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Abstract

The basal Lincoln Limestone is a 95-million-year-old fossiliferous rock layer deposited under the Late Cretaceous Western Interior Seaway in North America. Over 4,500 identifiable vertebrate remains were collected from the stratigraphic horizon at a new fossil locality referred to as the Table Mesa locality in southeastern Colorado. Twenty-nine marine vertebrate taxa were identified comprising 13 chondrichthyans (cartilaginous fishes), 14 osteichthyans (bony fishes), and two squamate reptiles (lizards). These remains were then sorted according to their taxonomic similarities for faunal comparisons with other basal Lincoln Limestone localities. Proportions of common taxa at the Table Mesa locality are similar to another basal Lincoln Limestone locality located about 100 km to the west where remains of bony fishes also dominate.

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