Hostname: page-component-77c89778f8-gvh9x Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-16T19:41:43.518Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

An occurrence of the protocetid whale “Eocetus” wardii in the middle Eocene Piney Point Formation of Virginia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 July 2015

Robert E. Weems ,
Lucy E. Edwards ,
Jason E. Osborne  and
Aaron A. Alford
Robert E. Weems
Affiliation:
1926A National Center, United States Geological Survey, Reston, Virginia 20192, USA,
Lucy E. Edwards
Affiliation:
1926A National Center, United States Geological Survey, Reston, Virginia 20192, USA,
Jason E. Osborne
Affiliation:
2Paleo Quest, 14243 Murphy Terrace, Gainesville, Virginia 20155, USA,
Aaron A. Alford
Affiliation:
2Paleo Quest, 14243 Murphy Terrace, Gainesville, Virginia 20155, USA,
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Two protocetid whale vertebrae, here referred to “Eocetus” wardii, have been recovered from the riverbed of the Pamunkey River in east-central Virginia. Neither bone was found in situ, but both were found with lumps of lithified matrix cemented to their surfaces. Most of this matrix was removed and processed for microfossils. Specimens of dinoflagellates were successfully recovered and this flora clearly demonstrates that both vertebrae came from the middle Eocene Piney Point Formation, which crops out above and below river level in the area where the bones were discovered. These vertebrae are the oldest whale remains reported from Virginia and are as old as any cetacean remains known from the western hemisphere.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Paleontology , Volume 85 , Issue 2 , March 2011 , pp. 271 - 278
Copyright
Copyright © The Paleontological Society 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Albright, L. B. III. 1996. A protocetid cetacean from the Eocene of South Carolina. Journal of Paleontology, 70:519–523.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Andrews, C. W. 1907. Note on the cervical vertebra of a Zeuglodon from the Barton Clay of Barton Cliff (Hampshire). Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London, 63:124–127.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bybell, L. M. and Gibson, T. G.. 1994. Paleogene stratigraphy of the Putneys Mill, New Kent County, Virginia, corehole. U. S. Geological Survey Open-File Report, 94-217:1–38.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clark, W. B. 1896. The Eocene deposits of the Middle Atlantic slope in Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia. U. S. Geological Survey Bulletin, 141:1–167.Google Scholar
Deck, L. T. 1984. Ostracodes of the Piney Point Formation, Pamunkey River, Virginia, p. 186–191. In Ward, L. W. and Krafft, K. (eds.), Stratigraphy and paleontology of the outcropping Tertiary beds in the Pamunkey River region, central Virginia Coastal Plain. Guidebook for the Atlantic Coastal Plain Geological Association 1984 field trip.Google Scholar
Dimarzio, J. A. 1984. Calcareous nannofossils from the Piney Point Formation, Pamunkey River, Virginia, p. 111–118. In Ward, L. W. and Krafft, K. (eds.), Stratigraphy and paleontology of the outcropping Tertiary beds in the Pamunkey River region, central Virginia Coastal Plain. Guidebook for the Atlantic Coastal Plain Geological Association 1984 field trip.Google Scholar
Edwards, L. E. 1982. Early Tertiary dinoflagellates in the in the Putneys Mill Core, Virginia Coastal Plain, U.S.A. Palynology, 6:279.Google Scholar
Edwards, L. E. 1984. Dinocysts of the Tertiary Piney Point and Old Church formations, Pamunkey River area, Virginia, p. 124–134. In Ward, L. W. and Krafft, K. (eds.), Stratigraphy and paleontology of the outcropping Tertiary beds in the Pamunkey River region, central Virginia Coastal Plain. Guidebook for the Atlantic Coastal Plain Geological Association 1984 field trip.Google Scholar
Edwards, L. E., Barron, J. A., Bukry, D., Bybell, L. M., Cronin, T. M., Poag, C. W., Weems, R. E., and Wingard, G. L.. 2005. Paleontology of the upper Eocene to Quaternary postimpact section in the USGS-NASA Langley core, Hampton, Virginia. In Horton, J. W. Jr., Powars, D. S., and Gohn, G. S. (eds.), U. S. Geological Survey Professional Paper, 1688:H1–H47.Google Scholar
Feldmann, R. M., Bice, B. L., Hopkins, C. S., Salva, E. W., and Pickford, K.. 1998. Decapod crustaceans from the Eocene Castle Hayne Limestone, North Carolina: paleoceanographic implications. Journal of Paleontology, Memoir, 48:1–28.Google Scholar
Frederiksen, N. O. 1984. Sporomorph correlation and paleoecology, Piney Point and Old Church formations, Pamunkey River, Virginia, p. 135–149. In Ward, L. W. and Krafft, L. (eds.), Stratigraphy and paleontology of the outcropping Tertiary beds in the Pamunkey River region, central Virginia Coastal Plain. Guidebook for the Atlantic Coastal Plain Geological Association 1984 field trip.Google Scholar
