Northumberland Formation Explained

Northumberland Formation
Type:	Geological formation
Age:	Late Cretaceous, ?
Period:	Campanian
Coordinates:	49.6°N -124.7°W
Unitof:	Nanaimo Group
Underlies:	Spray Formation
Paleocoordinates:	56.1°N -94.4°W

The Northumberland Formation is a Late Cretaceous (?Campanian-?Maastrichtian)-aged geologic formation in Canada. It belongs to the larger Nanaimo Group. Indeterminate bird and pterosaur fossils have been recovered from the formation,^[1] as well as a potential gladius of Eromangateuthis.^[2] An extensive diversity of shark teeth is known from the formation; many appear to be closely allied with modern deep-water shark taxa, suggesting a deep-water environment for the formation.^[3] The most well-known exposures of the formation are on Hornby Island.

Vertebrate paleofauna

Cartilaginous fish^[4]

Hexanchiformes

Genus	Species	Location	Abundance	Notes	Images
Chlamydoselachus	C. balli			A chlamydoselachid shark, related to the modern frilled shark.
Rolfodon	R. ludvigseni			A chlamydoselachid shark.
	R. cf. thompsoni
Dykeius	D. garethi			A very large chlamydoselachid shark.
Hexanchus	H. microdon			A cow shark related to the modern bluntnose sixgill shark.
Notidanodon	N. pectinatus			A cow shark.
Xampylodon	X. dentatus			A large cow shark.
Protoheptranchias	P. lowei			A cow shark similar to the modern sharpnose sevengill shark.
Paraorthacodus	P. rossi			A paraorthacodontid shark.
Komoksodon	K. kwutchakuth			A komoksodontid shark.

Squaliformes

Genus	Species	Location	Abundance	Notes	Images
Eoetmopterus	E. supercretaceus			An etmopterid shark similar to modern lantern sharks.
Squalus	S. vondermarcki			A dogfish shark, related to modern spurdogs.
	S. nicholsae
	S. sp.
Centrosqualus	C. mustardi			A dogfish shark.
Protocentrophorus	P. steviae			A dogfish shark.
Rhinoscymnus	R. clarki			A sleeper shark, possibly included within Somniosus.
Centroscymnus	C. sp.			A sleeper shark related to the modern Portuguese dogfish.
Squaliodalatias	S. savoiei			A dalatiid shark.
Hessinodon	H. wardi			A possibly dalatiid shark.

Pristiophoriformes

Genus	Species	Location	Abundance	Notes	Images
Pristiophorus	P. smithi			A sawshark.
	P. pricei

Orectolobiformes

Genus	Species	Location	Abundance	Notes	Images
Plicatoscyllium	P. cf. globidens			A ginglymostomatid shark.
Hemiscyllium	H. hermani			A bamboo shark.

Carcharhiniformes

Genus	Species	Location	Abundance	Notes	Images
Scyliorhinidae indent.				A catshark of uncertain affinities.
Florenceodon	F. johnyi			A florenceodontid shark.

Birds

Genus	Species	Location	Abundance	Notes	Images
Maaqwi^[6]	M. cascadensis		Coracoid and wing bones.	A large ornithuran, either a vegaviid or a procellariform.^[7]
Enantiornithes indet.^[8]				An enanthiornithine avialan.

Squamates

Invertebrate paleofauna

Molluscs

Cephalopods^[10]

Genus	Species	Location	Abundance	Notes	Images
Baculites	B. occidentalis			A baculitid ammonite.
Fresvillia	F. constricta			A baculitid ammonite.
Diplomoceras	D. cylindraceum			A diplomoceratid ammonite.
	D. cf. cylindraceum
Exiteloceras	E. densicostatum			A diplomoceratid ammonite.
	E. bipunctatum
Phylloptychoceras	P. horitai			A diplomoceratid ammonite.
Solenoceras	S. exornatus			A diplomoceratid ammonite.
	S. cf. reesidei
Nostoceras	N. adrotans			A nostoceratid ammonite.
	N. hornbyensis
	N. aff. pauper
Enchoteuthis	E. sp.			A muensterellid octopodiform.
Eromangateuthis	E. soniae?			A plesioteuthid octopodiform.
Cyrtobelus^[11]	C. hornbyense			A groenlandibelid spirulid.
Actinosepia	A. canadensis			An actinosepiid vampyromorphid.^[12]
Cirroteuthidae indet.			Gladius.	A cirroteuthid octopus.

Gastropods

Crustaceans

Genus	Species	Location	Abundance	Notes	Images
Neocallichirus	N. manningi			A callianassid decapod.
Longusorbis	L. cuniculosus			A longusorbiid decapod.
Unnamed raninoid^[13]	Unnamed			A raninoid decapod.

Paleoflora

Gymnosperms

Genus	Species	Location	Abundance	Notes	Images
Cunninghamia	C. hornbyensis		Permineralized wigs and leaves.	A member of the extant Cupressaceae genus Cunninghamia. Closely resembles extant species.^[14]
Cycadeoidea^[15]	C. maccafferyii			A bennettitalean.

