3Department of Geosciences, Texas Tech University, P.O. Box 4109, Lubbock, TX 79409

ABSTRACT

    We describe the Terlingua local fauna, a rich assemblage of predominantly terrestrial microvertebrates from a locality in the Late Cretaceous Aguja Formation of Trans-Pecos Texas. Marine invertebrates (which include elements of both Cretaceous Western Interior and Gulf Coast zoogeographic provinces) from conformably underlying strata suggest that the fauna is of late Campanian age, probably correlative with Judithian assemblages of the Western Interior. A Judithian "age" for the fauna is further supported by its mammal and theropod assemblages, and by the faunas of overlying deposits. The previously reported diversity of the Aguja Formation, which we also summarize, is significantly enriched by this new fauna. The fauna also fills a major gap in the biogeography of Campanian terrestrial vertebrates.

    Notable occurrences in the Terlingua local fauna include the therian mammal Gallolestes, previously known only from Baja California, and a hitherto unrecorded type of primitive 'tribothere.' At least 4 marsupial and 6 multituberculate taxa are present, several of which represent new taxa. Squamates comprise at least 10 taxa, including xenosaurs, necrosaurs, glyptosaurines, scincids, teiids, and a snake, several of which represent new taxa.  In addition, the fauna includes at least 7 dinosaurs, 1 pterosaur, 2 crocodylomorphs, 3 turtles, 3 lissamphibians, 3 actinopterygians, and 8 chondrichthyans. Wood, amber, leaves, seeds, pollen, molluscs, and dinoflagellates are also preserved. The fauna is not strictly comparable to others from the Western Interior. It includes taxa that are either endemic or otherwise known only from relatively low latitudes, indicating an appreciable degree of latitudinal differentiation among Campanian terrestrial faunas bordering the Western Interior seaway.

return to Aguja homepage