scholarly journals New studies of decapod crustaceans from the Upper Jurassic lithographic limestones of southern Germany

2003 ◽  
Vol 72 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 173-179 ◽  
Author(s):  
Günter Schweigert ◽  
Alessandro Garassino
Keyword(s):  
Upper Cretaceous ◽  
Upper Jurassic ◽  
Decapod Crustaceans ◽  
Southern Germany ◽  
Exceptional Preservation ◽  
Lithographic Limestone ◽  
Limestone Quarries

The Upper Jurassic lithographic limestones of southern Germany have long been known for their exceptional preservation of decapod crustaceans (Glaessner, 1965), similar to the Upper Cretaceous of Lebanon (Hakel, Hadjoula) and the still poorly known Callovian strata at La Voulte-sur-Rhône (France). In these non-bioturbated lime stones, the decay of decapod skeletons is reduced, so that besides the heavily mineralized chelae and carapace often even delicate structures such as pleopods and antennae are preserved. Recently, new decapod material has been obtained from both scientific and commercial excavations, in part in reopened lithographic limestone quarries.

Konservat-Lagerstätten from the Upper Jurassic lithographic limestone of the Causse Méjean (Lozère, southern France): palaeontological and palaeoenvironmental synthesis

2022 ◽  
pp. 1-21
Author(s):  
Jean-David Moreau ◽  
Romain Vullo ◽  
Sylvain Charbonnier ◽  
Romain Jattiot ◽  
Vincent Trincal ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Western Europe ◽  
Marine Invertebrates ◽  
Upper Jurassic ◽  
Fossil Flora ◽  
Decapod Crustaceans ◽  
Southern France ◽  
Shallow Marine ◽  
Lithographic Limestone ◽  
Plant Remains ◽  
Ecological Habitats

Abstract Since the 1980s, the Upper Jurassic lithographic limestone of the Causse Méjean (southern France) has been known by local naturalists to yield fossils. However, until the beginning of the 21st century, this plattenkalk remained largely undersampled and scientifically underestimated. Here, we present the results of two decades of prospection and sampling in the Drigas and the Nivoliers quarries. We provide the first palaeontological inventory of the fossil flora, the fauna and the ichnofauna for these localities. The fossil assemblages show the co-occurrence of marine and terrestrial organisms. Marine organisms include algae, bivalves, brachiopods, cephalopods (ammonites, belemnites and coleoids such as Trachyteuthis), echinoderms, decapod crustaceans (ghost shrimps, penaeoid shrimps and glypheoid lobsters) and fishes (including several actinopterygians and a coelacanth). Terrestrial organisms consist of plant remains (conifers, bennettitaleans, pteridosperms) and a single rhynchocephalian (Kallimodon cerinensis). Ichnofossils comprise traces of marine invertebrates (e.g. limulid trackways, ammonite touch mark) as well as coprolites and regurgitalites. Given the exquisite preservation of these fossils, the two quarries can be considered as Konservat-Lagerstätten. Both lithological features and fossil content suggest a calm, protected and shallow-marine environment such as a lagoon partially or occasionally open to the sea. Most fossils are allochthonous to parautochthonous and document diverse ecological habitats. Similarly to other famous Upper Jurassic plattenkalks of western Europe such as Solnhofen, Cerin or Canjuers, the Causse Méjean is a key landmark for our understanding of coastal/lagoonal palaeoecosystems during the Kimmeridgian–Tithonian interval.

Neritoptyx hogansoninew species (Gastropoda, Mollusca) from the Upper Cretaceous Fox Hills Formation on the Dakota Isthmus, western United States

2018 ◽  
Vol 93 (2) ◽  
pp. 278-290
Author(s):  
J. Mark Erickson
Keyword(s):  
Heat Transfer ◽  
United States ◽  
New Species ◽  
North America ◽  
Upper Cretaceous ◽  
Gulf Coast ◽  
Western United States ◽  
Western Interior Seaway ◽  
Decapod Crustaceans ◽  
Upper Maastrichtian

AbstractIn midcontinent North America, the Fox Hills Formation (Upper Cretaceous, upper Maastrichtian) preserves the last marine faunas in the central Western Interior Seaway (WIS).Neritoptyx hogansoninew species, a small littoral snail, exhibited allometric change from smooth to corded ornament and rounded to shouldered shape during growth. Specimens preserve a zig-zag pigment pattern that changes to an axial pattern during growth.Neritoptyx hogansoninew species was preyed on by decapod crustaceans, and spent shells were occupied by pagurid crabs. Dead mollusk shells, particularly those ofCrassostrea subtrigonalis(Evans and Shumard, 1857), provided a hard substrate to which they adhered on the Fox Hills tidal flats. This new neritimorph gastropod establishes a paleogeographic and chronostratigraphic proxy for intertidal conditions on the Dakota Isthmus during the late Maastrichtian. Presence of a neritid extends the marine tropical/temperate boundary in the WIS northward to ~44° late Maastrichtian paleolatitude. Late Maastrichtian closure of the isthmus subsequently altered marine heat transfer by interrupting northward flow of tropical currents from the Gulf Coast by as much as 1 to 1.5 million years before the Cretaceous ended.UUID:http://zoobank.org/3ba56c07-fcca-4925-a2f0-df663fc3a06b

