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Palaeoecology of a primate-friendly, middle Eocene community from Laredo, Texas and a review of stratigraphic occurrences of Paleogene land mammals across the Gulf Coastal Plain, USA

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Abstract

Recent analysis of primate remains in the Casa Blanca local fauna from the late middle Eocene Laredo Formation at Laredo, Texas has shown that the fauna’s primate species diversity was greater than previously reported. Recognition of Mahgarita cf. M. stevensi provided the first record of an Old World cercomoniine species in a Uintan community in North America. The presence of three omomyids indicates that primate species diversity in the paralic Casa Blanca community was similar to that in late Uintan age faunas in both Trans-Pecos, Texas and in the Uinta Basin of Utah. Palaeoecologic evidence from associated plant, invertebrate and vertebrate remains indicates that the regional community setting was a tropical mangrove swamp fringing a lowland coastal rain forest. This late middle Eocene climate was probably similar to the early middle Eocene climate which prevailed in Germany at the time the Messel community inhabited the region. A review of stratigraphic occurrences of Paleogene land mammal remains across the Gulf Coastal Plain indicates that the Casa Blanca fauna is one of only two Paleogene land mammal communities known from Gulf Coastal deposits. These coastal land mammal occurrences provide rare opportunities to correlate Paleogene land mammal communities known from the interior of North America with strata bearing marine species.

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Abbreviations

APL:

Antero-posterior length

DGF:

Devil’s Graveyard Formation

DP:

Upper deciduous premolar

dp:

Lower deciduous premolar

M:

Upper molar

m:

Lower molar

NALMA:

North American Land Mammal Age

P:

Upper premolar

p:

Lower premolar

ppt:

Parts per thousand

TMM:

Texas Memorial Museum

Ui1, Ui2, Ui3:

Early, middle, late Uintan, respectively

USGS:

United States Geological Survey

USNM:

United States National Museum

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Acknowledgements

Countless experts have helped to identify and update the components of the Casa Blanca community because of its taxonomic diversity ranging from fully marine invertebrates to terrestrial rain forest species, and the piecemeal preservation and recovery of its specimens. I thank all of those who have endeavored to better clarify this unique glimpse of the middle Eocene history of the Texas Gulf Coast. I also wish to thank reviewers Drs. Chris Beard and Beth Townsend for their helpful suggestions which improved the manuscript. Dr. Jeff Pittman drafted Figure 1.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Earth & Space Sciences, Lamar University, Texas State University System, Beaumont, TX, 77710, USA

    James W. Westgate

  2. Vertebrate Paleontology Laboratory, Texas Natural Science Center, University of Texas, Austin, TX, 78712, USA

    James W. Westgate

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  1. James W. Westgate
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Correspondence to James W. Westgate.

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This article is a contribution to the special issue "Messel and the terrestrial Eocene—Proceedings of the 22nd Senckenberg Conference”

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Westgate, J.W. Palaeoecology of a primate-friendly, middle Eocene community from Laredo, Texas and a review of stratigraphic occurrences of Paleogene land mammals across the Gulf Coastal Plain, USA. Palaeobio Palaeoenv 92, 497–505 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12549-012-0084-6

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