Data for: Taxonomy and paleobiogeography of rudist bivalves from Upper Cretaceous strata, Gulf Coastal Plain and Puerto Rico, USA

This study provides the first focused investigation of rudist bivalves from the Upper Cretaceous of the Gulf Coastal Plain (GCP) in the southern US and previously undescribed specimens from the Flor de Alba Limestone Member of the Pozas Formation in Puerto Rico. Identified rudists from the GCP comprise the Monopleuridae Munier-Chalmas, 1873, including Gyropleura Douvillé, 1887, as well as Radiolitidae d’Orbigny, 1847, including Biradiolites cardenasensis Böse, 1906, Durania Douvillé, 1908, Durania maxima (Logan, 1898), Radiolites Lamarck, 1801, Guanacastea jamaicensis (Trechmann, 1924), Radiolites acutocostata (Adkins, 1930), and Sauvagesia Choffat, 1886. Integrating rudist occurrences within well-established GCP biostratigraphy allows for extension of upper ranges of D. maxima and R. acutocostata into the late Campanian, and lower ranges of B. cardenasensis and G. jamaicensis into the early Campanian. Identified rudists from Puerto Rico comprise the Hippuritidae Gray, 1848, and include...