White River Fauna Explained
The White River Fauna are fossil animals found in the White River Badlands of South Dakota, Wyoming, Colorado and Nebraska in the United States including Badlands National Park.[1]
The fossils have been found in the White River Formation, Chadron Formation, Brule Formation, and the Arikaree Formation.
Animals from the White River Badlands date from the Eocene, Oligocene, the Miocene, and the Pliocene Epochs.
List
Genera include:
Birds
Genus | Species | Clade | Epoch | Image | Notes |
---|
†Bathornis | - †B. veredus (type)
- †B. celeripes
- †B. cursor
- †B. fricki
- †B. geographicus
- †B. grallator
- †B. fax?
- †B. minor
| †Bathornithidae | Eocene-Miocene | | The type genus of the Bathornithidae, large predatory birds related to seriemas.[2] |
†Paracrax | | †Bathornithidae | | | Closely related and similar to the conspecific Bathornis; however, it seems to have occupied more arid environments.[3] | |
Mammals
Artiodactyls
Antracotheres
Entelodonts
Merycoidodontids
Ruminants
Carnivorans
Amphiconid
Felids
Genus | Species | Clade | Epoch | Image | Notes |
---|
†Dinictis |
| †Nimravidae | Eocene-Miocene | | |
†Hoplophoneus | - H. primaevus (type)
- H. occidentalis
- H. strigidens
- H. cerebralis
- H. dakotensis
- H. oharrai
- H. sicarius
| †Nimravidae | Eocene-Oligocene | | |
†Nimravus | | †Nimravidae | | | | |
Perissodactyls
Equids
= Amynodonts
=
= Hyracodontids
=
= Rhinocerotids
=
Tapirids
Rodents
Reptiles
Genus | Species | Clade | Epoch | Image | Notes |
---|
Alligator |
| Crocodilia | Eocene | | |
†Peltosaurus | | Anguidae | | | |
†Stylemys | - †S. nebrascensis (type)
- †S. botti
- †S. calaverensis
- †S. canetotiana
- †S. capax
- †S. conspecta
- †S. copei
- †S. emiliae
- †S. frizaciana
- †S. karakolensis
- †S. neglectus
- †S. oregonensis
- †S. pygmea
- †S. uintensis
- †S. undabuna
| Testudinidae | | | | |
Further reading
- Rachel Benton, The White River Badlands: Geology and Paleontology, Indiana University Press 2015
- William Berryman Scott, A history of land mammals in the western hemisphere, MacMillan Publishing Company, 1913
Notes and References
- Scott, W. B., & Jepsen, G. L. (1940). The Mammalian Fauna of the White River Oligocene: Part IV. Artiodactyla. Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, 28(4), 363–746. https://doi.org/10.2307/1005504
- Wetmore. A.. 1927. Fossil Birds from the Oligocene of Colorado. Proceedings of the Colorado Museum of Natural History. 7. 2. 1–14.
- Wetmore. A.. 1927. Fossil Birds from the Oligocene of Colorado. Proceedings of the Colorado Museum of Natural History. 7. 2. 1–14.
- Emry. Robert J.. 1973. Stratigraphy and Preliminary Biostratigraphy of the Flagstaff Rim Area, Natrona County, Wyoming. Smithsonian Contributions to Paleobiology. 18. 1–43. 10.5479/si.00810266.18.1. 0081-0266.