Geisler, J. H., Sanders, A. E., and Luo, Z.-X.. 2005. A new protocetid whale (Cetacea: Archaeoceti) from the late middle Eocene of South Carolina. American Museum of Natural History, Novitates, 3480:1–65.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gibson, T. G. and Bybell, L. M.. 1994. Sedimentary patterns across the Paleocene-Eocene boundary in the Atlantic and Gulf Coastal Plains of the United States. Bulletin de la Société belge de Géologie, 103:237–265.Google Scholar
Gingerich, P. D., Arif, M., and Clyde, W. C.. 1995. New archaeocetes (Mammalia, Cetacea) from the middle Eocene Domanda Formation of the Sulaiman Range, Punjab (Pakistan). Contributions from the Museum of Paleontology, University of Michigan, 29:291–330.Google Scholar
Gradstein, F. M., Ott, J. G., and Smith, A. G.. 2004. A geologic time scale 2004. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, p. 1–610.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Halstead, L. B. 1984. The first whale (Anglocetus beatsoni) is a turtle. Tertiary Research, 6:1–4.Google Scholar
Halstead, L. B. and Middleton, J. A.. 1972. Notes on fossil whales from the upper Eocene of Barton, Hampshire. Proceedings of the Geologists' Association, 83:185–190.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hulbert, R. C. 1998. Postcranial osteology of the North American middle Eocene protocetid Georgiacetus, p. 235–267. In Thewissen, J. G. M. (ed.), The Emergence of Whales. Plenum Press, New York.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hulbert, R. C., Petkewich, R. M., Bishop, G. A., Bukry, D., and Aleshire, D. P.. 1998. A new middle Eocene protocetid whale (Mammalia: Cetacea: Archaeoceti) and associated biota from Georgia. Journal of Paleontology, 72:907–927.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lyell, C. 1842. On the Tertiary formations and their connexion with the Chalk in Virginia and other parts of the United States. Proceedings of the Geological Society of London, 3:735–742.Google Scholar
Martini, E. 1971. Standard Tertiary and Quaternary calcareous nannoplankton zonation. Proceedings of the Second Planktonic Conference (Rome, 1969), p. 739–785.Google Scholar
McLeod, S. A. and Barnes, L. G.. 1990. Archaeocete cetaceans from the Atlantic Coastal Plain of the United States, including a new protocetid. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 9:35A.Google Scholar
McLeod, S. A. and Barnes, L. G.. 1991. The most primitive cetacean from the western hemisphere and its relationships to other archaeocetes. Abstracts of the Ninth Biennial Conference on the Biology of Marine Mammals (Chicago, 1991), 46 p.Google Scholar
McLeod, S. A. and Barnes, L. G.. 1996. The systematic position of Pappocetus lugardi and a new taxon from North America (Archaeoceti: Protocetidae). In Repetski, J. E. (ed.), Sixth North American Paleontological Convention, Abstracts of Papers, Paleontological Society Special Paper, 8:270.Google Scholar
McLeod, S. A. and Barnes, L. G.. 2008. A new genus and species of Eocene protocetid archaeocete whale (Mammalia, Cetacea) from the Atlantic Coastal Plain. Science Series of the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, 41:73–98.Google Scholar
Mitchill, S. L. 1818. Observations on the geology of North America, illustrated by the description of various organic remains found in that part of the world, p. 319–424. In Cuvier, G. L. C. F. D., Theory of the Earth. Kirk and Mercein, New York.Google Scholar
Morrell, C. C., 1984. Cubitostrea from the Nanjemoy and Piney Point Formations, p. 183–185. In Ward, L. W. and Krafft, K. (eds.), Stratigraphy and paleontology of the outcropping Tertiary beds in the Pamunkey River region, central Virginia Coastal Plain. Guidebook for the Atlantic Coastal Plain Geological Association 1984 field trip.Google Scholar
Müller, A. 1999. Ichthyofaunen aus dem atlantischen Tertiär der USA. Leipziger Geowissenschaften, 9/10:1–360.Google Scholar
Powars, D. S. and Bruce, T. S.. 1999. The effects of the Chesapeake Bay impact crater on the geologic framework and correlation of hydro-geologic units of the lower York-James Peninsula, Virginia. U. S. Geological Survey Professional Paper, 1612:1–82.Google Scholar
Sahni, A. and Mishra, V. P.. 1975. Lower Tertiary vertebrates from western India. Monograph of the Palaeontological Society of India, 3:1–48.Google Scholar
Sanders, A. E. 1974. A paleontological survey of the Cooper Marl and Santee Limestone near Harleyville, South Carolina, preliminary report. Geologic Notes, South Carolina Geological Survey, 18:4–12.Google Scholar
Sanders, A. E. and Barnes, L. G.. 2002a. Paleontology of the Late Oligocene Ashley and Chandler Bridge Formations of South Carolina: 2, Micromysticetus rothauseni, a primitive cetotheriid mysticete (Mammalia: Cetacea). Smithsonian Contributions to Paleobiology, 93:271–293.Google Scholar
