GANNETT GROUP
The Kimmeridgian-Albian Gannett Group of eastern Idaho and western Wyoming is poorly explored for vertebrate fossils. My limited reconnaissance so far indicates the presence of freshwater hybodontid sharks, crocodyliforms, turtles, fish, and dinosaurs remains. Only preliminary work has occured so far, and it is ongoing to assess the stratigraphic and geographic occurrences of these taxa and to describe them.
See: Krumenacker, L. J., 2005: Preliminary Report on New Vertebrates from the Upper Gannett Group (Aptian) and Wayan Formation (Albian) of East Idaho. Paludicola. Rochester Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology. 5(2):55-64.
See: Krumenacker, L. J., 2005: Preliminary Report on New Vertebrates from the Upper Gannett Group (Aptian) and Wayan Formation (Albian) of East Idaho. Paludicola. Rochester Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology. 5(2):55-64.
GREEN RIVER FORMATION
As part of surveying duties in his youth, my mentor Steve Robison found a fossil location that contained abundant bird eggshell and bird bones, as well as the more typical crocodilians, turtles, fish, and snails of the Eocene Green River Formation. Myself and my colleagues Ashley Ferguson and Brandon Peecook are currently describing the taphonomy and geology of this site, as well as the taxonomy of the organisms found there.
MORRISON FORMATION
Beginning in 2021, I will begin an extended project searching the Morrison Formation for the small ornithischian taxon Nanosaurus. The goal being to find more and better specimens to gain more taphonomic and phylogenetic data on this important ornithischian dinosaur, and to investigate it's relationship to orodromines of the Cretaceous.
NORTH HORN FORMATION
Beginning in 2019 work commenced in the North Horn Formation to assess the ootaxonomy and associated taphonomy of the Maastrichtian portion of the formation, as well as to search for small ornithischian taxa. As a current result of that work two distinct projects investigating a possible hadrosaur nesting ground and assessing the completeness, taxonomy of, and taphonomy of a chasmosaurine ceratopsian are currently being conducted.
SPENCE SHALE
The Spence Shale of Utah contains a diverse soft-bodied assemblage similar to that of the Burgess Shale (Utah seems to be spoiled with so many cool fossils from my perspective...). However, Idaho outcrops of the Spence Shale so far appear to be barren of soft-tissue preservation. In collaboration with Dr. Julien Kimmig and Dr. Rhi LaVine, I am assisting in work assessing the taphonomic controls of the Spence Shale in Idaho, as well as describing the sedimentology, depositional settings, and numerous new taxa.
THAYNES FORMATION
The Triassic Thaynes Formation of Idaho is wonderfully fossiliferous, and the lower portions record the recovery of life on Earth after the most significant mass-extinction known for the planet (The Permian/Triassic, or P/T extinction). I have been lucky enough to assist a large team of researchers known as the "Paris-Biota Team", named for a fossil location near the small town of Paris, Idaho. As part of our work in the Thaynes we have demonstrated an unexpectedly quick recovery from this global disaster represented by a diverse ecosystem (termed the Paris Biota) that thrived in the Panthalassic Sea roughly one million years after the P/T extinction. Continuing work is ongoing to collect and describe more specimens, as well as to look for similar fossil deposits and fossils in other portions of the Thaynes.
See:
Brayard, A, Krumenacker, L. J., Botting, J. P., Jenks, J. F., Bylund, K. G., Fara, E., Vennin, E., Olivier, N., Goudemand, N., Saucède, T., Charbonnier, S., Romano, C., Doguzhaeva, L., Thuy, B., Hautmann, M., Stephen, D. A., Thomazo, C., and Escarguel, G., 2017. Unexpected Early Triassic marine ecosystem and the rise of the Modern evolutionary fauna. Science Advances. 3: e1602159.
