Amminadav Formation | |
---|---|
Stratigraphic range: Late Cretaceous | |
Type | Geological formation |
Overlies | Bet-Meir Formation |
Location | |
Country | Palestine [1] |
The Amminadav Formation is a Mesozoic geologic formation in the West Bank (Palestine). Pterosaur fossils have been recovered from the formation, in addition to several ray-finned fish and early snakes, most of which are known from the Ein Yabrud quarries. [1] [2] The formation overlies the just slightly older Bet-Meir Formation, and it is uncertain whether most of the paleobiota belong to one formation or the other.
The majority of species here cannot be confidently assigned the Amminadav Formation, and some may instead belong to the older Bet-Meir formation. [2] [3]
Genus | Species | Presence | Notes | Images |
---|---|---|---|---|
Aipichthyoides | A. galeatus A. formosus | An aipichthyoidid lamprimorph | ||
Dercetoides | D. venator | A dercetid aulopiform | ||
Hastichthys | H. gracilis | A dercetid aulopiform | ||
Enchodus | E. brevis | An enchodontid aulopiform | ||
Judeichthys | J. haasi | A gonorynchid | ||
Judeoberyx | J. princeps | A trachichthyoid trachichthyform | ||
Pachyamia | P. latimaxillaris | An amiid | ||
Parenchodus | P. longipterygius | An enchodontid aulopiform | ||
Pharmacichthys | P. judensis | A pharmacichthyid lamprimorph | ||
Ramallichthys | R. orientalis | A gonorynchid | ||
Rhombichthys | R. intoccabilis | A paraclupeid clupeomorph | ||
Saurorhamphus | S. judeaensis | A eurylophid aulopiform | ||
Scalacurvichthys | S. naishi | A pycnodontid | ||
Serrilepis | S. longidens | A halecid aulopiform | ||
Yabrudichthys | Y. striatus | An enchodontoid aulopiform |
Genus | Species | Presence | Notes | Images |
---|---|---|---|---|
Algorachelus | A. parvus | A bothremyid side-necked turtle | ||
Pelomedusidae | indet. | An indeterminate pelomedusid side-necked turtle |
Genus | Species | Presence | Notes | Images |
---|---|---|---|---|
Haasiasaurus | H. gittelmani | An early mosasaur | ||
Haasiophis | H. terrasanctus | A simoliophiid snake, notable for its hindlimbs | ||
Mesoleptos | M. zendrinii [4] | A basal mosasauroid | ||
Pachyrhachis | P. problematicus | A simoliophiid snake, notable for its hindlimbs |
Genus | Species | Presence | Notes | Images |
---|---|---|---|---|
Pterosauria | indet. | An indeterminate pterosaur |
Haasiophis, consisting of the sole species Haasiophis terrasanctus, is an extinct genus of snakes with hind limbs. It is one of three genera of Cenomanian snakes known to have possessed hindlimbs.
Pachyrhachis is an extinct genus of snake with well developed hind legs known from fossils discovered in Ein Yabrud, near Ramallah, in the central West Bank. It is a relatively small snake, measuring more than 1.5 metres (4.9 ft) long at maximum. Pachyrhachis appears to have been an ancient marine snake; the fossils occur in a marine limestone deposit, and the thickened bone of the ribs and vertebrae would have functioned as ballast to decrease the buoyancy of the animal, allowing it to dive beneath the ancient Cretaceous seas that it once inhabited.
Gallodactylidae is a group of pterosaurs within the suborder Pterodactyloidea. Gallodactylids differed from other related pterosaurs in several distinct features, including fewer than 50 teeth present only in the jaw tips, and rounded crests present on the rear portion of the skull and jaws but not near the ends of their snouts. At least some species possessed jaw flanges, possibly used to bissect hard-shelled prey.
Dercetoides is a genus of prehistoric marine ray-finned fish from the Late Cretaceous period. It contains a single species, D. venator, known from the early Cenomanian-aged Amminadav Fomation of the West Bank, Palestine. It was a member of the Dercetidae, a group of elongated aulopiform fish that were related to modern lancetfish and lizardfish.
Saurorhamphus is an extinct genus of prehistoric fish. Fossils are known from the Late Cretaceous (Cenomanian) of the former Tethyan region, but an undescribed specimen is also known from Mexico.
Mythunga is a genus of anhanguerid pterosaur from the late Early Cretaceous of Australia. Fossil remains of Mythunga dated back to the Albian stage of the Early Cretaceous, and the animal itself was found to be a close relative of another Australian anhanguerid called Ferrodraco.
