Danata Formation | |
---|---|
Stratigraphic range: Early Eocene-Mid Eocene ~ | |
Type | Geological formation |
Location | |
Coordinates | 38°38′N55°48′E / 38.633°N 55.800°E [1] |
Approximate paleocoordinates | 35°06′N51°12′E / 35.1°N 51.2°E |
Country | ![]() |
The Danata Formation (or Danatinskaya, Danatinsk, Russian: Danata Svita) is an earliest Eocene to Middle Eocene sedimentary succession located in Turkmenistan. It is mostly famous for its fish-bearing horizons (Ichthyofauna). [1] The formation for example crops out in the Kopet Dag mountain range in the border region of Turkmenistan and Iran. [1]
Previously, it was thought that the earliest horizons of this formation dated to the latest Paleocene (Thanetian). However, more recent studies have found the formation's sapropel to originate from a global anoxic event caused by the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum, indicating that it formed just after the Paleocene-Eocene boundary, during the earliest Ypresian. [2]
The Danata Formation is famous for its ichthyofauna. The fish are found in a 9 metres (30 ft) thick clay horizon in the middle of the succession, that has been dated as Upper Paleocene. [1] This includes fossils of the family Turkmenidae. Luvarus necopinatus was first described in this formation. Other fossils of fish include the genera Eospinus, Danatinia, Exellia, Turkmene and Avitoluvarus . The snake species Archaeophis turkmenicus has also been described. [3]
A similar fauna occurs in the Moler Formation in Denmark. [1]
Archaeus is an extinct genus of marine jackfish from the Paleogene of Europe, where it inhabited the former Tethys Ocean. The oldest species, A. oblongus is from the early Ypresian epoch of Eocene Turkmenistan, and the last species, A. glarisianus and A. solus, are from the early to middle Rupelian, of the Oligocene lagerstatten of Canton Glarus, Switzerland and the Pshekha Formation of North Caucasus, Russia.
The moonfish of the genus Mene, the sole extant genus of the family Menidae, are disk-shaped fish which bear a vague resemblance to gourami, thanks to their thread-like pelvic fins. Today, the genus is represented only by Mene maculata of the Indo-Pacific, where it is a popular food fish, especially in the Philippines, where it is known as bilong-bilong, chabita, hiwas or tahas.
Madtsoiidae is an extinct family of mostly Gondwanan snakes with a fossil record extending from early Cenomanian to late Pleistocene strata located in South America, Africa, India, Australia and Southern Europe. Madtsoiidae include very primitive snakes, which like extant boas and pythons would likely dispatch their prey by constriction. Genera include some of the longest snakes known such as Vasuki, measuring at least 11–15 metres (36–49 ft) long, and the Australian Wonambi and Yurlunggur. As a grouping of basal forms the composition and even the validity of Madtsoiidae is in a state of flux as new pertinent finds are described, with more recent evidence suggesting that it is paraphyletic as previously defined.
The Fur Formation is a marine geological formation of Ypresian age which crops out in the Limfjord region of northern Denmark from Silstrup via Mors and Fur to Ertebølle, and can be seen in many cliffs and quarries in the area. The Diatomite Cliffs is on the Danish list of tentative candidates for World Heritage and may become a World Heritage site. Fossils found in the Fur Formation are primarily housed at the Fossil and Mo-clay Museum on Mors Island, the Fur Museum on Fur Island, and the Natural History Museum of Denmark in Copenhagen.
Blochius is an extinct genus of prehistoric billfish from the Eocene. It is only known from the Monte Bolca deposits in Italy, and was likely restricted to shallow, tropical waters of the Tethys Sea.
Didymictis is an extinct genus of placental mammals from extinct subfamily Didymictinae within extinct family Viverravidae, that lived in North America and Europe from the late Paleocene to middle Eocene.
Turkmenidae is an extinct family of lamprids from the Paleogene of the west-central Asia, in what was formerly the Peri-Tethys Ocean. They were small, disk-shaped fish that bore a strong resemblance to their closest living relatives, the opahs.
Titanoboa is an extinct genus of giant boid snake that lived during the middle and late Paleocene. Titanoboa was first discovered in the early 2000s by the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute who, along with students from the University of Florida, recovered 186 fossils of Titanoboa from La Guajira in northeastern Colombia. It was named and described in 2009 as Titanoboa cerrejonensis, the largest snake ever found at that time. It was originally known only from thoracic vertebrae and ribs, but later expeditions collected parts of the skull and teeth. Titanoboa is in the subfamily Boinae, being most closely related to other extant boines from Madagascar and the Pacific.
