Pietraroja Plattenkalk

Pietraroja Plattenkalk
Stratigraphic range: Albian ~112–100  Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
The village of Pietraroja with, immediately above it, the Le Cavere quarry, where the Pietraroja Plattenkalk outcrops
Type	Geological formation
Lithology
Primary	Limestone
Location
Coordinates	41°18′N14°30′E / 41.3°N 14.5°E / 41.3; 14.5
Approximate paleocoordinates	23°30′N16°12′E / 23.5°N 16.2°E / 23.5; 16.2
Region	Campania
Country	Italy
Type section
Named for	Pietraroja
Pietraroja Plattenkalk (Italy)

The Pietraroia Plattenkalk is a Cretaceous geologic formation located in the Italian municipality of Pietraroja, ^[1] near Benevento, in Campania region. It is of Albian age. Dinosaur remains diagnostic to the genus level are among the fossils that have been recovered from the formation ^[2] and the type locality of the formation is the La Cavere quarry, which is near the village of Pietraroja.

Paleofauna

Mollusca

Mollusca

Genus	Species	Location	Material	Notes
Bivalves		Cavere
Gastropoda		Cavere

Crustaceans

Crustaceans

Genus	Species	Location	Material	Notes
Astacidea	Indeterminate [3]	Cavere		Originally identified as Pseudastacus
Huxleycaris	H. beneventana [3]	Cavere		An axiid
Micropenaeus	M. tenuirostris [3]	Cavere		A penaeid
Parvocaris	P. samnitica [3]	Cavere		A caridean within uncertain family

Fish

Fish

Genus	Species	Location	Material	Notes	images
Aethalionopsis	A. robustus	Cavere		A gonorynchiform fish [4]	Belonostomus crassirostris Gregoriopycnodus pillae Ionoscopus petrarojae Italoalbula petrarojae
Armigatus	A. elatus, A. plinii	Cavere		An ellimmichthyiform fish [5]
Belonostomus	B. crassirostris, B. cf. crassirostris	Cavere		An aspidorhynchid fish [6]
Brauccipycnodus	B. pillae	Cavere		A pycnodont fish, originally classified in the genus Proscinetes [7]
Caeus	C. leopoldi	Cavere		A gonorynchiform fish
Cavinichthys	C. pachylepis			A crossognathiform fish [8]
Cladocyclus	C. sp.	Cavere		An ichthyodectiform fish, originally identified as Chirocentrites [9] [10] [11]
Clupavus	C. sp.			An ostariophysian fish
Coelodus / Ocloedus	C. costae	Cavere		While C. costae from Capo d'Orlando got own genus Costapycnodus , records of C. costae from Pietraroja actually represents Gregoriopycnodus [12] [13]
Elopopsis	E. aff. fenzii			[4]
Gregoriopycnodus	G. bassanii			A pycnodont fish, originally classified in the genus Palaeobalistum , Coelodus , Proscinetes [13]
? Hemielopopsis	?H. gibbus			[4]
? Hypsospondylous	?H. bassanii			[4]
Ionoscopus	I. petrarojae			An ionoscopiform fish [14]
Italoalbula	I. pietrarojae	Cavere		An albulid fish
Italoelops	I. foreyi	Cavere		An elopid fish [15]
Italophiopsis	I. derasmoi			An ionoscopiform fish [16]
Lepidotes	L. sp.	Cavere		A lepidotid fish
Notagogus	N. pentlandi	Cavere		A macrosemiid fish
Paraclupea	P. pietrarojae			An ellimmichthyiform fish [5]
? Phorcynis	?P. sp.			An elasmobranch [4]
Pleuropholis	P. decastroi			A pleuropholid fish [17]
Propterus	P. scacchi	Cavere		A macrosemiid fish [4]
" Rhinobatos "	"R". obtusatus [18]	Cavere		A Rhinobatid guitarfish [19]
? Sauropsidium	?S. laevissimum	Cavere		[4]

Amphibians

Amphibians

Genus	Species	Location	Material	Notes	Images
Celtedens	C. megacephalus	Cavere		An albanerpetontid