The Kem Kem Group is a geological group in the Kem Kem region of eastern Morocco, whose strata date back to the Cenomanian stage of the Late Cretaceous. Its strata are subdivided into two geological formations, with the lower Ifezouane Formation and the upper Aoufous Formation used for the strata on the eastern side of the Atlas Mountains (Tinghir), with the Gara Sbaa Formation and Douira Formation used in the southern Tafilalt region. It is exposed on an escarpment along the Algeria–Morocco border.
Haasiasaurus is an extinct genus of early mosasaur, originally named "Haasia" by M. J. Polcyn et al., in honour of the palaeontologist Georg Haas. Haasiasaurus was one of the oldest cenomanian mosasaur measuring 1 metre (3.3 ft) long. The genus contains the species Haasiasaurus gittelmani, which was found in the Cenomanian 100 million years ago rocks near Ein Yabrud, in the Palestinian West Bank, approximately 20 kilometres (12 mi) north of Jerusalem.
Aetodactylus is a genus of targaryendraconian pterosaur. It is known from a lower jaw discovered in Upper Cretaceous rocks of northeastern Texas, United States.
The Tarrant Formation is a geologic formation that dates to the Middle Cenomanian stage of the Late Cretaceous.
Alanqa is a genus of pterodactyloid pterosaur from the Late Cretaceous period of what is now the Kem Kem Beds of southeastern Morocco. The name Alanqa comes from the Arabic word العنقاءal-‘Anqā’, for a mythical bird of Arabian culture.
Rhombichthys intoccabilis is an extinct clupeomorph described from the town of Ein Yabrud, in the West Bank. It lived during the Cenomanian age of the Late Cretaceous epoch.
Faxinalipterus is a genus of ornithodiran archosaur, originally described as a pterosaur, from the Late Triassic Caturrita Formation of southern Brazil. A study from 2022 reinterpreted the fossil remains and instead suggests them to belong to a member of the Lagerpetidae, another clade of pterosauromorphs.
During most of the Late Cretaceous the eastern half of North America formed Appalachia, an island land mass separated from Laramidia to the west by the Western Interior Seaway. This seaway had split North America into two massive landmasses due to a multitude of factors such as tectonism and sea-level fluctuations for nearly 40 million years. The seaway eventually expanded, divided across the Dakotas, and by the end of the Cretaceous, it retreated towards the Gulf of Mexico and the Hudson Bay.
Boreopteridae is a group of pterodactyloid pterosaurs from the Aptian-age Lower Cretaceous Yixian Formation of Liaoning, China.
The Bet-Meir Formation is a Mesozoic geologic formation in the West Bank (Palestine). Pterosaur fossils have been recovered from the formation, in addition to several ray-finned fish and early snakes, most of which are known from the Ein Yabrud quarries. It underlies the just slightly younger Amminadav Formation, and it is uncertain whether most of the paleobiota belong to one formation or the other.
Ferrodraco is an extinct genus of anhanguerid pterosaur known from the Late Cretaceous Winton Formation of Queensland, Australia, containing the single species F. lentoni. The species was named after the former mayor of Winton, Graham Thomas ‘Butch’ Lenton. It is the most complete pterosaur fossil from Australia, being known from the holotype specimen AODF 876, consisting primarily of the anterior portion of the skull and dentary, cervical vertebral centra and a partial wing. Its wingspan was estimated to be about 4 meters (13 ft). Ferrodraco was found to have been within the subfamily Ornithocheirinae, as sister taxon to Mythunga. A recent study also recovered Ferrodraco as sister taxon to Mythunga, but both placed within the family Anhangueridae, more specifically within the subfamily Tropeognathinae.
Mimodactylus is a genus of istiodactyliform pterosaur that lived in what is now Lebanon during the Late Cretaceous, 95 million years ago. The only known specimen was discovered in a limestone quarry near the town of Hjoula, belonging to the Sannine Formation. The owner of the quarry allowed the specimen to be prepared and scientifically described by an international team of researchers, and when it was eventually sold, the buyer donated it to the MIM Museum in Beirut. In 2019, the researchers named the new genus and species Mimodactylus libanensis; the generic name refers to the MIM Museum, combined with the Greek word daktylos for "digit", and the specific name refers to Lebanon. The well-preserved holotype specimen is the first complete pterosaur from the Afro-Arabian continent, and the third pterosaur fossil known from Lebanon.
Leptostomia is a genus of long-beaked pterosaur from the mid-Cretaceous (Cenomanian) of Morocco, North Africa. The type species is L. begaaensis, which was named and described in 2021 from sediments of the Kem Kem Group in Morocco. It was a small animal with a long, slender bill which is thought to have been used to probe sediments for worms and other invertebrates, similar to kiwi birds and curlews. Leptostomia is likely a member of the Azhdarchoidea.
Calcarichelys is an extinct genus of protostegid turtle from the Late Cretaceous of the Selma Formation in Alabama, and possibly from Angola. It contains only one species, C. gemma.