Kushlukia is an extinct genus of prehistoric bony fish, closely related to the luvar, that lived during the lower Eocene. K. permira is from Eocene portion of the Danata Formation Lagerstatten, of Turkmenistan. A second, as yet undescribed species is from the Fuller's Earth formation Lagerstatten in the Barmer District, of Ypresian Rajasthan, India.
The Willwood Formation is a sedimentary sequence deposited during the late Paleocene to early Eocene, or Clarkforkian, Wasatchian and Bridgerian in the NALMA classification.
The La Meseta Formation is a sedimentary sequence deposited during the Eocene on Seymour Island off the coast of the Antarctic Peninsula. It is noted for its fossils, which include both marine organisms and the only terrestrial vertebrate fossils from the Cenozoic of Antarctica.
The Nanjemoy Formation is a geologic formation pertaining to both the Wilcox Group and the Pamunkey Group of the eastern United States, stretching across the states of Virginia, Maryland, and District of Columbia. The formation crops out east of the Appalachians and dates back to the Paleogene period. Specifically to the Ypresian stage of the Eocene epoch, about 55 to 50 Ma or Wasatchian in the NALMA classification, defined by the contemporaneous Wasatch Formation of the Pacific US coast.
The Bashi Formation is a geologic formation in Alabama and Mississippi. It is named for Bashi Creek in northern Clarke County, Alabama, which cuts through some of its exposures. It preserves fossils dating back to the Eocene period, or Wasatchian in the NALMA classification.
The Margaret Formation is a geologic formation of the Eureka Sound Group in the Sverdrup Basin in Northwest Territories and Nunavut, Canada. The unit belonging to the Eureka Sound Group which crops out at Ellesmere Island preserves fossils dating back to the Early Eocene period, or Wasatchian in the NALMA classification.
Etayoa is an ungulate of the family Carodniidae in the order Xenungulata that lived during the Early Eocene in northern South America.
Viverravus is an extinct genus of placental mammals from extinct subfamily Viverravinae within extinct family Viverravidae, that lived in North America, Europe and Asia from the middle Paleocene to middle Eocene.
The Bogotá Formation (Spanish: Formación Bogotá, E1-2b, Tpb, Pgb) is a geological formation of the Eastern Hills and Bogotá savanna on the Altiplano Cundiboyacense, Eastern Ranges of the Colombian Andes. The predominantly shale and siltstone formation, with sandstone beds intercalated, dates to the Paleogene period; Upper Paleocene to Lower Eocene epochs, with an age range of 61.66 to 52.5 Ma, spanning the Paleocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum. The thickness of the Bogotá Formation ranges from 169 metres (554 ft) near Tunja to 1,415 metres (4,642 ft) near Bogotá. Fossils of the ungulate Etayoa bacatensis have been found in the Bogotá Formation, as well as numerous reptiles, unnamed as of 2017.
Coniophis is an extinct genus of snakes from the late Cretaceous period. The type species, Coniophis precedes, was about 7 cm long and had snake-like teeth and body form, with a skull and a largely lizard-like bone structure. It probably ate small vertebrates. The fossil remains of Coniophis were first discovered at the end of the 19th century in the Lance Formation of the US state of Wyoming, and were described in 1892 by Othniel Charles Marsh. For the genus Coniophis, a number of other species have been described. Their affiliation is, however, poorly secured, mostly based on vertebrae descriptions from only a few fossils.
Wyonycteris is a genus of small mammals that existed in the late Paleocene and early Eocene epochs. The type species is Wyonycteris chalix, which lived in Wyoming during the Clarkforkian North American Land Mammal Age of the Paleocene and was originally proposed to be an early form of insectivorous bat. Later re-examination of the material has put this alliance in doubt, and the genus has instead been proposed as belonging to the subfamily Placentidentinae, within the family Nyctitheriidae. Similar fossil material of the same time period found in Europe was later discovered and described as new species, Wyonycteris richardi.
The Itaboraí Formation is a highly fossiliferous geologic formation and Lagerstätte of the Itaboraí Basin in Rio de Janeiro, southeastern Brazil. The formation reaching a thickness of 100 metres (330 ft) is the defining unit for the Itaboraian South American land mammal age (SALMA), dating to the Early Eocene, approximately 53 to 50 Ma.