Lepidosaurs

Lepidosauria

Genus	Species	Location	Material	Notes	Images
Derasmosaurus	D. pietraroiae	Cavere		A rhynchocephalian. Initially attributed to Chometokadmon
Eichstaettisaurus	E. gouldi	Cavere		A lizard, possibly related to geckos. One of the two specimens was found as the gastric contents of a second reptile.
Costasaurus	C. rusconi	Cavere		A lizard.
Chometokadmon	C. fitzingeri	Cavere		A lizard.
Rynchocephalia indet	unknown	Cavere
Sphenodontidae indet. [20]	unknown	Cavere

Crocodylomorpha

Crocodylomorpha

Genus	Species	Location	Material	Notes
Pietraroiasuchus	P. ormezzanoi	Cavere	Two articulated skeletons	Previously assigned to Pachycheilosuchus , now sister taxon

Dinosaurs

Dinosaurs

Genus	Species	Location	Material	Notes	Images
Scipionyx	S. samniticus	Cavere	A nearly complete skeleton in perfect condition	Tiny juvenile theropod

Paleoflora

Algae

Algae

Genus	Species	Location	Material	Notes
Salpingoporella		Cavere
Thaumatoporella		Cavere

Plants

Plants

Genus	Species	Location	Material	Notes
Zamites		Cavere
Brachyphyllum		Cavere

See also

• List of dinosaur-bearing rock formations
• List of stratigraphic units with few dinosaur genera

