DOI: 10.5061/dryad.4rc74sp
title: Data from: Faunal overview of the Mud Hill locality from the early Permian Vale Formation of Taylor County, Texas

description: The Texas red beds represent one of the richest series of early Permian
 deposits in the world. In particular, the Clear Fork Group has produced a
 diverse assemblage of temnospondyls, early reptiles, and synapsids.
 However, most of this material has been sourced from the oldest member,
 the Arroyo Formation, and the understanding of the paleoecosystem of the
 younger Vale and Choza Formations is less well-resolved. Here we present a
 new Vale locality, the first vertebrate-bearing locality from the
 formation to be described in detail in several decades, from near Abilene,
 Texas with juvenile diplocaulids, captorhinids, abundant material of rare
 taxa such as Varanops and diadectids, and the first report of a
 recumbirostran ‘microsaur’ from the formation. This assemblage is atypical
 of early Permian deposits in the taxonomic and size distribution of the
 vertebrate fauna in comparison to other localities from the Vale that
 preserve a greater abundance of aquatic taxa (e.g., fishes,
 Trimerorhachis) and synapsids (e.g., Dimetrodon). Minimal abrasion of the
 elements, relative articulation and association of the specimen of
 Varanops, and the paucity of aquatic taxa suggest an ephemeral pond
 deposit in which organisms were preserved essentially in-situ. Our
 characterization of the locality also permits a revision and discussion of
 the vertebrate faunal assemblage of the Vale.
description: Gee et al
 2017_FigS1_1colPhotomicrographs of the
 dominant lithologies found at the Mud Hill locality and their included
 sand fractions; rock texture is shown on the left and the nature of the
 sand fraction recovered from each rock is shown on the right: (1) texture
 and sand fraction of the typical red shale; (2) texture and sand fraction
 of the typical siltstone; (3) texture and sand fraction of the typical
 caliche nodule. Vertical margin of each photograph equal to 2.5
 mm.Gee et al
 2017_FigS2_2colPhotographs of an
 indeterminate captorhinid right humerus (TMM 43628-11): (1) extensor
 profile; (2) flexor profile; (3) posterior profile; (4) anterior profile.
 Scale bar equal to 1 cm.Gee et al
 2017_FigS3_1colPhotographs of diadectid
 vertebral material: (1) isolated centrum in anterior and dorsal profile
 (TMM 43628-4) from the D-1 site; (2) articulated vertebrae in dorsal
 profile (TMM 43628-6) from the D-3 site. Scale bars equal to 1
 cm.Gee et al
 2017_FigS4_2colPhotographs of a
 diadectid humerus (TMM 43628-4) from the D-1 site. (1) extensor profile;
 (2) posterior profile; (3) flexor profile; (4) anterior profile. Scale bar
 equal to 5 cm.Gee et al
 2017_FigS5_2colPhotographs of diadectid
 pectoral and pelvic material (TMM 43628-4) from the D-1 site: (1) partial
 left scapulacoracoid and cleithrum in lateral profile; (2) the same in
 medial profile; (3) partial right iliac blade in medial profile; (4) the
 same in lateral profile; (5) the same in dorsal profile; (6) right ischium
 in dorsal profile; (7) the same in lateral profile; (8) the same in medial
 profile. Scale bar equal to 5 cm.