Choptank Formation
Fossiliferous geologic formation in Virginia and Maryland, U.S.
The Choptank Formation is a geologic formation in Virginia and Maryland. It preserves fossils dating from the mid-late Miocene of the Neogene period, from the latest Langhian to the early Tortonian (13.9 to 11 million years ago).
01Fossils
The Choptank Formation is extremely fossiliferous. Some of the fossil species represented include the following:
Sharks
- Otodus megalodon
- Carcharodon hastalis
- Isurus oxyrhincus
- Carcharomodus escheri
- Physogaleus contortus
- Galeocerdo aduncus
- Carcharhinus
- Hemipristis serra
- Squatina sp.
- Notorhyncus cepedianus
- Carcharias
- Isurus retroflexus
- Parotodus benedeni
- Alopias vulpinus
- Alopias grandis
- Cetorhinus
- Negaprion brevirostris
- Rhizoprionodon
- Sphryna laevissima
Rays and Other Cartilaginous Fish
- Aetobatus arcuatus
- Pteromyaleus sp.
- Dasyatis rugosa
- Dasyatis probsti
- Pinthicus stenodon
Fish
- Acipenseridae indet.
- Opsanus sp.
- Serranidae indet
- Pogonias sp.
- Sciaenops sp.
- Tautoga sp.
- Acanthocybium cf. solandri
- Thunnus sp.
- Istiophorus cf. platypterus
- Mola cf. pileata
- Ariopsis aff. A. felis
- Trisopterus sculptus
- Micromesistius cognatus
- Prionotus
Cetaceans
- Aglaocetus sp.
- Cetotherium sp.
- Delphinodon sp.
- Eurhinodelphis sp.
- Macrokentriodon morani
- Mesocetus
- Parietobalaena
- Orycterocetus
- Pelocetus
Pinnipeds
- Callophoca obscura
- Leptophoca proxima
- Prophoca sp.
Crocodilians
- Thecachampsa antiquus
- Thecachampsa sericodon
Invertebrates
- Chesapecten nefrens
- Chesacardium
- Euspira heros
- Mariacolpus octonnaria
- Macrocallista marylandica
- Stewartia anodonta
- Marvacrassitella marylandica
- Ecphora
- Panopea
- Albertella aberti
Terrestrial Mammals
- Chesalophodon gulottai
- Cynarctus wangi
- Gomphotherium calvertensis
- Hipparion cf. phosphorum
Sources and credits
This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Choptank Formation”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.
Images, from Wikimedia Commons:
- C. nefrens.jpg by Mason Hintermeister, CC BY-SA 4.0
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