References

1. (in Italian) Ciro, the Italian dinosaur from Pietraroja Archived 2011-07-22 at the Wayback Machine
2. Weishampel, et al. (2004). "Dinosaur distribution." Pp. 517-607.
3. Bravi, Sergio; Bravi, Sergio; Garassino, Alessandro (1998). "New biostratigraphic and palaeoecologic observations on the "Plattenkalk" of the Lower Cretaceous (Albian) of Pietraroia (Benevento, S. Italy), and its decapod crustaceans assemblage". Atti della Società Italiana di Scienze Naturali e del Museo Civico di Storia Naturale in Milano. 138 (1–2): 119––171.
4. Bravi, S. (1999). "A tentative reassessment of the fauna and flora from the Pietraroja plattenkalk" (PDF). Rivista del Museo Civico di Scienze Naturali “E.Caffi”, Bergamo.
5. Marramà, Giuseppe; Carnevale, Giorgio (2023). "Double-armoured herrings (Clupeomorpha: Ellimmichthyiformes) from the Lower Cretaceous of Pietraroja (Southern Italy)". Journal of Systematic Palaeontology. 21 (1) 2181109. doi:10.1080/14772019.2023.2181109. ISSN   1477-2019.
6. Graziano, Roberto; Raspini, Arturo; Bartiromo, Antonello (2024). "New insights into the palaeoenvironmental–palaeoclimatic significance and sedimentary dynamics of carbonate Lagerstätten: The lower Albian of Pietraroja (Southern Italy)". Sedimentology. 71 (2): 619–686. doi:10.1111/sed.13146. ISSN   1365-3091.
7. Taverne, L.; Capasso, L. (2021). "Osteology and relationships of Brauccipycnodus pillae gen. nov. from the Albian (Lower Cretaceous) of Pietraroja (Campania, southern Italy)" (PDF). Geo-Eco-Trop. 45 (1): 161–175. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2021-02-21. Retrieved 2021-02-14.
8. Louis Taverne; Luigi Capasso (2019). "Osteology of Cavinichthys pachylepis gen. and sp. nov. (Teleostei, Crossognathiformes, Pachyrhizodontidae) from Pietraroja (Lower Cretaceous, Campania, south Italy)". Thalassia Salentina. 41: 53–70. doi:10.1285/i15910725v41p53.
9. Taverne, Louis (2008). "Considerations about the Late Cretaceous genus Chirocentrites and erection of the new genus Heckelichthys (Teleostei, Ichtyodectiformes) - A new visit inside the ichthyodectid phylogeny". Bulletin de l'Institut Royal des Sciences Naturelles de Belgique - Bulletin van het Koninklijk Belgisch Instituut voor Natuurwetenschappen. 78: 209–228.
10. Bucci, Enrico (2005). "A new ichthyodectid fish from the lower Cretaceous of Pietraroja (Southern Italy)". www.PalArch.nl, vertebrate palaeontology. 2 (3).
11. Signore, M.; Pede, C.; Bucci, E.; Barbera, C. (2006). "First report of the genus Cladocyclus in the Lower Cretaceous of Pietraroja (Southern Italy)" (PDF). Bollettino della Società Paleontologica Italiana. 45 (1).
12. Louis Taverne; Luigi Capasso; Maria Del Re (2019). "The pycnodont fishes from the Lower Cretaceous of the Capo d'Orlando, near Castellammare di Stabia (Naples, Campania, southern Italy), with the description of the new genus Costapycnodus" (PDF). Geo-Eco-Trop. 43 (1): 53–74.
13. Louis Taverne; Luigi Capasso; Maria Del Re (2020). "Osteology and phylogenetic relationships of Gregoriopycnodus bassanii gen. nov., a pycnodont fish (Pycnodontidae) from the marine Albian (Lower Cretaceous) of Pietraroja (southern Italy)" (PDF). Geo-Eco-Trop. 44 (1): 161–174.
14. Capasso, Luigi; Taverne, Louis Paul (2016), "Revision of Ionoscopus Petrarojae (Ionoscopiformes, Osteichthyes) from the Albian of Pietraroja (Campania, Southern Italy)", Thalassia Salentina, vol. 38, University of Salento, pp. 65–80, doi:10.1285/I15910725V38P65 , retrieved 2025-11-17
15. Taverne, Louis; Capasso, Luigi (2024). "OSTEOLOGY AND RELATIONSHIPS OF ITALOELOPS FOREYI GEN. AND SP. NOV. (TELEOSTEI, ELOPIFORMES) FROM THE ALBIAN (LOWER CRETACEOUS) OF PIETRAROJA (CAMPANIA, SOUTHERN ITALY)" (PDF). Atti Mus. Civ. St. Nat. Trieste. XII (65): 7–21.
16. Louis Taverne; Luigi Capasso (2017). "Italophiopsis derasmoi gen. and sp. nov. (Ionoscopiformes, Italophiopsidae fam. nov.) from the Cretaceous of Pietraroja (Italy)". Thalassia Salentina (Data Set). 39: 9–24. doi:10.1285/i15910725v39p9.
17. Taverne, L.; Capasso, L. (2019). "New data on Pleuropholis decastroi (Teleostei, Pleuropholidae), a "pholidophoriform" fish from the Lower Cretaceous of the Eurafrican Mesogea" (PDF). Geo-Eco-Trop. 43 (1): 35–51.
18. Kriwet, Jürgen; Soler-Gijón, Rodrigo; López-Martínez, Nieves (2007). "Neoselachians from the Upper Campanian and Lower Maastrichtian (upper Cretaceous) of the Southern Pyrenees, Northern Spain". Palaeontology. 50 (5): 1051–1071. doi:10.1111/j.1475-4983.2007.00695.x. ISSN   1475-4983.
19. Amore, Filomena Ornella; Argenio, Carmen; Fistola, Romano; Messina, Mattia Yuri; Rastelli, Andrea; Zingariello, Ida; Rocca, Rosa Anna La (2025-02-10). "The Paleontological Heritage as a Mean for Territorial Revitalization: Innovative Communication Modalities for Pietraroja Site (Southern Italy)". Geoheritage. 17 (1): 31. doi:10.1007/s12371-025-01081-w. ISSN   1867-2485.
20. Cau, Andrea; Baiano, Mattia A.; Raia, Pasquale (May 2014). "A new sphenodontian (Reptilia, Lepidosauria) from the Lower Cretaceous of Southern Italy and the phylogenetic affinities of the Pietraroia Plattenkalk rhynchocephalians". Cretaceous Research. 49: 172–180. Bibcode:2014CrRes..49..172C. doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2014.02.001.

Bibliography

• Weishampel, David B.; Dodson, Peter; Osmólska, Halszka (2004), The Dinosauria, 2nd edition, Berkeley: University of California Press, pp. 1–880, ISBN   0-520-24209-2 , retrieved 2019-02-21