Lakota Formation

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Lakota Formation
Stratigraphic range: Berriasian-Barremian
Type Geological formation
Sub-unitsChilson Member. Fuson Member
Underlies Fall River Formation
Overlies Morrison Formation
Thickness200 to 500 feet (60 to 150 m)
Lithology
Primary Sandstone
Other Shale, Coal, Conglomerate
Location
Region North America
CountryFlag of the United States.svg  United States
Type section
Named forLakota Native American tribe
Named byDarton
Year defined1899

The Lakota Formation is a sequence of rocks of early Cretaceous (Berriasian to Barremian) age from Western North America. Located in South Dakota, the name of the formation is derived from the Lakota Native American tribe.

Contents

There are two units of the Lakota Formation, the Chilson Member (upper Berriasian to Valanginian) and the underlying Fuson Member (upper Valanginian to early Barremian). A Berriasian-Valanginian age for the Chilson Member has been extrapolated by means of ostracods and charophytes. [1]

Vertebrate paleofauna

Dinosaurs

Dinosaurs reported from the Lakota Formation
GenusSpeciesLocationStratigraphic positionMaterialNotesImages

Dakotadon [2]

D. lakotaensis

Chilson Member

"Skull, mandible, [and] vertebrae." [3]

An ankylopollexian iguanodont

Hoplitosaurus

H. marshi

Chilson Member

"Partial postcranial skeleton [and] osteoderms." [4]

An ankylosaur belonging to Polacanthidae

Osmakasaurus [5] [6]

O. depressus

Chilson Member

Portions of both ilia, anterior part of the blade of one pubis, an incomplete sacrum, centrum of the last sacro-dorsal, 12 caudal vertebrae, 1 thoracic rib and many fragments

An ankylopollexian iguanodont

Macronaria [7]

Indeterminate

Chilson Member

Left humerus and right metacarpal I

A macronarian related to Camarasaurus

Mammals

Mammals reported from the Lakota Formation
GenusSpeciesLocationStratigraphic positionMaterialNotesImages

Bolodon

B. hydei [8]

Chilson Member

Right M2

A plagiaulacid multituberculate

Infernolestes [8]

I. rougieri

Chilson Member

Right lower M1

A spalacotheriid trechnotherian.

Lakotalestes [8]

L. luoi

Chilson Member

Right upper molar (M5?)

A dryolestid

Passumys [8]

P. angelli

Chilson Member

Right M1

A plagiaulacid multituberculate

Turtles

Turtles reported from the Lakota Formation
GenusSpeciesLocationStratigraphic positionMaterialNotesImages
Lakotemys [9] L. australodakotensisChilson MemberTwo shells and a partial skullA baenid paracryptodire

Other vertebrate remains found within the Lakota Formation include a fish scale from the gar Lepisosteus and a crocodile tooth [10]

Related Research Articles

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Dakotadon is a genus of iguanodont dinosaur from the Barremian-age Lower Cretaceous Lakota Formation of South Dakota, USA, known from a partial skull. It was first described in 1989 as Iguanodon lakotaensis, by David B. Weishampel and Philip R. Bjork. Its assignment has been controversial. Some researchers suggest that "I." lakotaensis was more basal than I. bernissartensis, and related to Theiophytalia, but David Norman has suggested that it was a synonym of I. bernissartensis. Gregory S. Paul, working on a revision of iguanodont species, gave "I." lakotaensis its own genus (Dakotadon) in 2008. He measured its length at 6 metres (20 ft) and body mass at 1 metric ton.

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Osmakasaurus is a genus of herbivorous iguanodontian dinosaur. It is a basal iguanodontian which lived during the Early Cretaceous period in what is now Buffalo Gap of South Dakota, United States. It is known from the Chilson Member of the Lakota Formation. This genus was named by Andrew T. McDonald in 2011 and the type species is O. depressus.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Baenidae</span> Extinct family of turtles

Baenidae is an extinct family of paracryptodiran turtles known from the Early Cretaceous to Eocene of North America. While during the Early Cretaceous they are found across North America, during the Late Cretaceous they are only found in Laramidia, having disappeared from Appalachia. The majority of lineages survived the K-Pg Extinction, but the family was extinct by the latest Eocene. The name of the type genus, Baena, appears to be of Native American origin. They are primarily found in freshwater deposits, and are considered to be aquatic, with a largely generalist habit.

References

  1. Sames, B.; Cifelli, R. L.; Schudack, M. (2010). "The nonmarine Lower Cretaceous of the North American Western Interior foreland basin: new biostratigraphic results from ostracod correlations, and their implications for paleontology and geology of the basin—an overview". Earth-Science Reviews. 101 (3–4): 207–224. doi:10.1016/j.earscirev.2010.05.001.
  2. Paul, Gregory S. (2008). "A revised taxonomy of the iguanodont dinosaur genera and species". Cretaceous Research. 29 (2): 192–216. doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2007.04.009.
  3. "Table 19.1," in Weishampel, et al. (2004). Page 416.
  4. "Table 17.1," in Weishampel, et al. (2004). Page 366.
  5. Gilmore, C.W. (1909). "Osteology of the Jurassic reptile Camptosaurus, with a revision of the species of the genus, and description of two new species". Proceedings of the U.S. National Museum. 332.
  6. McDonald, A. T. (2011). "The taxonomy of species assigned to Camptosaurus (Dinosauria: Ornithopoda)". Zootaxa. 2783 (1): 52–68. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.2783.1.4.
  7. D'Emic, M. D.; Foster, J. R. (2014). "The oldest Cretaceous North American sauropod dinosaur". Historical Biology. 28 (4): 470–478. doi:10.1080/08912963.2014.976817.
  8. 1 2 3 4 Cifelli, R. L.; Davis, B. M.; Sames, B. (2014). "Earliest Cretaceous mammals from the western United States". Acta Palaeontologica Polonica. 59 (1): 31–52. doi: 10.4202/app.2012.0089 .
  9. Joyce, Walter G.; Rollot, Yann; Cifelli, Richard L. (2020-02-12). "A new species of baenid turtle from the Early Cretaceous Lakota Formation of South Dakota". Fossil Record. 23 (1): 1–13. doi: 10.5194/fr-23-1-2020 . ISSN   2193-0066.
  10. Darton, Nelson Horatio (1904). "Comparison of the Stratigraphy of the Black Hills, Bighorn Mountains, and Rocky Mountain Front Range". Geological Society of America Bulletin. 15: 379–448.