Abstract

ALVARADO-ORTEGA, Jesús et al. Vertebrate fossils from the San José de Gracia quarry, a new Late Cretaceous marine fossil site in Puebla, Mexico. Bol. Soc. Geol. Mex [online]. 2020, vol.72, n.1, e160819.  Epub Dec 22, 2020. ISSN 1405-3322.  https://doi.org/10.18268/bsgm2020v72n1a160819.

The San José de Gracia Quarry, located within the Municipality of Molcaxac, southern Puebla, Mexico, is a new paleontological site discovered about a decade ago. This paper is the first formal scientific contribution of this site. The quarry occupies an area no larger than the two hectares that is exploited for commercial purposes, where slabs are extracted from a marine sequence of cream-brown strata of poorly carbonated clays, with centimetric thickness. Although the upper and lower limits of this sequence are not known; the characteristic lithology and fossil content do not correspond with those of the regional geological units previously reported. Although the fossil association recovered from the San José de Gracia Quarry is composed mostly of fish remains; it also contains ammonites, belemnites, inoceramids, indeterminate ostreids, reptiles and few plant remains. In this work, the first fossil fish remains from this locality are described, including representatives of Enchodus and clupeid both previously known from Mexico; as well as the first record of Dercetis and Xenyllion from this country. In addition, a yaguarasaurine mosasaur is also reported. Based on its fossil content and its lithology, the fossil-bearing strata of the San José de Gracia quarry can be possibly referred to the Mexcala Formation (Morelos-Guerrero Basin) of Turonian age.

Keywords : San José de Gracia quarry; Turonian; Puebla; Mexcala Formation; vertebrates.

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