Vertebrates from the Kimmeridgian of Brunn (Oberpfalz)
Final Report Abstract
The Late Jurassic lithographic limestones of southern Germany provide a unique window into a tropical marginal marine environment of that time, the depositional setting being known as the “Solnhofen archipelago”. These rocks have long been known for their abundant and exceptionally well-preserved fossils, but what is less well-known is the fact that these fossils actually come from a series of different localities and geological units, spanning a time of approximately 3.5 million years, from the Late Kimmeridgian to the Early Tithonian. Thus, the “Solnhofen” fossils do not only represent an exceptional insight into a Jurassic environment, but also provide a unique opportunity to study the evolutionary dynamics within this environment over a geologically short amount of time. The necessary prerequisite for such studies is a detailed knowledge of the taxonomy and phylogentic relationships of the taxa present in each geological formation and each locality. As a first step in this work, this project dealt with the composition of the actinopterygian fauna from the Kimmeridgian of the locality of Brunn, the oldest locality within the Solnhofen archipelago. In a survey of the fish material collected from this locality so far, one taxon of cladistian sarcopterygian and at least 14 genera of actinopterygians could be identified. Within the actinopterygian fauna, teleosts represent the most diverse and numerous group, as in many other localities from the Late Jurassic of southern Germany. Preliminary results on the species-level taxonomy indicate a relatively low amount of endemism in the fauna. Many taxa seem to be shared with other Kimmeridgian localities, but differ from those found in Tithonian sites, indicating a faunal replacement from the Kimmeridgian to the Tithonian.
Publications
- Vertebrate fossils from the Kimmeridgian of Brunn: the oldest fauna from the Solnhofen Archipelago (Late Jurassic, Bavaria, Germany). In: Zitteliana 89, 305–329, Bayerische Staatssammlung für Paläontologie und Geologie, 2017
López-Arbarello, A., Rauhut, O.W.M., Röper, M.& Ebert, M.
