Metasequoia dakotensis (Brown, 1935)

Remarks

• Collector:    Lee Duchouquette (with permission of property owner)
• Formation:  Montana Group, Hell Creek Formation
• Location:     Eastern Montana

• This is a fossil pine cone from an extinct species of conifer related to the Dawn Redwood, which is found in China today.

General Info

Synonyms (older names and misidentifications in the literature)

• "Ancestral Dawn Redwood"
• 1935 Sequoia dakotensis Brown
• 1937 Sequoia dakotensis Brown
• 1942 Metasequoia dakotensis (Brown)

Stratigraphic Occurrence

• Hell Creek Formation of Montana and North Dakota

Age

• The Hell Creek beds are latest Maastrichtian in age (~66–65 mya).

Geographic Occurrence (not an all-inclusive list)

• McCone County, MT
• Morton County, ND
• Wibaux County, MT

Remarks

         For identification and descriptions, see:

• Brown, R. W.  1937.  Fossil Plants from the Colgate Member of the Fox Hills Sandstone and Adjacent Strata.  United  States  Geological  Survey  Professional Paper  198-I, 239–275.