Reuchenette Formation | |
---|---|
Stratigraphic range: Kimmeridgian, | |
Type | Geological formation |
Sub-units | Membre de Chevenez, Membre de Courtedoux, Marne du Banné, Membre de Vabenau |
Underlies | Twannbach Formation |
Overlies | Formation de Court, Balsthal-Formation, Membre de Porrentruy, Verena-Member, Holzflue-Member, Formation de Courgenay |
Thickness | 140 metres average, 160 m in type area. |
Lithology | |
Primary | Limestone |
Other | Mudstone |
Location | |
Region | Europe |
Country | ![]() |
The Reuchenette Formation is a Jurassic geologic formation in Switzerland. It is Kimmeridgian in age and predominantly consists of well stratified limestone, with lithology variable both laterally and stratigraphically including wackestones, packstones and grainstones, as well as mudstone. [1] Dinosaur remains are among the fossils that have been recovered from the formation, including the Turiasaurian sauropod Amanzia greppini, alongside a theropod tooth belonging to Ceratosauria indet, originally assigned to Megalosaurus meriani. [2] teleosaurid crocodyliformes are also known, including Sericodon, Proexochokefalos and Machimosaurus. [3] The metriorhynchid thalatosuchians Torvoneustes [4] and Dakosaurus . The hybodontid shark Asteracanthus . [5] The thalassochelydian turtle Thalassemys [6] and Solnhofia is known from the formation, [7] as is the platychelyid turtles Platychelys, [8] and the plesiochelyid turtle Plesiochelys . [9]
Color key
| Notes Uncertain or tentative taxa are in small text; |
Genus | Species | Material | Notes | Images |
---|---|---|---|---|
Craspedochelys | C. picteti | |||
C. jaccardi | ||||
Plesiochelys | P. bigleri | ![]() | ||
Platychelys | P. oberndorferi | |||
Portlandemys | P. gracilis | |||
Solnhofia | S. brachyrhyncha | |||
Tropidemys | T. langii | |||
Thalassemys | T. bruntrutana | |||
T. hugii | ||||
"T." moseri |
Genus | Species | Material | Notes | Images |
---|---|---|---|---|
Torvoneustes | T. jurensis | ![]() |
Genus | Species | Material | Notes | Images |
---|---|---|---|---|
Amanzia [2] | A. greppini | ![]() | ||
Ceratosauria | Indeterminate |
Genus | Species | Material | Notes | Images |
---|---|---|---|---|
Pterodactyloidea | Indeterminate | Second wing phalanx (NMS 20’870) |
In the geological timescale, the Tithonian is the latest age of the Late Jurassic Epoch and the uppermost stage of the Upper Jurassic Series. It spans the time between 149.2 ±0.7 Ma and 145.0 ± 4 Ma. It is preceded by the Kimmeridgian and followed by the Berriasian.
The Kimmeridge Clay is a sedimentary deposit of fossiliferous marine clay which is of Late Jurassic to lowermost Cretaceous age and occurs in southern and eastern England and in the North Sea. This rock formation is the major source rock for North Sea oil. The fossil fauna of the Kimmeridge Clay includes turtles, crocodiles, sauropods, plesiosaurs, pliosaurs and ichthyosaurs, as well as a number of invertebrate species.
Machimosaurus is an extinct genus of machimosaurid crocodyliform from the Late Jurassic and Early Cretaceous. The type species, Machimosaurus hugii, was found in Switzerland. Other fossils have been found in England, France, Germany, Portugal, Switzerland and Tunisia. Machimosaurus rex is the largest named teleosauroid and thalattosuchian, with an estimated length of up to 7.15 m (23.5 ft). Machimosaurus is the largest known crocodyliform of the Jurassic.
Turiasauria is an unranked clade of basal sauropod dinosaurs known from Middle Jurassic to Early Cretaceous deposits in Europe, North America, and Africa.
Mycterosuchus is an extinct genus of teleosaurid crocodyliform from the Middle Jurassic (Callovian) of England. Although previously synonymized with Steneosaurus, recent cladistic analysis considers it distantly related to the Steneosaurus type species.
Sericodon is an extinct genus of teleosaurid crocodyliform from the Late Jurassic (Tithonian) of Germany and Switzerland. The genus contains a single species, S. jugleri. Sericodon was placed in 'Clade T' (Aeolodontinae) and was found to be the sister taxon to Bathysuchus, another teleosaurid.
Thalassemys is a genus of extinct thalassochelydian turtle from the Late Jurassic of western and central Europe. While the genus was originally named by Rütimeyer in 1859 for a large carapace and other associated fragments from the late Kimmeridgian of the Reuchenette Formation of Switzerland, although the taxon was not validly named until 1873 when Rütimeyer designated the type species T. hugii. Rütimeyer also named T. gresslyi from the Reunchenette Formation in the same paper as T. hugii, but it cannot be differentiated from the type material of T. hugii and is therefore a junior synonym. A large assemblage of shell and postcranial material from the Reunchenette was named as a species of Eurysternum, E. ignoratum, by Bräm in 1965. While originally distinguished based on the presence of fontanelles on the plastron, the feature was later identified on T. hugii and E. ignoratum was designated a junior synonym. Additional material from the Kimmeridge Clay of the United Kingdom has also been referred to T. hugii.
