Jesús Alvarado-Ortega, Ernesto Ovalles-Damián, and Alberto Blanco-Piñón

Recently, the diverse fossil assemblage discovered in El Espinal and El Chango quarries, near Ocozocoautla de Espinosa, Chiapas, southeastern Mexico, has called the attention of Mexican Paleontologists. The dolomite limestone and fossil bearing strata exploited in these two quarries belong to the Sierra Madre Formation (Aptian?-Santonian). This fossil assemblage involves an increasing number of well-preserved fishes, including an unnamed pycnodontiformes, Macrosemiids (Macrosemiocotzus sp.), Clupeomorphs (Triplomystus applegatei and Paraclupea-like specimens), an unnamed ichthyodectoid, Alepisauriformes (Saurorhamphus sp., and Enchodus sp.), an unnamed Gonorynchid, and other unidentified forms. The previously suggested Albian age for El Espinal and El Chango outcrops is questionable, based on the similarity between this Mexican fish assemblage and other well-documented assemblages from Cenomanian localities of the Middle East (i.e., Ein--Yabrud, Namoura) and Eastern Europe (i.e., Comen).

Jesús Alvarado-Ortega. Departamento de Paleontología, Instituto de Geología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Circuito de la Investigación S/N, Ciudad Universitaria, Delegación Coyoacán, Distrito Federal, código postal 04510, México
Ernesto Ovalles-Damián. Museo de Paleontología "Eliseo Palacios Aguilera", Instituto de Historia Natural y Ecología de Chiapas, Calzada de los Hombres Ilustres s/n, Parque Madero, Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Chiapas, código postal 29000, México
Alberto Blanco-Piñón. Centro de Investigaciones en Ciencias de la Tierra, Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Hidalgo. Apdo. Postal 1-288, Admón. 1, Pachuca, Hidalgo, CP. 42001. México.

KEY WORDS: Cretaceous, Cenomanian, fossil, Osteichthyans, Chiapas, Mexico

PE Article Number: 12.2.4A
Copyright: Society for Vertebrate Paleontology August 2009
Submission: 29 August 2008. Acceptance: 17 March 2009