Owl Creek Formation

Last updated
Owl Creek Formation
Stratigraphic range: Cretaceous
Type Formation
Location
Region Illinois and Tennessee
CountryFlag of the United States.svg  United States

The Owl Creek Formation is a geologic formation ranging from Tennessee to Mississippi. It preserves fossils dating back to the Cretaceous period. Ornithomimids and ceratopsid remains are known from the formation. The ceratopsid tooth could represent a chasmosaurine. [1]

See also

Related Research Articles

<i>Triceratops</i> Genus of ceratopsid dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous

Triceratops is an extinct genus of herbivorous chasmosaurine ceratopsid dinosaur that first appeared during the late Maastrichtian stage of the Late Cretaceous period, about 68 million years ago in what is now North America. It is one of the last-known non-avian dinosaur genera, and became extinct in the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event 66 million years ago. The name Triceratops, which literally means 'three-horned face', is derived from the Greek words trí- meaning 'three', kéras meaning 'horn', and ṓps meaning 'face'.

Ceratopsidae Family of dinosaurs including Triceratops and relatives

Ceratopsidae is a family of ceratopsian dinosaurs including Triceratops, Centrosaurus, and Styracosaurus. All known species were quadrupedal herbivores from the Upper Cretaceous. All but one species are known from western North America, which formed the island continent of Laramidia during most of the Late Cretaceous. Ceratopsids are characterized by beaks, rows of shearing teeth in the back of the jaw, elaborate nasal horns, and a thin parietal-squamosal shelf that extends back and up into a frill. The group is divided into two subfamilies—Chasmosaurinae and Centrosaurinae. The chasmosaurines are generally characterized by long, triangular frills and well-developed brow horns. The centrosaurines had well-developed nasal horns or nasal bosses, shorter and more rectangular frills, and elaborate spines on the back of the frill.

<i>Zuniceratops</i> Extinct genus of dinosaurs

Zuniceratops was a ceratopsian dinosaur from the mid Turonian of the Late Cretaceous Period of what is now New Mexico, United States. It lived about 10 million years earlier than the more familiar horned Ceratopsidae and provides an important window on their ancestry.

<i>Agujaceratops</i> Extinct genus of dinosaurs

Agujaceratops is a genus of horned dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous (Campanian) of west Texas. It is a chasmosaurine (long-frilled) ceratopsian. Two species are known, Agujaceratops mariscalensis, and A. mavericus.

The Coon Creek Formation is a geologic formation located in western Tennessee and extreme northeast Mississippi. It is a sedimentary sandy marl deposit, Late Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) in age, about 70 million years old. The formation is known for producing mosasaurs and plesiosaurs, particularly at Coon Creek in McNairy County, Tennessee, which the formation is named for. Additionally, the formation produces many other marine invertebrates such as Turritella and the state fossil of Tennessee, the bivalve Pterotrigonia thoracica, as well as other fossils such as crabs.

The geology of Tennessee is as diverse as its landscapes. Politically, Tennessee is broken up into three Grand Divisions: East, Middle, and West Tennessee. Physically, Tennessee is also separated into three main types of landforms: river valley plain, highlands and basins, and mountains.

Emarginachelys cretacea is a turtle belonging to the group Cryptodira, known from well preserved fossils from the Maastrichtian stage of the Late Cretaceous of Montana. Its exact phylogenetic position within Cryptodira is uncertain; different authors considered it to be either the earliest described chelydrid or a fossil relative of kinosternoids.

<i>Discoscaphites</i> Genus of molluscs (fossil)

Discoscaphites is an extinct genus of ammonite. This genus may have been one of the few to have briefly survived the K-Pg mass extinction.

<i>Eothoracosaurus</i> Extinct genus of reptiles

Eothoracosaurus is an extinct genus of eusuchian crocodylomorphs which existed during the Late Cretaceous period. Thoracosaurs in general were traditionally thought to be related to the modern false gharial, largely because the nasal bones contact the premaxillae, but phylogenetic work starting in the 1990s instead supported affinities within gavialoid exclusive of such forms. One recent phylogenetic study published by Lee & Yates (2018) suggests that thoracosaurs might instead be non-crocodilian eusuchian. If the animal was a gavialoid, it was one of the earliest and most basal gavialoids known.

