La Quinta Formation, Mexico

La Quinta Formation
Stratigraphic range: Late Oligocene – Early Miocene
TypeGeological Formation
Unit ofSimojovel Group
Sub-unitsSee: Members
UnderliesMazantic Shale
OverliesRancho Berlin Sandstone
Thickness2,900 ft (880 m)
Lithology
PrimarySandstone
Location
RegionChiapas
CountryMexico

La Quinta Formation, sometimes referred to as the Simojovel Formation, is a geological formation in Chiapas, Simojovel in Mexico, deposited during the Late Oligocene into the early Miocene. It is the oldest known formation where Mexican amber can be found.

Geology

The La Quinta Formation is a part of the larger Simojovel Group, and can be found outcropping near Chiapas in Mexico. It is overlain by the Mazantic Shale, whilst it is underlain by the Rancho Berlin Sandstone.[2]

Members

The La Quinta Formation is composed of three fossiliferous members, which are as follows, in stratigraphic order (lowest to highest):

  • Camino Carretero Member: This member, known to get up to 2,650 ft (810 m) in thickness, is primarily composed of various sandstones. Some of the sandstone layers are noted to be cemented with calcium carbonate, whilst non-calcareous sandstones layers range from brown-ochre to grey weather limoitic fine-grained, alternating massive to thin-bedded fine to coarse-grained brown weathering, coarse-grained arkosic, blue-grey to buff-micaceous fine-grained buff to brown weathering, and buff medium-grained micaceous buff to ochre weathering tuffaceous medium-grained with inter-bedded calcareous rocks. Towards the upper 800 ft (240 m) of the member, the various sandstones give way to tuffaceous sandstones, ranging from buff to limonitic or red tuffaceous sandstone, which is inter-bedded with siltstone, to massive silty medium-grained micaceous tuffaceous limonitic weathering sandstone. Throughout this member, shales are also present, starting as a blue-grey calcareous shale in the lower sections of the member, giving way to sandy shale, buff to micaceous-green shale, buff-micaceous silty ochre weathering shale, fissule limonitic shale, and reddish-brown fissile shale towards the middle sections, although almost become completely absent in the upper sections, save for a layer of dark-grey to black shale. Siltstones are also common within the lower sections of the member, ranging from sandy siltstone, buff to ochre-micaceous siltstone, tan siltstone with inter-bedded marly, tan to dark green-grey weathering siltstone to fine-grained sandstone, blue-grey to brown calcareous siltstone to fine-grained sandstone, tuffaceous massive grey limonitic weathering siltstone to medium-grained sandstone, and minor tuffaceous limonitic weathering sandy siltstones. Limestones can also be found, although it is notably uncommon, only being found as thin layers in the lower and upper sections of member.[3]
  • Florida Limestone Member: This member, known to get up to 150 ft (46 m) in thickness, is predominately composed of silty limestone, calcareous shale, sandy limestone. In other outcroppings, the member is also composed of algal limestone, lignitic limestone, and massive white limestone.[3]
  • Finca Carmitto Member: This member, which is roughly 100 ft (30 m) thick, is primarily composed of sandy pebble conglomerate in its lower section, whilst in the upper section it is composed of dark-grey to black rubbly shale and thin light buff-whitish weathering medium-grained calcareous sandstone, which is laminated in nature.[3]

Dating

Using U–Pb dating on zircon samples collected from around the upper amber bearing sections, the Mexican amber biota of the La Quinta Formation was constrained to between 24 Ma and 20 Ma.[1]

Paleobiota

The biota of the La Quinta Formation is primarily composed of various arthropods, from wasps such as Hyptia deansi,[4] to ostracods as Thalassocypria.[5] It is also home to a wide variety of plants, such as the fabacid Simojoflorum mijangosii.[6]

Color key
Taxon Reclassified taxon Taxon falsely reported as present Dubious taxon or junior synonym Ichnotaxon Ootaxon Morphotaxon
 Notes
Uncertain or tentative taxa are in small text; crossed out taxa are discredited.