The Lastres Formation is a geological formation located in Asturias province, northwestern Spain. It is believed to have been deposited in a fluvial-dominated deltaic system.
The Early Cretaceous Phu Kradung Formation is the lowest member of the Mesozoic Khorat Group which outcrops on the Khorat Plateau in Isan, Thailand. This geological formation consists of micaceous, brown to reddish-brown siltstone beds with minor brown and grey shale and sandstone beds. Occasional lime-noduled conglomerate occurs.
The Vega Formation is a Late Jurassic (Kimmeridgian) geologic formation of the Ribadesella Group in Asturias, Spain. Dinosaur remains diagnostic to the genus level are among the fossils that have been recovered from the formation. The formation is around 150 metres thick and consists of "alternating white, pale grey and reddish sandstones, and red mudstones with several sporadic conglomeratic beds typically arranged in minor finnig-upward cycles within a major cycle of the same character". An isolated caudal theropod vertebra and a partial tooth are known from the formation, belonging to large megalosaurids around 10 metres in length, comparable to Torvosaurus. Other remains known from the formation include fragmentary turtle remains, crocodylomorph teeth, as well as a sauropod caudal vertebra (MUJA-0650). Dinosaur tracks are also known from the formation, including large theropod footprints and poorly preserved quadrupedal dinosaur footprints.
Eurysternum is an extinct genus of thalassochelydian turtle. Its type species is Eurysternum wagleri, the holotype of which has since been lost and only survives in illustrations.
Torvoneustes is an extinct genus of metriorhynchid thalattosuchian. It is known from skull and postcranial remains found in the Kimmeridge Clay Formation of Dorset and Wiltshire, England, the Virgula Marls of Switzerland and also from Oaxaca, Mexico . The holotype skull of the type species was initially assigned to the species Metriorhynchus superciliosus. Postcranial remains were later discovered from the same quarry as the skull, and then these specimens were recognised as belonging to a new species of Dakosaurus, as D. carpenteri. The species was named to honour Simon Carpenter, an amateur geologist from Frome in Somerset, who discovered the fossils.
Plesiochelys is a genus of late Jurassic European and Asian turtle. The type species is Plesiochelys etalloni.
The Plesiochelyidae are an extinct family of turtles in the clade Thalassochelydia originally classified within the Cryptodira suborder, mostly belonging from the Jurassic period. An alternate study placed the clade Thalassochelydia in the Angolachelonia and outside the Testudines.
Hydropelta is a genus of Late Jurassic turtle from marine deposits in the Jura Mountains of eastern France.
Thalassochelydia is a clade of extinct marine turtles from the Late Jurassic and earliest Cretaceous of Europe and South America. The group is defined as including Eurysternum, Plesiochelys and Thalassemys to the exclusion of Pelomedusa, Testudo and Protostega. While a clade uniting the families Eurysternidae, Plesiochelyidae and Thalassemydidae had been supported by phylogenetic evidence, a name was not given for the clade until 2017, when Jérémy Anquetin and colleagues coined Thalassochelydia.
Solnhofia is a genus of extinct thalassochelydian turtle from the Late Jurassic of Germany. The type species is Solnhofia parsonsi, named by Gaffney in 1975 for a partial skull and jaw from the early Tithonian of the Solnhofen Formation in Bavaria. Additional material including a complete skeleton is known from the late Kimmeridgian of Switzerland and the Kimmeridgian/Tithonian of other deposits within Bavaria, and potentially also unprepared material from the Late Jurassic of France. The genus was referred to the family Eurysternidae by Anquetin and colleagues in 2017, which may represent an artificial grade of early thalassochelydians. In 2020 a new species Solnhofia brachyrhyncha was described from the Kimmeridigan aged Reuchenette Formation of Switzerland.
Angolachelonia is a clade of extinct turtles from the Late Jurassic to Paleogene of Eurasia. The group is defined as all taxa derived from the ancestor of the type genus Angolachelys and Solnhofia, a definition that could potentially encompass a clade of entirely marine turtles. Angolachelonia was originally inclusive of only Solnhofia, Angolachelys and Sandownia when originally conceived by Octavio Mateus and colleagues in 2009, but later phylogenetic analyses by Serjocha Evers and Roger Benson in 2018 unites the family Sandownidae, including Angolachelys and Sandownia among other taxa, with the entirely Late Jurassic clade Thalassochelydia, where Solnhofia may be a basal member. While the placement of Solnhofia is weak and the clade that Angolachelonia represents may change with further analysis, the clade of Sandownidae and Thalassochelydia is well-supported, and does not collapse despite the uncertain evolutionary history of the group. Three alternative potential origins of Angolachelonia sensu Evers and Benson are shown below.
The Süntel Formation, previously known as the Kimmeridge Formation, is a geological formation in Germany. It is Late Jurassic in age, spanning the early to late Kimmeridgian stage. It predominantly consists of limestone deposited in shallow marine carbonate ramp conditions.
Compsemydidae is an extinct family of turtles, likely belonging to the clade Paracryptodira. The earliest undisputed member is Tongemys from the Berriasian age of the Early Cretaceous; two Late Jurassic genera have also sometimes been included in the group, but may alternatively be members of the family Pleurosternidae. The genus Compsemys survived the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event and lasted until the Thanetian age of the Paleocene.