Biological controls upon the physical taphonomy of exceptionally preserved salamanders from the Miocene of Rubielos de Mora, northeast Spain

McNamara, Maria E.; Orr, Patrick J.; Manzocchi, Tom; Alcalá, Luís; Anadón, Pere; Peñalver, Enrique

doi:10.1111/j.1502-3931.2011.00274.x

Cited by 10 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 23 publications

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“…Many bones (over 60%) from the Tuștea taphocoenosis are disarticulated, and it can be thus interpreted as accumulation of isolated and dispersed remains (e.g., Hill and Behrensmeyer, 1984;Behrensmeyer, 1991;McNamara et al, 2012). However, it should be mentioned that due to the excavation methods employed during the 23 years of quarrying, several skeletal elements were collected without precise bone-mapping and thus there is a chance that association of skeletal elements remained undetectable in many cases.…”

Section: Discussion and Interpretation Of Taphonomic Features Of The mentioning

confidence: 99%

Taphonomical and palaeoecological investigation of the Late Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) Tuştea vertebrate assemblage (Romania; Haţeg Basin) - insights into a unique dinosaur nesting locality

Botfalvai

Csiki-Sava

Grigorescu

et al. 2017

Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology

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The Tuştea vertebrate locality, at Oltoane Hill (northwestern part of the Hațeg Basin, Romania), has provided a rich and diverse assemblage of Late Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) continental vertebrates. More than 800 vertebrate fossils were recovered from this locality; the isolated and associated remains represent 21 different taxa including amphibians, turtles, lizards, snakes, crocodyliforms, pterosaurs, dinosaurs and mammals. The local assemblage is overwhelmingly dominated by dinosaurs, with the rhabdodontid Zalmoxes as the most abundant taxon. The bonebeds that yielded this fossil material occur in a stacked series of mudstone/calcrete units belonging to the middle member of the Densuş-Ciula Formation. The taphonomical investigations suggest that the Tuştea assemblage is made up of attritionally accumulated politaxic remains and that it is a parautochthonous assemblage with no evidence for significant bone transport or reworking.According to the synthesis of all available field data two outstanding fossiliferous levels can be identified within the Tuştea locality, where Megaloolithus eggs and hadrosauroid hatchling material are preserved together, recognized here as two superposed nesting grounds. Such co-occurrence was considered controversial, since there is a longstanding and quasi-general consensus that eggs of the Megaloolithus oogenus were laid by titanosaurian sauropods. We present several alternative scenarios to account for the cooccurrence of Telmatosaurus hatchling remains and megaloolithid eggs in the nesting horizons and explore these alternative hypotheses by weighing the arguments supporting or contradicting them. The burden of evidence derived from our sedimentological, taphonomical and palaeoecological investigations at Tuştea is still in favor of the autochthony of the hatchlings, preserved within their own nesting grounds, whereas there is no such support for a titanosaurian origin of the Tuștea megaloolithid eggs.

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Section: Discussion and Interpretation Of Taphonomic Features Of The mentioning

confidence: 99%

Taphonomical and palaeoecological investigation of the Late Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) Tuştea vertebrate assemblage (Romania; Haţeg Basin) - insights into a unique dinosaur nesting locality

Botfalvai

Csiki-Sava

Grigorescu

et al. 2017

Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology

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“…3C; Špinar 1972, pl. 102 no.608a; McNamara 2007, data; Roček & Wuttke 2010, fig. 6h; Köhler 2011, fig.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The skeletal taphonomy of anurans from the Eocene Geiseltal Konservat‐Lagerstätte, Germany: insights into the controls on fossil anuran preservation

Falk

Wings

McNamara

2022

Papers in Palaeontology

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The Geiseltal biota is an Eocene lacustrine Konservat-Lagerst€ atte in central Germany. Despite its rich fauna and flora (over 50 000 fossil vertebrates, insects and other invertebrates, plants and trace fossils) the taphonomy of the biota, and of the anurans in particular, is poorly understood. We analysed the skeletal taphonomy of 168 anurans, scoring each specimen for orientation, completeness and articulation. Most are partial skeletons, truncated during preparation. This process introduces measurable artefacts into the taphonomic data, which requires further study. We identified recurring taphonomic states, including disarticulation or loss of abdominal bones, loss of one or more limbs, extensive disarticulation, and extensive loss of elements across the body. Relatively rare states include: loss of distal limb elements only, scattered bones, and isolated, articulated limbs. These data inform a new taphonomic model for the Geiseltal anurans. Comparative analysis of patterns in completeness and articulation in these specimens and anurans from other Cenozoic Lagerst€ atten reveals repeated patterns in preservation in lacustrine-hosted settings, such as proximal to distal trends in completeness, preferential loss of small peripheral bones, disarticulation of abdominal bones, and reorientation of major body regions. Taphonomic controls in lacustrine systems are surface water temperature, lake depth, vegetation, exposure to bottom currents, transport mechanisms, scavenging, decay regime, bone size and location in the skeleton; all ultimately controlled by palaeoclimate, lake physiography and hydrology, and anuran anatomy. A universal approach to quantitative analysis of skeletal taphonomy metrics will enable comparative testing of the relationship between preservation and palaeoenvironment for diverse fossil vertebrates.

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“…The method allows us to define taphonomic grades (TG) to express preservation quality by evaluating the integrity and articulation of fossils. This method has been widely used in the taphonomic analysis of insect and vertebrate assemblages (e.g., Wedmann, 1998;Smith and Moe-Hoffman, 2007;McNamara et al, 2011McNamara et al, , 2012Wang et al, 2013).…”

Section: Taphonomic Analysesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Taphonomic analysis of Spinicaudata from two Triassic lacustrine systems affected by different volcanic processes

Bustos-Escalona,

Mancuso,

Benavente

et al. 2023

andgeo

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Spinicaudata are freshwater branchiopods. The growth and development of spinicaudata populations in freshwater environments depend on various physical, chemical, and biological factors. The action of volcanism modifies the limnological parameters in the process of fossilization of lacustrine deposits. This study identifies spinicaudatan assemblages in two Triassic lake systems in Argentina, and analyzes the dynamics of shell preservation according to the volcanic activity involved. Two taphonomic grades divided into three different second taphonomic grades were defined. The focus on taphonomic and chemistry studies addresses changes in spinicaudata abundance and richness through time, in different paleoenvironmental conditions, and shell preservation and chemical composition. The discussion highlights the importance of lava flow inflow and volcanic ash fall in the different lake systems. We emphasize the importance of taphonomic studies on the spinicaudata groups to understand their autochthonous and allochthonous populations in Triassic lake systems. In turn, we conclude that the post mortem processes experienced by the shells, the exposure time at the water-sediment interface, and the chemical alteration of the water into the paleolakes produced by the surrounding volcanic activity can explain the development and preservation of spinicaudata in these two Triassic lacustrine systems.

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Biological controls upon the physical taphonomy of exceptionally preserved salamanders from the Miocene of Rubielos de Mora, northeast Spain

Cited by 10 publications

References 23 publications

Taphonomical and palaeoecological investigation of the Late Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) Tuştea vertebrate assemblage (Romania; Haţeg Basin) - insights into a unique dinosaur nesting locality

Taphonomical and palaeoecological investigation of the Late Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) Tuştea vertebrate assemblage (Romania; Haţeg Basin) - insights into a unique dinosaur nesting locality

The skeletal taphonomy of anurans from the Eocene Geiseltal Konservat‐Lagerstätte, Germany: insights into the controls on fossil anuran preservation

Taphonomic analysis of Spinicaudata from two Triassic lacustrine systems affected by different volcanic processes

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