Collection of Early Cretaceous Mammals and other Microvertebrates, Utah

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9401094 Cifelli This is a proposal to collect mammals and small vertebrates from the Cedar Mountain formation of Utah, a site known to date from the Early Cretaceous period. This time period is not well represented by fossils in existing collections, and the Cedar Mountain fossil fauna is known to be rich. The project will yield data to great interest for studies of paleoecology and biogeography because dramatic changes have occurred in the faunas of the Late Jurassic and Late Cretaceous, the periods preceding and following that represented by the Cedar Mountain fauna. These changes are presumed to be a result of the origin of flowering plants during this span. The collections will provide a basis for evaluation of contrasting hypotheses on the origin, paleobiogeography, and phylogeny of mammals and other microvertebrates. The fauna of the Cedar Mountain Formation will also complement a relatively complete sequence of assemblages from the Late Cretaceous of Utah for documenting long-term taxonomic, morphologic, and compositional changes in the terrestrial biota during a critical phase of its history.