Palynomorphs of the Normapolles group and related plant mesofossils from the Iharkút vertebrate site, Bakony Mountains (Hungary)

et al. 2015

181

174

The Late Cretaceous was a time of tremendous global change, as the final stages of the Age of Dinosaurs were shaped by climate and sea level fluctuations and witness to marked paleogeographic and faunal changes, before the end-Cretaceous bolide impact. The terrestrial fossil record of Late Cretaceous Europe is becoming increasingly better understood, based largely on intensive fieldwork over the past two decades, promising new insights into latest Cretaceous faunal evolution. We review the terrestrial Late Cretaceous record from Europe and discuss its importance for understanding the paleogeography, ecology, evolution, and extinction of land-dwelling vertebrates. We review the major Late Cretaceous faunas from Austria, Hungary, France, Spain, Portugal, and Romania, as well as more fragmentary records from elsewhere in Europe. We discuss the paleogeographic background and history of assembly of these faunas, and argue that they are comprised of an endemic ‘core’ supplemented with various immigration waves. These faunas lived on an island archipelago, and we describe how this insular setting led to ecological peculiarities such as low diversity, a preponderance of primitive taxa, and marked changes in morphology (particularly body size dwarfing). We conclude by discussing the importance of the European record in understanding the end-Cretaceous extinction and show that there is no clear evidence that dinosaurs or other groups were undergoing long-term declines in Europe prior to the bolide impact.

Section: The Late Cretaceous Continental Vertebrate Faunas Of Europementioning

confidence: 99%

Island life in the Cretaceous - faunal composition, biogeography, evolution, and extinction of land-living vertebrates on the Late Cretaceous European archipelago

Csiki-Sava¹,

Buffetaut²,

et al. 2015

181

174

“…Most of the dental material studied here (63 teeth with and 94 without a primary ridge) was collected from the Upper Cretaceous (Santonian) fluvial Csehbánya Formation during the productive and continuous excavations carried out in the last 15 years at Iharkút in the Bakony Mountains of western Hungary (see Ősi et al, ; Botfalvai et al, for geological settings). The site provided an exceptionally rich and diverse assemblage of continental vertebrates, including fish, amphibians, turtles, mosasaurs, lizards, pterosaurs, crocodilians, non‐avian dinosaurs and birds (see e.g., Ősi, ,b; Ősi et al, , 2010a,b, , 2012a,b; Makádi, , ; Ősi and Makádi, ; Ősi and Weishampel, ; Dyke and Ősi, ; Szentesi and Venczel, ; Ősi and Buffetaut, ; Rabi et al, ; Makádi et al, ; Ősi and Prondvai, ; Szentesi et al, ; Csiki‐Sava et al, ; Szabó et al, ), as well as plants (Knauer and Siegl‐Farkas, ; Bodor and Baranyi, ; Bodor et al, ). The specimens used here were previously referred to the genus Mochlodon , and are now stored in the Invertebrate and Vertebrate Paleontological Collection of the Hungarian Natural History Museum (MTM) in Budapest.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Morphometry, Microstructure, and Wear Pattern of Neornithischian Dinosaur Teeth From the Upper Cretaceous Iharkút Locality (Hungary)

Virág

2017

The Anatomical Record

Teeth of iguanodontian ornithopods and ceratopsians could be remarkably similar, thus the referral of isolated dental material to particular neornithischian clades can be highly problematic. These groups are represented by the rhabdodontid Mochlodon vorosi and the basal coronosaurian Ajkaceratops kozmai in the Upper Cretaceous Csehbánya Formation at Iharkút (western Hungary). Whereas teeth of the former taxonMochlodon are common elements at the locality, no dental material belonging to the latter speciesAjkaceratops was identified until now. Here we used mathematical statistical approaches, as well as tooth wear and dental microstructure analysis in order to decide whether the teeth previously referred to Mochlodon can be treated as a homogenous sample, or some remains belong rather to Ajkaceratops.According to our results, there was a striking morphological and structural convergence between the teeth of the latterboth taxa. However, the wear study revealed the existence of two different patterns within the sample. One is characterized by straight and parallel microstriations that suggest orthal movements during the jaw closure. This pattern was associated with Mochlodon. The other pattern appeared only on a few teeth, and it can be differentiated by its distinctive curved microstriations that indicate circumpalinal chewinga significant palinal component. Since Because curved striations were have never been described in ornithopods, but were are found in several neoceratopsians, this pattern was associated here with Ajkaceratops. Here we present the first teeth that can provisionally be referred to the latter genus. We believe that the methodology discussed in this paper will facilitate distinguishing ceratopsian and ornithopod teeth in other localities as well.

“…Palynological studies of the Iharkút section show that sedimentation took place during the Oculopollis zaklinskaiae -Brecolpites globosus palynozones Oculopollis-Triatriopollenites subzone, which was correlated to the CC16 Nannoplankton zone (Siegl-Farkas and Wagreich 1996). This indicates a Late Santonian age of the formation in Iharkút (Bodor and Baranyi 2012). Vertebrate remains have been unearthed from multiple horizons in Iharkút, but the site SZ-6 is the only one containing associated and articulated ankylosaur skeletal materials (Fig.…”

Section: Locality and Geological Settingmentioning

confidence: 96%

“…Besides the Iharkút material, an ankylosaurian tooth and an osteoderm are known from the Ajka Coal Formation as well (Ősi et al 2016). Although they cannot be identified at more precise taxonomical level, according to palynological and nannoplankton studies (Siegl-Farkas and Wagreich 1996;Bodrogi et al 1998;Bodor and Baranyi 2012) Whereas Hungarosaurus has only been reported from the Santonian of Iharkút (Ősi 2005;Ősi and Makádi 2009), Struthiosaurus appears to be more widespread in Europe. True ankylosaurian diversity in Europe is, however, greatly masked by the lack of overlapping diagnostic elements in many assemblages (Ősi 2015).…”

Section: Late Cretaceous Ankylosaur Diversity In Europementioning

confidence: 99%

The dirty dozen: taxonomical and taphonomical overview of a unique ankylosaurian (Dinosauria: Ornithischia) assemblage from the Santonian Iharkút locality, Hungary

Botfalvai

Albert

et al. 2019

Palaeobio Palaeoenv

Ankylosaurian fossils are usually standard elements of Cretaceous continental vertebrate localities, however bone-yielding horizons including more than one individual are extremely rare. Here we present a unique assemblage of 12 partial articulated or associated ankylosaurian skeletons and thousands of isolated bones and teeth discovered from the Santonian Iharkút vertebrate locality, western Hungary. Collected from an area of 600 m 2 and from a single bone bed, this material is one of the richest ankylosaurian accumulation worldwide. The 12 skeletons are not monospecific but, mostly based on the pelvic armor composition, six of them are from Hungarosaurus, two are referred to Struthiosaurus and four can be assigned to Nodosauridae indet. Sedimentological and taphonomical examinations revealed a single mass mortality event as the cause of the death and accumulation of these quadruped animals that are described here. The ankylosaur assemblage from Iharkút suggests at least a temporarily gregarious behavior of these animals and also shows that Hungarosaurus and Struthiosaurus might lived in the same moist habitat or at least preferred relatively close environments.