Fossil assemblages and palaeoenvironments in the Cenomanian vertebrate site of Nazaré (West Central Portugal)

  1. Callapez, P.M. 2
  2. Barroso-Barcenilla, F. 56
  3. Cambra-Moo, O. 7
  4. Ortega, F. 4
  5. Pérez-García, A. 1
  6. Segura, M. 5
  7. Torices, A. 3
  1. 1 Universidade de Lisboa
    info

    Universidade de Lisboa

    Lisboa, Portugal

    ROR https://ror.org/01c27hj86

  2. 2 Universidade de Coimbra
    info

    Universidade de Coimbra

    Coímbra, Portugal

    ROR https://ror.org/04z8k9a98

  3. 3 University of Alberta
    info

    University of Alberta

    Edmonton, Canadá

    ROR https://ror.org/0160cpw27

  4. 4 Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia
    info

    Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia

    Madrid, España

    ROR https://ror.org/02msb5n36

  5. 5 Universidad de Alcalá
    info

    Universidad de Alcalá

    Alcalá de Henares, España

    ROR https://ror.org/04pmn0e78

  6. 6 Universidad Complutense de Madrid
    info

    Universidad Complutense de Madrid

    Madrid, España

    ROR 02p0gd045

  7. 7 Universidad Autónoma de Madrid
    info

    Universidad Autónoma de Madrid

    Madrid, España

    ROR https://ror.org/01cby8j38

Revista:
Neues Jahrbuch fur Geologie und Palaontologie - Abhandlungen

ISSN: 0077-7749

Año de publicación: 2014

Volumen: 273

Número: 2

Páginas: 179-195

Tipo: Artículo

DOI: 10.1127/0077-7749/2014/0422 SCOPUS: 2-s2.0-84905851883 GOOGLE SCHOLAR

Otras publicaciones en: Neues Jahrbuch fur Geologie und Palaontologie - Abhandlungen

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Resumen

A palaeontological site with early and middle Cenomanian vertebrate remains has been located near Nazaré, a village on the west coast of Central Portugal known for its large promontory with exposures of Upper Cretaceous platform carbonates and "Garumnian" siliciclastic beds. The sampled remains are rather well preserved biomineralized skeletal elements, including bones, teeth and fish scales of disarticulated and fragmented specimens. The vertebrate remains preserve their volume without signs of distortion, and many of the original biological characteristics are still visible. Their taxonomic study allows the identification of several middle Cenomanian osteichthyans, including isolated teeth of Coelodus sp., a few jaw fragments and an almost complete tooth of cf. Enchodus, and a large and articulated teleostean specimen (Teleostei indet.) with well-formed and ossified vertebrae and cycloid scales. The turtle remains are late early Cenomanian in age, and include several indeterminate fragments, besides a costal plate fragment and a complete peripheral plate corresponding to the oldest occurrence of a probable member of the clade Pan-Chelonioidea in the Iberian record. The crocodyliform specimens are represented by three osteoderms of Mesoeucrocodylia indet. and a dorsal vertebra collected from middle Cenomanian beds. This last element is attributed to Eusuchia, a clade poorly known in the European Cenomanian. The late early Cenomanian assemblage with sea turtles and associated benthic faunas have been interpreted as the record of an open inner shelf environment with bivalve biostromes of Ilymatogyra pseudoafricana and Ceratostreon flabellatum located close to an intertidal flat with mixed carbonate-sand sedimentation. The inner shelf episode was followed by the development of a lagoonal environment during the middle Cenomanian, with oyster communities of Gyrostrea ouremensis and a diverse vertebrate assemblage with several fish and crocodyliform species adapted to more restricted ecological conditions. These new discoveries increase the limited number of European locations with Cenomanian vertebrate assemblage records, and provide additional data for several less well known taxa. © 2014 E.