https://advances.sciencemag.org/content/3/2/e1602159
See:
Brayard, A, Krumenacker, L. J., Botting, J. P., Jenks, J. F., Bylund, K. G., Fara, E., Vennin, E., Olivier, N., Goudemand, N., Saucède, T., Charbonnier, S., Romano, C., Doguzhaeva, L., Thuy, B., Hautmann, M., Stephen, D. A., Thomazo, C., and Escarguel, G., 2017. Unexpected Early Triassic marine ecosystem and the rise of the Modern evolutionary fauna. Science Advances. 3: e1602159.
https://advances.sciencemag.org/content/3/2/e1602159
WAYAN FORMATION
The Wayan Formation of eastern Idaho records an interval of time of dinosaurian evolution and diversification that is very poorly known in North America. It's during this time that the stereotypical Late Cretaceous assemblage of tyrannosaurs, ceratopsians, and hadrosaurs began to develop. The Wayan contains a distinct dinosaurian assemblage dominated by the small burrowing dinosaur Oryctodromeus. Idaho's oldest named fossil mammal, Cimolodon akersteni, is known from the Wayan as well. Numerous other taxa such as a small tyrannosauroid and an ankylosaur are currently undergoing preparation and description by myself and a team at the Idaho Museum of Natural History and North Carolina State University.
See:
Krumenacker, L. J., Varricchio, Wilson, J., Martin, A., and Ferguson, A., 2019: Taphonomy of and new burrows from Oryctodromeus cubicularis, a burrowing neornithischian dinosaur, from the mid-Cretaceous (Albian-Cenomanian) of Idaho and Montana, U.S.A. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, and Palaeoecology 530:300-311.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0031018219300835
Krumenacker, L.J. 2019. Paleontological and Chronostratigraphic correlations of the mid-Cretaceous Wayan/Vaughn depositional system of southwestern Montana and Southeastern Idaho. Historical Biology.
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/08912963.2019.1582035?journalCode=ghbi20
Krumenacker, L. J., Simon, D. J., Scofield, G., and Varricchio, D. J., 2016: Theropod dinosaurs from the Albian–Cenomanian Wayan Formation of eastern Idaho, Historical Biology, DOI:10.1080/08912963.2015.1137913.
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/08912963.2015.1137913?journalCode=ghbi20
Weaver, L. N., Wilson, G. P., Krumenacker, L. J., Mclaughlin, K., and Varricchio., D. J., 2019: New multituberculate mammals from the mid-Cretaceous (lower Cenomanian) Wayan Formation of southeastern Idaho and implications for the early evolution of Cimolodonta. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology.
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02724634.2019.1604532?journalCode=ujvp20
See:
Krumenacker, L. J., Varricchio, Wilson, J., Martin, A., and Ferguson, A., 2019: Taphonomy of and new burrows from Oryctodromeus cubicularis, a burrowing neornithischian dinosaur, from the mid-Cretaceous (Albian-Cenomanian) of Idaho and Montana, U.S.A. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, and Palaeoecology 530:300-311.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0031018219300835
Krumenacker, L.J. 2019. Paleontological and Chronostratigraphic correlations of the mid-Cretaceous Wayan/Vaughn depositional system of southwestern Montana and Southeastern Idaho. Historical Biology.
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/08912963.2019.1582035?journalCode=ghbi20
Krumenacker, L. J., Simon, D. J., Scofield, G., and Varricchio, D. J., 2016: Theropod dinosaurs from the Albian–Cenomanian Wayan Formation of eastern Idaho, Historical Biology, DOI:10.1080/08912963.2015.1137913.
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/08912963.2015.1137913?journalCode=ghbi20
Weaver, L. N., Wilson, G. P., Krumenacker, L. J., Mclaughlin, K., and Varricchio., D. J., 2019: New multituberculate mammals from the mid-Cretaceous (lower Cenomanian) Wayan Formation of southeastern Idaho and implications for the early evolution of Cimolodonta. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology.
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02724634.2019.1604532?journalCode=ujvp20