Environment deterioration and related fungal infection of Upper Jurassic horseshoe crabs with remarks on their exceptional preservation

2019 ◽  
Vol 516 ◽  
pp. 336-341 ◽  
Author(s):  
Błażej Błażejowski ◽  
Piotr Gieszcz ◽  
Andrew P. Shinn ◽  
Rodney M. Feldmann ◽  
Ewa Durska
Keyword(s):  
Fungal Infection ◽  
Upper Jurassic ◽  
Exceptional Preservation ◽  
Horseshoe Crabs

scholarly journals On a remarkable new species of <i>Tharsis</i>, a Late Jurassic teleostean fish from southern Germany: its morphology and phylogenetic relationships

Fossil Record ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-23 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gloria Arratia ◽  
Hans-Peter Schultze ◽  
Helmut Tischlinger
Keyword(s):  
New Species ◽  
Late Jurassic ◽  
Strong Support ◽  
Sister Group ◽  
Common Species ◽  
Upper Jurassic ◽  
Morphological Characters ◽  
Morphological Description ◽  
Sister Group Relationship ◽  
Southern Germany

Abstract. A complete morphological description, as preservation permits, is provided for a new Late Jurassic fish species (Tharsis elleri) together with a revision and comparison of some morphological features of Tharsis dubius, one of the most common species from the Solnhofen limestone, southern Germany. An emended diagnosis of the genus Tharsis – now including two species – is presented. The new species is characterized by a combination of morphological characters, such as the presence of a complete sclerotic ring formed by two bones placed anterior and posterior to the eye, a moderately short lower jaw with quadrate-mandibular articulation below the anterior half of the orbit, caudal vertebrae with neural and haemal arches fused to their respective vertebral centrum, and parapophyses fused to their respective centrum. A phylogenetic analysis based on 198 characters and 43 taxa is performed. Following the phylogenetic hypothesis, the sister-group relationship Ascalaboidae plus more advanced teleosts stands above the node of Leptolepis coryphaenoides. Both nodes have strong support among teleosts. The results confirm the inclusion of Ascalabos, Ebertichthys and Tharsis as members of this extinct family. Tharsis elleri n. sp. (LSID urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:6434E6F5-2DDD-48CF-A2B1-827495FE46E6, date: 13 December 2018) is so far restricted to one Upper Jurassic German locality – Wegscheid Quarry near Schernfeld, Eichstätt – whereas Tharsis dubius is known not only from Wegscheid Quarry, but also from different localities in the Upper Jurassic of Bavaria, Germany, and Cerin in France.

An Early Cretaceous (Berriasian) fossil-bearing locality from the Rocky Mountains of Alberta, yielding the oldest dinosaur skeletal remains from western Canada

2020 ◽  
Vol 57 (4) ◽  
pp. 542-552 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ramon S. Nagesan ◽  
James A. Campbell ◽  
Jason D. Pardo ◽  
Kendra I. Lennie ◽  
Matthew J. Vavrek ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Early Cretaceous ◽  
Depositional Environment ◽  
Upper Cretaceous ◽  
Upper Jurassic ◽  
High Energy ◽  
Western Canada ◽  
Western North America ◽  
Terrestrial Vertebrate ◽  
Overlying Strata

Western North America preserves iconic dinosaur faunas from the Upper Jurassic and Upper Cretaceous, but this record is interrupted by an approximately 20 Myr gap with essentially no terrestrial vertebrate fossil localities. This poorly sampled interval is nonetheless important because it is thought to include a possible mass extinction, the origin of orogenic controls on dinosaur spatial distribution, and the origin of important Upper Cretaceous dinosaur taxa. Therefore, dinosaur-bearing rocks from this interval are of particular interest to vertebrate palaeontologists. In this study, we report on one such locality from Highwood Pass, Alberta. This locality has yielded a multitaxic assemblage, with the most diagnostic material identified so far including ankylosaurian osteoderms and a turtle plastron element. The fossil horizon lies within the upper part of the Pocaterra Creek Member of the Cadomin Formation (Blairmore Group). The fossils are assigned as Berriasian (earliest Cretaceous) in age, based on previous palynomorph analyses of the Pocaterra Creek Member and underlying and overlying strata. The fossils lie within numerous cross-bedded sandstone beds separated by pebble lenses. These sediments are indicative of a relatively high-energy depositional environment, and the distribution of these fossils over multiple beds indicates that they accumulated over multiple events, possibly flash floods. The fossils exhibit a range of surface weathering, having intact to heavily weathered cortices. The presence of definitive dinosaur material from near the Jurassic–Cretaceous boundary of Alberta establishes the oldest record of dinosaur body fossils in western Canada and provides a unique opportunity to study the Early Cretaceous dinosaur faunas of western North America.