Insecta

Genus Species Notes Images
Hyptia[4] Ensign wasp.
Schwenckfeldina[7] Fungus gnat.
Mastotermes[8] Termite.
Termitaradus[9] Termite bug.
Aphaenogaster[10] Ant.
Dicromantispa[11] Mantidfly.
Leptopharsa[12] Lace bug.
Trichoribates[13]
  • T. roynortoni
 Ceratozetid mite.
Erpetogomphus[14]
  • E. shii
 Gomphid dragonfly.
Argia[14]
  • Argia sp.
 Coenagrionid dragonfly.
Eulaema[15]
  • E. (Apeulaema) zigrasi
 Apid bee.

Ostracoda

Genus Species Notes Images
Thalassocypria[5]
  • T. cumangulus
  • T. electri
  • T. resinae
  • T. nicokaraszi
 Candonid ostracods.
Paracypria[5]
  • P. inujimensis
 Candonid ostracod.
Parapontoparta[5]
  • Parapontoparta sp.
  • P. lagranjae
 Candonid ostracods.
Dolerocypria (?)[5]
  • D. (?) robinsmithi
 Candonid ostracod.
Hemicypris[5]
  • Hemicypris sp.
 Cypridid ostracod.
Edessa[16]
  • E. protera
 Pentatomid insect.

Copepoda

Genus Species Notes Images
Cletocamptus (?)[17]
  • Cletocamptus (?) sp.
 Harpacticoid copepod.
Enhydrosoma[17]
  • Enhydrosoma sp.
 Harpacticoid copepod.
Darcythompsonia[17]
  • Darcythompsonia sp.
 Harpacticoid copepod.
Leptocaris[17]
  • Leptocaris sp.
 Harpacticoid copepod.

Nematoda

Genus Species Notes Images
Oligaphelenchoides[18]
  • O. atrebora
 Aphelenchoidid nematode.
Oligodiplogaster[18]
  • O. antiqua
 Diplogasterid nematode.
Vetus[18]
  • V. robustus
 Rhabditid nematode.

Cnidaria

Genus Species Notes Images
Colpophyllia[19]
  • C. willoughbiensis
 Mussid coral.
Goniopora[19]
  • G. hilli
 Poritid coral.
Porites[19]
  • P. anguillensis
  • P. portoricensis
  • P. waylandi
 Poritid coral.
Siderastrea[19]
  • S. conferta
 Siderastreid coral.
Acropora[19]
  • A. panamensis
 Acroporid coral.
Diploastrea[19]
  • D. crassolamellata
 Diploastraeid coral.
Antiguastrea[19]
  • A. cellulosa
 Merulinid coral.
Goniastrea[19]
  • G. canalis
 Merulinid coral.
Montastraea[19]
  • M. canalis
  • M. endothecata
 Montastraeid coral.

Flora

Genus Species Notes Images
Hymenaea[20] Legume fabacids.
Simojoflorum[6]
  • S. mijangosii
 Mimosoid fabacid.
Acacia[2]
  • Acacia sp.
 Mimosoid fabacid.
Crudia[2]
  • Crudia sp.
 Detarioid fabacids.
Cedrela[2]
  • Cedrela sp.
 Meliacid angiosperm.
Guarea[2]
  • Guarea sp.
 Meliacid angiosperm.
Pelliciera[2]
  • Pelliciera sp.
 Tetrameristacid angiosperm.
Rhizophora[2]
  • Rhizophora sp.
 Rhizophoracid angiosperm.
Tapiriraizophora[2]
  • T. durhamii
 Anacardiacid angiosperm.
Ilex[2]
  • Ilex sp.
 Aquifoliacid angiosperm.
Staphylea[21]
  • S. ochoterenae
 Staphyleacid angiosperm.
Swietenia[22]
  • S. miocenica
 Meliacid angiosperm.
Picea[2]
  • Picea sp.
 Pinacid spruce tree pollen.
Pinus (?)[2]
  • Pinus (?) sp.
 Pinacid spruce tree pollen.
Podocarpus[2]
  • Podocarpus sp.
 Podocarpacid tree pollen.
Selaginella[2]
  • Selaginella sp.
 Selaginellacid lycophyte pollen.
Sphaeropteris[2]
  • Sphaeropteris sp.
 Cyatheacid tree fern pollen.
Ceratopteris[2]
  • Ceratopteris sp.
 Pteridacid fern pollen.
Pteris[2]
  • Pteris sp.
 Pteridacid fern pollen.
Antrophyum[2]
  • Antrophyum sp.
 Vittarioid fern pollen.
Cryosophila[2]
  • Cryosophila sp.
 Coryphoid palm tree pollen. Misspelled as Crysophila in Graham, 1999.

