The La Quinta Formation is a Jurassic geologic formation which crops out in the Cordillera de Mérida and Serranía del Perijá of western Venezuela and northeastern Colombia. The formation is also present in the subsurface of the Cesar-Ranchería and Maracaibo Basins. At its type locality near La Grita, Táchira, it consists of a basal dacitic tuff followed by interlayered sandstones, tuffs, siltstones and rare limestones.Barret et al., 2008, p.164 Dinosaur remains including Laquintasaura,Barret et al., 2014 Tachiraptor, and Perijasaurus are among the fossils that have been recovered from the formation.Weishampel, et al. (2004). "Dinosaur distribution." Pp. 517-607
U–Pb zircon analysis demonstrates that the formation dates to 200.91+0.55 Ma at its base and a maximum age of 174.8 Ma.
Fossil content GenusSpecieslocationMaterialNotesImagesLaquintasauraL. venezuelaeVenezuelaPartial skeleton An ornithischian; the first dinosaur identified from Venezuela PerijasaurusP. lapazCesar Department, ColombiaPartial dorsal vertebraA eusauropod sauropod; the first dinosaur discovered in ColombiaTachiraptorT. admirabilisVenezuelaA tibia and ischiumA neotheropod theropod
Regional correlations
See also List of dinosaur-bearing rock formations List of stratigraphic units with few dinosaur genera
Notes
References
Bibliography
Barrett, P. M., R. J. Butler, S. C. Moore-Fay, F. E. Novas, J. M. Moody, J. M. Clark, and M. R. Sänchez-Villagra. 'Dinosaur Remains from the La Quinta Formation (Lower or Middle Jurassic) of the Venezuelan Andes'. Paläontologische Zeitschrift 82, no. 2 (2008): 163–177. Weishampel, David B.; Dodson, Peter; and Osmólska, Halszka (eds.): The Dinosauria, 2nd, Berkeley: University of California Press. 861 pp. .
Maps