REVIEW OF CAMPANIAN MARINE VERTEBRATE FAUNAS IN ARKANSAS: HISTORIC COLLECTIONS AND RECENT ADDITIONS

Late Cretaceous (Campanian) marine vertebrates were first reported from Arkansas over 150 years ago. In spite of this long history vertebrate paleontological research in Arkansas has been meager, compared to other localities, and sporadic at best, with one exception. During the 1930's and 40's, Charles M. Barber, of Hot Springs, made concerted collections in the Brownstown Marl (early Campanian) and Marlbrook Marl (late Campanian) formations, which yielded many outstanding marine vertebrate fossils. His collections formed the basis for the description of several new species of fish and marine turtles. Since that time no systematic work had been conducted in the Campanian formations of Arkansas. In 2002, renewed collecting efforts were initiated in the Marlbrook Marl Formation, and have since expanded into the Brownstown Marl, Buckrange Sand Member of the Ozan Formation, and upper Ozan Formation. Recent collecting, literature reviews, and queries of museum collection holdings has allowed for the refinement of previously published and/or the creation of marine vertebrate faunal lists for the Brownstown Marl, Buckrange Sand Member of the Ozan Formation, Ozan, and Marlbrook Marl formations. Hence, this paper will summarize the historic collections and recent additions to the marine vertebrate species composition in selected Campanian formations of Arkansas.