<i>Sinoceratops</i> Extinct genus of dinosaurs

Sinoceratops is an extinct genus of ceratopsian dinosaur that lived approximately 73 million years ago during the latter part of the Cretaceous Period in what is now Shandong province in China. It was named in 2010 by Xu Xing et al. for three skulls from Zhucheng, China. The name of its type species Sinoceratops zhuchengensis means "Chinese horned face from Zhucheng", after the location of its discovery.

Pachyrhinosaurini Extinct tribe of dinosaurs

Pachyrhinosaurini was a tribe of centrosaurine dinosaurs. The clade existed during the Late Cretaceous, about 84.9 to 68.5 million years ago, evolving during the earliest Campanian, and becoming extinct in the Maastrichtian. The tribe contains three genera: Einiosaurus, Achelousaurus, and Pachyrhinosaurus. Pachyrhinosaurus and Achelousaurus form the clade of pachyrhinosaurins called the Pachyrostra ("thick-snouts"), characterized primarily by their nasal bosses.

The Porters Creek Formation is a geologic formation in Tennessee. It preserves fossils dating back to the Paleogene period.

The Java Formation is a geologic formation in Kentucky, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia. It preserves fossils dating back to the Devonian period. The formation comprises the Pipe Creek Shale, Wiscoy Sandstone Member in New York, and Hanover Shale Member except in Tennessee.

Prairie Bluff Chalk Formation in Alabama and Mississippi, United States

The Prairie Bluff Chalk is a geologic formation in Alabama and Mississippi. It preserves fossils dating back to the Cretaceous period.

The Chiwapa Formation is a geologic formation in Mississippi. It preserves fossils dating back to the Cretaceous period.

The Windrow Formation is a geologic formation in Minnesota named after Windrow Bluff on Fort McCoy, Monroe County, Wisconsin. It preserves fossils dating back to the Cretaceous period.

Timeline of ceratopsian research

This timeline of ceratopsian research is a chronological listing of events in the history of paleontology focused on the ceratopsians, a group of herbivorous marginocephalian dinosaurs that evolved parrot-like beaks, bony frills, and, later, spectacular horns. The first scientifically documented ceratopsian fossils were described by Edward Drinker Cope starting in the 1870s; however, the remains were poorly preserved and their true nature was not recognized. Over the next several decades, Cope named several such genera and species. Cope's hated rival, Othniel Charles Marsh, also described ceratopsian remains. In 1887, Marsh mistook a Triceratops horn for one belonging to a new species of prehistoric Bison. Marsh also named the eponymous genus Ceratops in 1888. The next year, he named the most famous ceratopsian, Triceratops horridus. It was the discovery of Triceratops that illuminated the ceratopsian body plan, and he formally named the Ceratopsia in 1890.

<i>Yehuecauhceratops</i> Extinct genus of dinosaurs

Yehuecauhceratops is a genus of horned centrosaurine ceratopsid dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous of Coahuila, Mexico. It contains a single species, Y. mudei, described from two partial specimens by Rivera-Sylva et al. in 2016 and formally named by Rivera-Sylva et al. in 2017. It was a small centrosaurine with a body length of 3 metres (9.8 ft), making it smaller than Agujaceratops and Coahuilaceratops, the other two ceratopsids in its environment; the three may have been ecologically segregated. A ridge bearing a single roughened projection near the bottom of the squamosal bone, which probably supported a small horn, allows Yehuecauhceratops to be distinguished from other centrosaurines. Its affinities to nasutoceratopsin centrosaurines, such as Avaceratops and Nasutoceratops, are supported by various morphological similarities to the former.

<i>Navajoceratops</i> Extinct genus of dinosaurs

Navajoceratops is a genus of ceratopsid dinosaur from the late Cretaceous Period of what is now North America. The genus contains a single species, N. sullivani, named after Robert M. Sullivan, leader of the expeditions that recovered the holotype.

Sinankylosaurus is a genus of ankylosaurian dinosaur from the late Cretaceous Period of Shandong, China. The genus contains a single species, Sinankylosaurus zhuchengensis, known from a nearly complete right illium. The describers explained that the discovery of Sinankylosaurus further demonstrates the similarity between dinosaurs of eastern Asia and western North America.

References

  1. Farke, Andrew A.; Phillips, George E. (23 May 2017). "The first reported ceratopsid dinosaur from eastern North America (Owl Creek Formation, Upper Cretaceous, Mississippi, USA)". PeerJ. 5: e3342. doi: 10.7717/peerj.3342 . ISSN   2167-8359.