Description of:

THE YALE-PRINCETON COMPENDIUM INDEX OF NORTH AMERICAN MESOZOIC AND CENOZOIC TYPE FOSSIL PLANTS, electronic release 1.0

See README.txt for citation and license information and references.

Data is a flat table with 12 columns (fields) and 9796 rows (records)

1. CODE (string) An alphanumeric code that describes the morphological category (Compendium Index Category) and age in which the record falls. The code is formed by concatenating (1) 3-digit Compendium Index Category (2) a single letter representing the geologic age (3) the character '.' and (4) a numeric suffix to make the code for each record unique. See the file CICdichotomous_key.pdf or CICflat_key.pdf for a description of the Compendium Index Categories and age_codes.pdf for the single-letter age codes.

2. GENUS (string) The Genus (or Morphotype number) assigned by the original publication.

3. SPECIES (string) The Species assigned by the original publication. Sometimes absent or 'sp.' to indicate that the species is not known or was not assiged. Subspecific determinations are sometimes also given.

4. AUTHOR (string) The author (authority) of the binomial.

5. STATUS (factor) Variable indicating whether the specimen is a figured or type specimen and if a type, then what its formal taxonomic status is (e.g. holotype, paratype, plesiotype, lectotype, syntype)

6. REFNUM (numeric) Numeric link to the source from which the data record was obtained. The list of sources is given in the file references.pdf.

7. AGE (string) The geological age as recorded in the original publication. Because of issues with stratigraphic correlation, the age code given in the CODE field is generally perferred, although it does not always provide as much resolution as this field.

8. FORMATION (string) The geological formation from which the fossil was obtained as recorded in the original publication.

9. MEMBER (string) The member of the geological formation from which the fossil was obtained as recorded in the original publication. Missing from most records.

10. LOCALITY (string) Additional information about the locality from which the fossil was obtained. Missing from many records.

11. REMARKS (string) Remarks; missing from most records.

12. UPDATED (date) Date on which record was last updated in mm/dd/yyyy format