Undetermined

Genus Species Notes Images
Cletodidae copepod[17]
  • Cletodidae sp.
 Harpacticoid copepod of uncertain affinities, although is assignable to the family Cletodidae.
Laophontidae copepod[17]
  • Laophontidae sp.
 Harpacticoid copepod of uncertain affinities, although is assignable to the family Laophontidae.
Ectinosomatidae (?) copepod[17]
  • Ectinosomatidae (?) sp.
 Harpacticoid copepod of uncertain affinities, tentatively is assignable to the family Ectinosomatidae.
Palmae type 1[2]
  • ???
 Palm tree pollen of unknown affinity.
Aguiaria type[2]
  • ???
 Bombacacid pollen of unknown affinity, bears similarities to Aguiaria.
Ericaceae pollen[2]
  • ???
 Ericacid pollen of unknown affinity.
Juglandaceae pollen[2]
  • ???
 Juglandacid pollen of uncertain affinity, either assignable to Alfaroa or Oreomunnea.
Myrtaceae pollen[2]
  • ???
 Myrtacid pollen of uncertain affinity, either assignable to Eugenia or Myrcia.
Unknown 1 - 5[2]
  • ???
 Pollens of unknown affinity.

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Riquelme, Francisco; Ortega-Flores, Berlaine; Estrada-Ruiz, Emilio; Córdova-Tabares, Víctor (1 June 2025). "Zircon U–Pb ages of the Chiapas Amber-Lagerstätte in the uppermost Simojovel Formation, southwest Mexico". Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences. 62 (6): 1088–1103. doi:10.1139/cjes-2024-0100.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 Graham, Alan (January 1999). "Studies in Neotropical paleobotany. XIII. An Oligo‐Miocene palynoflora from Simojovel (Chiapas, Mexico)". American Journal of Botany. 86 (1): 17–31. doi:10.2307/2656951.
  3. 1 2 3 Allison, R. C. (1967). The Cenozoic Stratigraphy of Chiapas, Mexico: With Discussions of the Classification of the Turritellidae and Selected Mexican Representatives. University of California. pp. 1–553. ISBN 978-1-0853-9115-3.
  4. 1 2 Jennings, J.T.; Krogmann, L.; Mew, S. (2012). "Hyptia deansi sp. nov., the first record of Evaniidae (Hymenoptera) from Mexican amber" (PDF). Zootaxa. 3349: 63–68. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.3349.1.7.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Matzke-Karasz, Renate; Serrano-Sánchez, María de Lourdes; Pérez, Liseth; Keyser, Dietmar; Pipík, Radovan; Vega, Francisco J. (7 February 2019). "Abundant assemblage of Ostracoda (Crustacea) in Mexican Miocene amber sheds light on the evolution of the brackish-water tribe Thalassocypridini". Historical Biology. 31 (2): 65–101. doi:10.1080/08912963.2017.1340471.
  6. 1 2 Hernández-Damián, Ana L.; Rubalcava Knoth, Marco A.; Gómez-Acevedo, Sandra L.; Cruz-Durán, Ramiro; Cevallos-Ferriz, Sergio R. S. (13 January 2026). "Simojoflorum mijangosii gen. et sp. nov. preserved in the Mexican amber unravels the polycarpellate condition in the tribe Mimoseae (Caesalpinioideae, Fabaceae)". Historical Biology: 1–16. doi:10.1080/08912963.2025.2604147.
  7. ↑ Solórzano Kraemer, M. M.; Mohrig, W. (2007). "Schwenckfeldina archoica sp. nov. (Diptera, Sciaridae) from the middle Miocene Mexican amber" (PDF). Alavesia. 1: 105–108.
  8. ↑ Krishna, K.; Emerson, A. E. (1983). "A New Fossil Species of Termite from Mexican Amber, Mastotermes electromexicus (Isoptera, Mastotermitidae)" (PDF). American Museum Novitates (2767): 1–8.
  9. ↑ Poinar, G.; Doyen, J. T. (1992). "A fossil termite bug, Termitaradus protera sp. n. (Hemiptera: Termitaphididae), from Mexican amber". Entomologica Scandinavica. 23: 89–93. doi:10.1163/187631292X00047.
