Re: Purgatorius

[chartiem@ERE.UMontreal.CA (Chartier Michel)]

Bonnie wrote:
> I remember attending a seminar during my undergrad days at mcmaster in which
> the speaker (whose name completely escapes me now) spoke about Purgatorius
> then he said that the primate was also known from outcrops at purgatory
> hill (presumably where the name comes from) in Saskatchewan.  i seem to 
> recall he called that K also. 
> 
The Purgatory Hill locality is located in eastern Montana. It was there
that the original material of Purgatorius unio was recovered, and you
are right in stating that the genus name was derived from the locality
name. The Purgatory Hill locality preserves sediments of the Tullock
Formation, which is early Paleocene in age (Puercan land-mammal age 
to be precise).
The sites yielding Purgatorius in southwestern Saskatchewan are in
the vicinity of Ravenscrag, a village that is about 20 kilometers
west of the town of Eastend (of Scotty the T-rex fame). The Ravenscrag
sites preserve sediments of the Ravenscrag Formation and are of
roughly the same age as the Purgatory Hill locality in Montana, 
that is early Paleocene and definitely not late Cretaceous.

Michel Chartier