Geological Service), Dr. Georgina Guzman (Universidad Industrial de Santander), Jorge Moreno (Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute) and Javier Luque (University of Alberta) for their invaluable support during the fieldwork in Zapatoca. Dr. Etayo-Serna and Dr. Georgina Guzman are also thanked for their comments on the chronostratigraphiy of the
References (58)
- et al.
Les brachiopodes de l'avant-pays ouest-algérien lors de la phase transgressive maximale du Berriasien supérieur; systématique, environnement, paléogéographie
Geobios
(1996) - et al.
Marine macrofossil communities in the uppermost Maastrichtian chalk of Stevns Klint, Denmark
Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology
(2014) Brachiopod events in the European Middle Cretaceous (Aptian-Cenomanian)
Cretaceous Research
(1981)Cretaceous Terebratulid Events in Western and Southern Europe and their relation to the stage boundaries
Cretaceous Research
(1984)- et al.
Report on the 5th international meeting of the IUGS Lower Cretaceous Ammonite Working Group, the Kilian Group (Ankara, Turkey, 31st August 2013)
Cretaceous Research
(2014) Aspects of Middle-Late Jurassic-Cretaceous Tethyan brachiopod biogeography in relation to tectonic and paleoceanographic developments
Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology
(1991)- et al.
First report of Hadrosia Cooper, 1983 in South America and its biostratigraphical and palaeobiogeographical implications
Cretaceous Research
(2012) The stratigraphy of the Atherfield Clay Formation (Lower Aptian, Lower Cretaceous)
- et al.
Systematic palaeontology and biostratigraphy of two Early Cretaceous condensed sections from the Barents Sea
Polar Research
(1990) - et al.
Anatomical distinctions of the Mesozoic lingulide brachiopods
Acta Palaeontologica Polonica
(1993)
On the type species of Lingularia, and description of Eolingularia n. gen.
Carnets de géologie
Braquiópodos infracretácicos del Levante español
Trabajos del museo geológico del seminario C. de Barcelona
The stratigraphical palaeontology of the lower greensand
Palaeontology
Terebratulacea (Brachiopoda), Triassic to Recent: A Study of the Brachidia (Loops). Smithsonian Contributions to Paleobiology
The development of the commissure of the Lower Cretaceous terebratulid Sellithyris sella (J. de C. Sow.) in the course of ontogeny
A Magyar Állami Földtani Intézet évi jelentése
The lower Cretaceous brachiopods of east-central Sardinia
Bollettino della Società Paleontologica Italiana
Lamelibranquios cretácicos de la Cordillera Oriental
Ammonitina speciation and eustasy
AAPG Bulletin
An Introduction to Applied Multivariate Analysis with R
A stratigraphical account of the section from Atherfield to Rocken-end in the Isle of Wight
Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London
Relevancia en Sistemática del estudio mediante secciones seriadas del cardinalio de los Terebratuloidea y Loboidothyridoidea (Brachiopoda) Cretácicos
Boletín de la Asociación Cultural Paleontológica Murciana
Sellithyridinae Terebratulidae du crétacé d'Europe occidentale: Dynamique des populations – Systématique et évolution. Cahjers de Paléontologie 15
Distribution of Lower Cretaceous brachiopods in Europe (Berriasian to Aptian)
Bulletin de la Société Géologique de France
Méthodes de discrimination appliquées à des populations de Sellithyridinae (Brachiopodes) du Cénomanien d'Europe Occidentale
Bulletin de la Société Géologique de France 7e sér
A new species of Diaulax Bell, 1863 (Brachyura: Dialucidae) in the Early Cretaceous of the Rosablanca Formation, Colombia
Boletín de la Sociedad Geológica Mexicana
Los grifeidos infracretácicos Aetostreon couloni y Ceratostreon boussingaulti de la Formación Rosablanca, como indicadores de oscilaciones marinas
The first occurrence of a lingulid brachiopod from the Cretaceous of Sergipe, Brazil, with a restudy of ‘Lingula’ bagualensis Wilckens, 1905 from southern Patagonia
Paläontol Zeitschrift
Lower Neocomian Fossils from the Miquihuana Region, Mexico
Journal of Paleontology
Neocomian Faunas of Northern Mexico
Geological Society of America Bulletin
Cited by (6)
Magnetic mineralogy of Jurassic rocks in the Eastern Cordillera, Colombia
2023, Boletin de GeologiaHunting evidence for the Mesozoic Marine Revolution: progress and challenges
2022, Bollettino della Societa Paleontologica Italiana
- 1
Present address: Integrated Science Lab, Department of Physics, Umeå University, SE-901 87 Umeå, Sweden.