Cicimurri et al.—Late Paleocene armored lizard fossils from South Carolina, USA
1980), Canadian high arctic, provided evidence that this region was a potential dispersal route for these lizards into Europe during theWasatchian NALMA (Sullivan, 1979; Smith, 2009). However, a slightly older dispersal route, following the Atlantic coast of the United States and Canada, now seems plausible and could explain the apparent sudden appearance of glyptosaurines in the earliest Eocene of Europe (Sullivan et al., 2012).
Paleoecology.—Glyptosaur fossils found in the western United States occur in strata representing fluvial and lacustrine environments (Sullivan, 1979 and references cited therein), but the South Carolina taxon occurs in a stratum that represents a near- shoremarine habitat. The diverse vertebrate assemblage recovered from the Jamestown deposit is dominated by marine species, including more than 60 taxa of elasmobranchs and osteichthyans (based on teeth and otoliths).Calcareous nannofossils indicate that deposition occurred in an inner to middle neritic environment. Although at least one salinity-tolerant turtle is present (Taphrosphys sp.), shell fragments of kinosternid, pelomedusid, and tryonichid turtles are common and indicative of fluvial or brackish habitats. The glyptosaur osteoderms, as well as crocodi- lian teeth, amammal tooth, and fragments of lignite, also hint at the existence of these environments. In general, the fish otoliths represent species that inhabited inner- to middle-shelf-depth environments, but estuarine taxa are also present. Abundant oyster shells also point to the existence of an estuary. However, calcareous nannoplankton do not typically thrive in estuarine set- tings, and where they do, their assemblages tend to be mono- or oligospecific, which the Jamestown assemblage is not.Apro-delta environmentwould be deep enough for calcareous nannoplankton, but still receive an influx of sediment/vertebrate remains from the shore. We conclude that deposition of the fossiliferous deposit occurred in awarm-water environment deep enough for calcareous nannofossils but close enough to the shore for the remains of ter- restrial/brackish-water organisms to be abundant. Middle Eocene (Bridgerian NALMA) glyptosaur osteoderms found in Texas occur in strata representing an estuarine, possibly mangrove- swamp environment (Westgate, 1989; Westgate and Gee, 1990).
Acknowledgments
H. Major and B. Palmer arranged access to the Martin Marietta quarry. V. McCollum assisted with field collections, and J. Ciegler sorted concentrated matrix using a binocular micro- scope. R. Sullivan confirmed our identification of the South Carolina osteoderms as belonging to a glyptosaurine lizard. R. Denton shared his knowledge of Cretaceous anguid lizards from New Jersey, and F. Swain kindly identified ostracodes. J. Ebersole drafted the stratigraphic column seen in Figure 3.2. The editorial suggestions of I. Burgess, E. Osborne, E. Seefelt, and R. Weems helped to improve an earlier version of this manuscript and are greatly appreciated.
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