Abstract
A rare specimen of soft tissue preservation of a lizard from the Parachute Creek Member of the Eocene Green River Formation, Uinta Basin, Utah, is described. The preservation is unusual in that it is a mineralized body lacking the skeleton. This, and other small boneless vertebrate specimens also from the Parachute Creek, indicate occasional demineralizing conditions in Lake Uinta, but not apparently in the other two lakes of the Green River Formation—Fossil Lake and Lake Gosuite.
Highlights
Fossil lizards are a rare in the Eocene Green River Formation
The squamation of CSMGM 14156 is similar to that of BHI-102B figured by Edwards and others (2011, figure 1a), suggesting the two specimens probably belong to the same taxon
The measurements given above in conjunction with figure 2 strongly suggest that CSMGM 14156 is a medium-sized lizard, having a relatively short, wide head on a distinct neck, wide body, short-limbs, and with tiny granular scales on the belly and transverse rows of small, square or rectangular scales on the underside of the tail
Summary
Fossil lizards are a rare in the Eocene Green River Formation. Grande (2013) reported three taxa, including two specimens of the varanid Saniwa ensidens (described by Rieppel and Grande, 2007), three specimens of the shinisaur (crocodile lizard) Bahndwivici ammoskius (described by Conrad, 2006), and a single specimen of the iguanian Afairiguana avius (described in Conrad and others, 2007). Edwards and others (2011, 2012) presented Fourier Transform InfraRed and Synchrotron Rapid Scanning X-Ray Fluorescence elemental maps of two other specimens (but no morphological description) These show that the mineralized scales preserved relicts of the amide and sulfur compounds that they inferred were derived from the original keratinous skin. K., 2018, Soft-bodied fossil of a lizard from the Parachute Creek Member, Green River Formation (Eocene), Utah: Geology of the Intermountain West, v. Scales are seen all over the body, and the most prominent are those on the neck, chest, and thigh (figure 3) They are tiny, granular, nonoverlapping, and those on the neck and thigh are arranged in rows. The scales on the tail are square to rectangular, lacking any evidence of having osteoderms, and arranged in longitudinal rows (figure 3C). The squamation of CSMGM 14156 is similar to that of BHI-102B figured by Edwards and others (2011, figure 1a), suggesting the two specimens probably belong to the same taxon
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