Geology and Paleontology of the Lee Creek Mine, North Carolina, III

Abstract

This volume on the geology and paleontology of the Lee Creek Mine is the third of four to be dedicated to the late Remington Kellogg. It includes a prodromus and six papers on nonmammalian vertebrate paleontology. The prodromus continues the historical theme of the introductions to volumes I and II, reviewing and resuscitating additional early reports of Atlantic Coastal Plain fossils. Harry L. Fierstine identifies five species of the billfish family Istiophoridae from some 500 bones collected in the Yorktown Formation. These include the only record of <i>Makaira purdyi</i> Fierstine, the first fossil record of the genus <i>Tetrapturus</i>, specifically <i>T. albidus</i> Poey, the second fossil record of <i>Istiophorus platypterus</i> (Shaw and Nodder) and <i>Makaira indica</i> (Cuvier), and the first fossil record of <i>I. platypterus, M. indica, M. nigricans</i> Lacépède, and <i>T. albidus</i> from fossil deposits bordering the Atlantic Ocean. Robert W. Purdy and five coauthors identify 104 taxa from 52 families of cartilaginous and bony fishes from the Pungo River and Yorktown formations. The 10 teleosts and 44 selachians from the Pungo River Formation indicate correlation with the Burdigalian and Langhian stages. The 37 cartilaginous and 40 bony fishes, mostly from the Sunken Meadow member of the Yorktown Formation, are compatible with assignment to the early Pliocene planktonic foraminiferal zones N18 or N19. The Pungo River fish fauna is dominated by warm water taxa; the Yorktown fauna includes warm and cool water species. These changes are attributed to increased upwelling waters in Yorktown time. The abundant fossils provide the basis for several changes in selachian taxonomy and for two new species of bony fishes. George R. Zug records 11 taxa of turtles from the Yorktown Formation: a sideneck (<i>Bothremys</i>); six sea turtles (<i>Caretta</i>, ?<i>Chelonia, Lepidochelys, Procolpochelys, Psephophorus, Syllomus</i>); a softshell turtle (trionychid); two pond turtles (probably <i>Pseudemys</i> and <i>Trachemys</i>); and a giant tortoise (<i>Geochelone</i>). Albert C. Myrick, Jr., records the crocodylian <i>Thecachampsa antiqua</i> (Leidy) on the basis of fragmentary float material from the Pungo River or Yorktown Formation, or both. Robert W. Storer describes a new species of grebe of the genus <i>Podiceps</i> from the Yorktown Formation. Storrs L. Olson and Pamela C. Rasmussen record some 112 species of birds from the Pungo River and Yorktown formations. Apart from an undetermined number of shearwaters, only a few species are thought to come from the Pungo River Formation. The marine species from the Yorktown Formation include three loons, two grebes, five albatrosses, at least 16 shearwaters and petrels, one pelican, two pseudodontorns, three gannets, two cormorants, 9-11 auks and puffins, one skua, three jaegers, five gulls, two terns, and 20 ducks, geese, and swans. The less common land and shore birds are represented by 29 species, including three cranes, one rail, two oystercatchers, one plover, four scolopacids, one flamingo, one ibis, one heron, three storks, one condor, five accipitrids, one osprey, one phasianid, one turkey, one pigeon, and one crow. The fauna is dominated by a radiation of auks of the genus <i>Alca</i>. The early Pliocene fauna is very modern in aspect, suggesting that most modern lineages of birds were already in existence.