  10. ↑ De Andrade, M. L. (1995). "The ant genus Aphaenogaster in Dominican and Mexican amber (Amber Collection Stuttgart: Hymenoptera, Formicidae. IX: Pheidolini)". Stuttgarter Beiträge zur Naturkunde. Serie B (Geologie und Paläontologie). 223: 1–11.
  11. ↑ Engel, MS; Grimaldi, DA (2007). "The neuropterid fauna of Dominican and Mexican amber (Neuropterida, Megaloptera, Neuroptera)" (PDF). American Museum Novitates (3587): 1–58. doi:10.1206/0003-0082(2007)3587[1:TNFODA]2.0.CO;2. hdl:2246/5880. S2CID 49393365.
  12. ↑ Conty, D; Garrouste, R; Nel, A (2014). "The first lace bug from Chiapas amber (Totolapa, Mexico) (Hemiptera: Tingidae)". Annales de la Société Entomologique de France. New Series. 50 (3–4): 286–290. doi:10.1080/00379271.2014.982024. S2CID 83251915. – via Taylor & Francis (subscription required)
  13. ↑ Ojeda, Margarita; Vega, Francisco J.; Rivas, Gerardo (January 2023). "Ceratozetidae (Acari: Oribatida) from lower Miocene mexican amber, including a new species of Trichoribates". Journal of South American Earth Sciences. 121 104165. doi:10.1016/j.jsames.2022.104165.
  14. 1 2 Zheng, Daran; Nel, André; Jarzembowski, Edmund A.; Chang, Su-Chin; Zhang, Haichun; Wang, Bo (2 January 2019). "Exceptionally well-preserved dragonflies (Insecta: Odonata) in Mexican amber". Alcheringa: An Australasian Journal of Palaeontology. 43 (1): 157–164. doi:10.1080/03115518.2018.1456562.
  15. ↑ Engel, Michael S. (13 May 2014). "An orchid bee of the genus Eulaema in Early Miocene Mexican amber (Hymenoptera: Apidae)". Novitates Paleoentomologicae (7): 1. doi:10.17161/np.v0i7.4726. hdl:1808/15672.
  16. ↑ Poinar, George; Thomas, Donald B. (April 2012). "A stink bug, Edessa protera sp. n. (Pentatomidae: Edessinae) in Mexican amber". Historical Biology. 24 (2): 207–211. doi:10.1080/08912963.2011.602403.
  17. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Huys, Rony; Suárez-Morales, Eduardo; Serrano-Sánchez, María de Lourdes; Centeno-García, Elena; Vega, Francisco J. (12 October 2016). "Early Miocene amber inclusions from Mexico reveal antiquity of mangrove-associated copepods". Scientific Reports. 6 (1). doi:10.1038/srep34872. PMC 5059622.
  18. 1 2 3 Poinar, George O. (1977). "Fossil Nematodes From Mexican Amber". Nematologica. 23 (2): 232–238. doi:10.1163/187529277X00589.
  19. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Frost, Stanley H.; Langenheim, Ralph L. (1974). Cenozoic reef biofacies: Tertiary larger Foraminifera and scleractinian corals from Chiapas, Mexico. DeKalb, Ill: Northern Illinois University Press. ISBN 0-87580-027-0.
  20. ↑ Poinar, G.; Brown, A. (2002). "Hymenaea mexicana sp. nov. (Leguminosae: Caesalpinioideae) from Mexican amber indicates Old World connections". Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society. 139 (2): 125–132. doi:10.1046/j.1095-8339.2002.00053.x.
  21. ↑ Hernández-Damián, Ana L.; Cevallos-Ferriz, Sergio R. S.; Huerta-Vergara, Alma R. (December 2017). "Fossil flower of Staphylea L. from the Miocene amber of Mexico: New evidence of the Boreotropical Flora in low-latitude North America". Earth and Environmental Science Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. 108 (4): 471–478. doi:10.1017/S1755691018000701.
  22. ↑ Castañeda‐Posadas, Carlos; Cevallos‐Ferriz, Sergio R. S. (November 2007). "Swietenia (Meliaceae) flower in Late Oligocene–Early Miocene amber from Simojovel de Allende, Chiapas, Mexico". American Journal of Botany. 94 (11): 1821–1827. doi:10.3732/ajb.94.11.1821.
This page is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.