Mesoamerican fossil formations

[Newt]

I'm compiling a list of North American geological formations with diverse large-bodied vertebrate faunas - e.g., Organ Rock, Chinle, Morrison, Niobrara, Hell Creek, Ogalalla, Rancho la Brea, and so on - for purposes of future paleo-art projects. While I'm familiar enough with the famous fossil localities and horizons of the USA and Canada, I realized I am abysmally ignorant of their counterparts in Mexico and Central America. If any of you could help alleviate my ignorance I would be most appreciative.

[Halichoeres]

You've probably already found the Aguja Formation, which spans part of Texas and Chihuahua. I don't know much about the Mesozoic of Meso-America in particular, it seems possible that a lot of it wasn't even terrestrial then and anyway sampling effort has been low. But there's been at least one hadrosauroid reported from the Santonian of Michoacán (http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/abs/10.1139/e11-062#.W6QOq6mQxEI). The site is called Barranca Los Bonetes but I'm not aware of anything else published from there as of right now.

[Newt]

Gracias, compadre! I had not found the Aguja, actually.


Just to clarify, I'm not looking only at the Mesozoic. Any info on Paleozoic and Cenozoic formations or sites is also welcome. The most interesting one I've found so far is the Miocene Juchipila formation of Zacatecas, which has a broadly similar fauna to more northern Miocene sites but has a unique combination of taxa.

[Halichoeres]

Ha ha, whoops. I think I just took the prefix "Meso-" and applied it to every word in your request. La Brea alone should have told me otherwise. Anyway, I found a couple others:

Cerro del Pueblo (Campanian-Maastrichtian, Coahuila)
Hoyo Negro (Pleistocene cave deposit, Quintana Roo)

[Newt]

Awesome, thanks!

[stegosauria]

Maybe not exactly Mesoamerican but there's the Cerrejón Formation in Colombia where the Titanoboa was found.

[Newt]

Thanks! I will work up a list of South American and Caribbean formations when my North American project is done. They seem to be easier to find info on than Mesoamerican sites - or at least Argentina and Brazil have a lot of readily available information.