A newly found ostracod fauna from the Paleocene? - Eocene Claron Formation at Sweetwater Creek, Utah, USA with description of a new species

Abstract

A new ostracod fauna was recovered and described from the Paleogene Claron Formation, famous worldwide for the "pink cliffs" of Bryce Canyon National Park and Cedar Breaks NationalMonument, in Utah, USA. The ostracods are from a section located along Sweetwater Creek in Garfield County that also contains gastropods, ichnofossils, algal impressions, charophytes and vertebrates. This diverse, freshwater lacustrine ostracod fauna contains the following 12 species: Paracandona rosaepraeceps n. sp., Candona artesensis, Cyclocypris (Laevicypris) eaglespringsensis, Cyclocypris (Leucocypris) trapezoidalis, Cypris pagei, Scottia subquadrata, Timiriasevia changzhouensis, Heterocypris whiteriverensis? Cypris? sp. 1, Djungarica? sp. 1, Gen. aff. Bisulcocypridea sp. 1 and Pseudocandona sp. 1. The presence of a mixed assemblage of strictly early Eocene ostracod species and others with a wider stratigraphic distribution suggests that the base of the Sweetwater Creek section might extend into the Paleocene, which agrees with previous observation of Paleocene charophyte taxa in basal strata of the Sweetwater Creek section.