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Cheshire, Erpetosuchus: Norian, Connecticut
collected by P. Olsen 1995

List of taxa
Where & when
Geology
Taphonomy & methods
Metadata & references
Taxonomic list
Reptilia - Archosauria
Erpetosuchus sp. Newton 1894
1 individual
AMNH 29300, partial skull
see common names
Geography
Country:United States State/province:Connecticut
Coordinates: 41.5° North, 72.8° West (view map)
Paleocoordinates:18.9° North, 18.9° West
Basis of coordinate:based on nearby landmark
Geographic resolution:small collection
Time
Period:Triassic Epoch:Late/Upper Triassic
Stage:Norian 10 m.y. bin:Triassic 4
Key time interval:Norian
Age range of interval:216.5 - 203.6 m.y. ago
Stratigraphy
Geological group:Newark Formation:New Haven
Stratigraphy comments: lower part of the New Haven Formation of the Hartford Basin (Newark Supergroup). "The stratigraphic age of the Connecticut record of Erpetosuchus has been constrained as Norian by three independent lines of evidence. First, the basal portion of the New Haven Formation has yielded a palynoflorule dated as latest Carnian to early Norian. Second, using U-Pb dating, Wang et al. (1998) determined the age of pure pedogenic micritic calcite extracted from the fossil-bearing horizon as 211.9 +/- 2.1 Ma, placing it in the Norian stage on recent geological timescales...Third, Lucas et al. (1998) synonymized Stegomus with Aetosaurus and considered the latter taxon an index fossil for continental strata of early to middle Norian age"
Lithology and environment
Primary lithology:burrows,bioturbation,red sandy mudstone
Includes fossils?Y
Lithology description: "Red sandy mudstone, which forms part of a sequence of gray, buff, and brown sedimentary deposits of a meandering river alternating with red overbank sediments. The mudstone is intensely bioturbated by roots and invertebrate burrows and passes upward into caliche-bearing red sandy mudstone. This sequence comprises a typical paleosol profile in the lower New Haven Formation"
Environment:fluvial indet.
Taphonomy
Modes of preservation:body
Size of fossils:macrofossils
Associated major elements:all
Collection methods and comments
Collection methods:field collection
Reason for describing collection:taxonomic analysis
Museum repositories:AMNH
Collectors:P. Olsen Collection dates:1995
Metadata
Database number:92024
Authorizer:R. Butler Enterer:R. Butler
Research group:vertebrate
Created:2009-10-27 08:35:12 Last modified:2009-10-27 10:35:12
Access level:the public Released:2009-10-27 08:35:12
Reference information
Primary reference:
30963 P. E. Olsen, H.-D. Sues, and M. A. Norell. 2000. First record of Erpetosuchus (Reptilia: Archosauria) from the Late Triassic of North America. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 20(4):633-636 [R. Butler/R. Butler]