Sanders, A. E. and Barnes, L. G.. 2002b. Paleontology of the Late Oligocene Ashley and Chandler Bridge Formations of South Carolina: 3, Eomysticetidae, a new family of primitive mysticetes (Mammalia: Cetacea). Smithsonian Contributions to Paleobiology, 93:313–356.Google Scholar
Sanders, A. E., Weems, R. E., and Lemon, E. M. Jr. 1982. Chandler Bridge Formation—a new Oligocene stratigraphic unit in the lower coastal plain of South Carolina. U. S. Geological Survey Bulletin, 1529-H:105–124.Google Scholar
Seeley, H. G. 1876. Notice of the occurrence of remains of a British fossil zeuglodon (Z. wanklyni, Seeley) in the Barton Clay of the Hampshire coast. Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London, 32:428–432.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Self-Trail, J. M. and Bybell, L. M.. 1995. Cretaceous and Paleogene calcareous nannofossil biostratigraphy of New Jersey. Annual Field Conference, Geological Association of New Jersey, 12:102–139.Google Scholar
Smith, A. G., Smith, D. G., and Funnell, B. M.. 1994. Atlas of Mesozoic and Cenozoic coastlines. Cambridge University Press, New York, 99 p., 31 maps.Google Scholar
Strickland, G. L. 1984. Molluscan biozones of the Piney Point Formation (middle Eocene, Claibornian Age) in the Pamunkey River valley, Virginia, p. 155–182. In Ward, L. W. and Krafft, K., (eds.), Stratigraphy and paleontology of the outcropping Tertiary beds in the Pamunkey River region, central Virginia Coastal Plain. Guidebook for the Atlantic Coastal Plain Geological Association 1984 field trip.Google Scholar
Tarlo, L. B. H. 1964. A primitive whale from the London Clay of the Isle of Sheppey. Proceedings of the Geologists' Association, 74:319–324.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Uhen, M. D. 1998. New protocetid (Mammalia, Cetacea) from the late middle Eocene Cook Mountain Formation of Louisiana. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 18:664–668.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Uhen, M. D. 1999. New species of protocetid archaeocete whale, Eocetus wardii (Mammalia: Cetacea) from the middle Eocene of North Carolina. Journal of Paleontology, 73:512–528.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Uhen, M. D. 2001. New material of Eocetus wardii (Mammalia: Cetacea) from the middle Eocene of North Carolina. Southeastern Geology, 40:135–148.Google Scholar
Uhen, M. D. 2008. New protocetid whales from Alabama and Mississippi, and a new cetacean clade, Palagiceti. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 28:589–593.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Uhen, M. D. and Berndt, H.-J.. 2008. First record of the archaeocete family Protocetidae from Europe. The Fossil Record, 11:57–60.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Uhen, M. D., Pyenson, N. D., DeVries, T. J., Urbina-Schmitt, M.. 2008. The oldest cetaceans from the southern hemisphere: new archaeocetes from the Pisco Basin of Southern Peru. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, Program Abstracts, 28:154A–155A.Google Scholar
Wade, B. S. and Kroon, D.D. 2002. Middle Eocene regional climate instability; evidence from the western North Atlantic. Geology, 30:1011–1014.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wade, B. S. and Kroon, D.D. 2003. Middle Eocene regional climate instability and palaeoceanography of the western North Atlantic: implications for the position of the proto Gulf Stream. American Association of Petroleum Geologists, Annual Meeting Expanded Abstracts, 12:177.Google Scholar
Ward, L. W. 1984. Stratigraphy of outcropping Tertiary beds along the Pamunkey River – Central Virginia Coastal Plain, p. 11–78. In Ward, L. W. and Krafft, K. (eds.), Stratigraphy and paleontology of the outcropping Tertiary beds in the Pamunkey River region, central Virginia Coastal Plain. Guidebook for the Atlantic Coastal Plain Geological Association 1984 field trip.Google Scholar
Ward, L. W. 1985. Stratigraphy and characteristic mollusks of the Pamunkey Group (Lower Tertiary) and the Old Church Formation of the Chesapeake Group – Virginia Coastal Plain. U. S. Geological Survey Professional Paper, 1346:1–78. 6 plates.Google Scholar
Weems, R. E. and Grimsley, G. J.. 1999. Early Eocene vertebrates and plants from the Fisher/Sullivan site (Nanjemoy Formation) Stafford County, Virginia. Virginia Division of Mineral Resources Publication, 152:1–159.Google Scholar
Weems, R. E. and Sanders, A. E.. 1986. The Chandler Bridge Formation (upper Oligocene) in the Charleston region, South Carolina. Geological Society of America Centennial Field Guide, Southeastern Section, 6:323–326.Google Scholar
Weems, R. E., Self-Trail, J. M., and Edwards, L. E.. 2004. Supergroup stratigraphy of the Atlantic and Gulf Coastal Plains (Middle? Jurassic through Holocene, Eastern North America). Southeastern Geology, 42:191–216.Google Scholar
Wyman, J. 1850. Notice of remains of vertebrated animals found at Richmond, Virginia. American Journal of Science, ser. 2, 10:228–235.Google Scholar