Angiosperms

See also

• List of pterosaur-bearing stratigraphic units

Notes and References

1. Martin-Silverstone . Elizabeth . Witton . Mark P. . Arbour . Victoria Megan . Currie . Philip J. . 2016 . A small azhdarchoid pterosaur from the latest Cretaceous, the age of flying giants . Royal Society Open Science . 3 . 8 . 160333 . 2016RSOS....360333M . 10.1098/rsos.160333 . 5108964 . 27853614 . free.
2. Fuchs; Beard; Tanabe; Ross . Dirk; G.; K.; R. . 2007-08-17 . Coleoid cephalopods from the Late Cretaceous north eastern Pacific. . Seventh International Symposium 'Cephalopods - Present & Past'. . 131 .
3. Cappetta . Henri . Morrison . Kurt . Adnet . Sylvain . 2021-08-03 . A shark fauna from the Campanian of Hornby Island, British Columbia, Canada: an insight into the diversity of Cretaceous deep-water assemblages . Historical Biology . en . 33 . 8 . 1121–1182 . 10.1080/08912963.2019.1681421 . 2021HBio...33.1121C . 212878837 . 0891-2963.
4. Cappetta . Henri . Morrison . Kurt . Adnet . Sylvain . 2021-08-03 . A shark fauna from the Campanian of Hornby Island, British Columbia, Canada: an insight into the diversity of Cretaceous deep-water assemblages . Historical Biology . en . 33 . 8 . 1121–1182 . 10.1080/08912963.2019.1681421 . 2021HBio...33.1121C . 212878837 . 0891-2963.
5. Vullo . Romain . Buffetaut . Eric . Everhart . Michael J. . 2012 . Reappraisal of Gwawinapterus beardi from the Late Cretaceous of Canada: a saurodontid fish, not a pterosaur . Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology . en . 32 . 5 . 1198–1201 . 10.1080/02724634.2012.681078 . 2012JVPal..32.1198V . 129180570 . 0272-4634.
6. McLachlan . Sandy M. S. . Kaiser . Gary W. . Longrich . Nicholas R. . 2017-12-08 . Maaqwi cascadensis: A large, marine diving bird (Avialae: Ornithurae) from the Upper Cretaceous of British Columbia, Canada . PLOS ONE . en . 12 . 12 . e0189473 . 10.1371/journal.pone.0189473 . free . 1932-6203 . 5722380 . 29220405. 2017PLoSO..1289473M .
7. Book: Mayr, G.. 2022. Basic Terminology and the Broader Phylogenetic and Geological Framework). Paleogene Fossil Birds. Springer Cham. 3–27. 10.1007/978-3-030-87645-6_2.
8. Dyke . Gareth . Wang . Xia . Kaiser . Gary . 2011 . Sues . Hans-Dieter . Large fossil birds from a Late Cretaceous marine turbidite sequence on Hornby Island (British Columbia) . Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences . en . 48 . 11 . 1489–1496 . 10.1139/e11-050 . 2011CaJES..48.1489D . 0008-4077.
9. Web site: PBDB . 2024-01-23 . paleobiodb.org.
10. McLachlan . Sandy M. S. . Haggart . James W. . 2018-12-08 . Reassessment of the late Campanian (Late Cretaceous) heteromorph ammonite fauna from Hornby Island, British Columbia, with implications for the taxonomy of the Diplomoceratidae and Nostoceratidae . Journal of Systematic Palaeontology . en . 16 . 15 . 1247–1299 . 10.1080/14772019.2017.1381651 . 2018JSPal..16.1247M . 134663270 . 1477-2019.
11. Web site: PBDB . 2024-01-23 . paleobiodb.org.
12. Web site: PBDB . 2024-01-23 . paleobiodb.org.
13. Nyborg . Torrey . Garassino . Alessandro . Vega . Francisco J. . Ross . Richard L. M. . 2024-03-13 . A new fossil frog crab (Brachyura, Raninoidea) from the late Campanian of Hornby Island (British Columbia, Canada) . Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie - Abhandlungen . en . 209–217 . 10.1127/njgpa/2023/1177.
14. Brink . Kirstin S. . Stockey . Ruth A. . Beard . Graham . Wehr . Wesley C. . 2009-05-01 . Cunninghamia hornbyensis sp. nov.: Permineralized twigs and leaves from the Upper Cretaceous of Hornby Island, British Columbia, Canada . Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology . 155 . 1 . 89–98 . 10.1016/j.revpalbo.2009.03.005 . 2009RPaPa.155...89B . 0034-6667.
15. Rothwell . Gar W. . Stockey . Ruth A. . 2002 . Anatomically Preserved Cycadeoidea (Cycadeoidaceae), with a Reevaluation of Systematic Characters for the Seed Cones of Bennettitales . American Journal of Botany . 89 . 9 . 1447–1458 . 10.3732/ajb.89.9.1447 . 4124062 . 21665746 . 0002-9122.
16. Smith . Selena Y. . Little . Stefan A. . Cooper . Ranessa L. . Burnham . Robyn J. . Stockey . Ruth A. . 2013 . A Ranunculalean Liana Stem from the Cretaceous of British Columbia, Canada: Atli morinii gen. et sp. nov. . International Journal of Plant Sciences . en . 174 . 5 . 818–831 . 10.1086/669925 . 84787422 . 1058-5893.