Research paper
A multi-ootaxic assemblage from the Lower Cretaceous of the Cameros Basin (La Rioja; Northern Spain)
MIGUEL MORENO-AZANZA
Departamento de Ciências da Terra, Geobiotec. Departamento de Ciências da Terra. Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia, FCT, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, 2829-526. Caparica, Portugal. Museu da Lourinha; mmazanza@fct.unl.pt
Grupo Aragosaurus-IUCA, Paleontología, FacultaddeCiencias, Universidad de Zaragoza, Pedro Cerbuna 12, 50009 Zaragoza, Spain.
Corresponding author
JOSÉ MANUEL GASCA
Grupo Aragosaurus-IUCA, Paleontología, FacultaddeCiencias, Universidad de Zaragoza, Pedro Cerbuna 12, 50009 Zaragoza, Spain.
CONICET-Museo Provincial de Ciencias Naturales “Profesor Dr. Juan A. Olsacher”, Zapala, 8340 Neuquén, Argentina. jmgaska@hotmail.com
IGNACIO DÍAZ-MARTÍNEZ
CONICET-Instituto de Investigación en Paleobiología y Geología, Universidad Nacional de Río Negro, General Roca 1242, 8332 Argentina; inaportu@hotmail.com
BLANCA BAULUZ LÁZARO
Mineralogía y Cristalografía, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Zaragoza, Pedro Cerbuna 12, 50009 Zaragoza, Spain. bauluz@unizar.es
JOSÉ IGNACIO CANUDO SANAGUSTÍN
Grupo Aragosaurus-IUCA, Paleontología, FacultaddeCiencias, Universidad de Zaragoza, Pedro Cerbuna 12, 50009 Zaragoza, Spain. jicanudo@unizar.es
ARTURO FERNÁNDEZ
Asociación de Amigos del Museo de Enciso (AME), Poyales 26586 Enciso (La Rioja); eldinocojuelo@gmail.com
FÉLIX PÉREZ-LORENTE
Universidad de La Rioja, Edificio CT, c/Madre de Dios, 51–53, E-26006 Logroño, España. felix.perez@unirioja.es
ABSTRACT
Here we describe the new fossil site of El Horcajo in the vicinity of Trevijano (La Rioja, Spain). It is located in the palustrine facies of the Enciso Group (Cameros Basin). This new locality has provided dozens of eggshell fragments, together with other vertebrate remains and charophyte fructifications, which allow dating of the locality as Valanginian-Hauterivian. Five ootaxa have being recognized: 1) the Spheroolithidae Guegoolithus turolensis; 2) a surprisingly thick Prismatoolithidae indet., with certain affinities to the oogenus Sankofa, that may represent a new oogenus and oospecies for this oofamily; 3) the Krokolithidae Krokolithes sp.; 4) recrystallized ?Testudoolithidae eggshells; and 5) ?Geckoolithidae eggshells of uncertain affinity. This oodiversity is similar to that of other eggshell microsites. The ootaxonomic list differs from the other Iberian locality of the same age, Pochancalo 1 (Villanueva de Huerva Formation, Zaragoza) in lacking sauropod and megalosauroid theropod eggshells, but shares the presence the ornithopod and coelurosaurian theropod eggshells with other younger microsites found in similar facies. The age of the new locality has immediate consequences for the tectono-sedimentary framework of the Cameros Basin, and the new data will need to be considered in future stratigraphical works. Furthermore, the reliability of eggshells as biostratigraphic markers is questioned, and the viability of Guegoolithus as a guide fossil for the lower Barremian is rejected.
Keywords: Valanginian-Hauterivian, Enciso Group, vertebrate eggshells, dinosaurs.
How to cite: Moreno-Azanza, M., Gasca, J.M., Díaz-Martínez, I., Bauluz Lázaro, B., Canudo Sanagustín, J.I., Fernández, A. & Pérez-Lorente, F. 2016. A multi-ootaxic assemblage from the Lower Cretaceous of the Cameros Basin (La Rioja; Northern Spain). Spanish Journal of Palaeontology, 31 (2), 305-320.
Received 15 November 2015, Accepted 14 September 2016, Published 31 December 2016
https://doi.org/10.7203/sjp.31.2.17158