The first complete skeleton of Solnhofia parsonsi (Cryptodira, Eurysternidae) from the Upper Jurassic of Germany and its taxonomic implications

2000 ◽  
Vol 74 (4) ◽  
pp. 684-700 ◽  
Author(s):  
Walter G. Joyce
Keyword(s):  
Posterior Margin ◽  
Carapace Length ◽  
Upper Jurassic ◽  
Complete Understanding ◽  
Southern Germany ◽  
Postcranial Morphology ◽  
Large Head ◽  
History Of ◽  
Taxonomic Implications ◽  
Tooth Marks

A complete skeleton of Solnhofia parsonsi (Cryptodira, Eurysternidae) from the Kimmeridgian/Tithonian boundary of Schamhaupten, Germany provides the first complete understanding of the postcranial morphology of this genus. The here newly described postcranial characters are important in distinguishing Solnhofia from shell-based genera and thus help in resolving part of the parataxonomic conflict between shell-based and cranium-based turtle genera. This disparity originated during the last 150 years due to the history of fossil finds, preparation, and changing interests of researchers. Synonymies of Solnhofia with such turtle genera as Eurysternum, Idiochelys, Plesiochelys, Thalassemys, and Euryaspis can now be refuted. Similarities with Hydropelta are apparent, but not considered sufficient to support a synonymy. Newly observed or confirmed characters include the relatively large head (40 percent of the carapace length), the pentagonal carapace, the unique arrangement of bones and fontanelles in the pygal region, and the absence of mesoplastra, epiplastra, and an entoplastron.The carcass of the new specimen was embedded in finely laminated limestones and shows little sign of disintegration or scavenging, suggesting hostile bottom conditions with very low water energy during deposition. This taphonomy agrees with recent published models for the origin of the lithographic limestones of southern Germany. Tooth marks along the posterior margin of the carapace are evidence of predation by a broad-nosed crocodilian. This is the first clear example for this type of predatorial interaction from the Upper Jurassic of Germany.

Mesozoic and Cenozoic History of the Grand Banks of Newfoundland

1971 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 65-84 ◽  
Author(s):  
Grant A. Bartlett ◽  
Leigh Smith
Keyword(s):  
Upper Cretaceous ◽  
Fine Sand ◽  
Upper Jurassic ◽  
Oceanic Circulation ◽  
Silty Mudstone ◽  
Grand Banks ◽  
History Of ◽  
Depositional Age ◽  
Sea Floor Spreading ◽  
Lime Muds

Two wells drilled by Pan American in the Grand Banks of Newfoundland gave the first stratigraphic section of Cretaceous and Cenozoic age northeast of Long Island and the only Jurassic and possible Permian sections in the Atlantic Continental Margin of North America.Integrated analysis of lithic and faunal data showed a minimum of seven sequences present. These are Pleistocene, Middle and Upper Miocene, Intra-Eocene, Paleocene and lowest Eocene, Upper Cretaceous, Middle Cretaceous, and Neocomian in age.The rocks range from halite and anhydrite, of possible Permian depositional age, to limestones, in the Upper Jurassic, lower Upper Cretaceous, mid-Eocene and mid-Miocene, and sandstones, which dominate the Neocomian, Upper Eocene, and Middle Miocene. Variable proportions of shale and silty mudstone occur throughout.The microfaunas contain both Tethyan and Boreal elements, and suggest oceanic circulation changes, sea-floor spreading, or both.Depositional environments ranged from subaerial, for the quartz arenites, through very low-land, for stream and swamp deposits, to estuarine, lagoonal, bank and open-shelf warm-marine environments, in which were deposited fine sand to clay-size terrigenous sediment, or, in its absence, skeletal carbonates or lime muds. The first dominant cooling trend appeared in the Late Miocene.All erosional environments of the hiatal episodes appear to have been subaerial and humid.A salt dome intruded the Tors Cove well section, its last movement being in mid-Early Eocene.Periodic interregional tectonic oscillations produced the erosional and depositional episodes of the major baselevel transit cycles. Their total effect is a sedimentary wedge, thickening by preservation toward the continent's edge, and representing one-half or less of Upper Mesozoic and Cenozoic time.

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