Hostname: page-component-5c6d5d7d68-wbk2r Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-08-15T03:19:19.090Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

New marine reptile fossils from the Oxfordian (Late Jurassic) of Greenland

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 July 2019

LL Delsett Open the ORCID record for LL Delsett [Opens in a new window]  and
P Alsen Open the ORCID record for P Alsen [Opens in a new window]
LL Delsett*
Affiliation:
Natural History Museum, University of Oslo, postbox 1172, Blindern 0318, Oslo, Norway
P Alsen
Affiliation:
Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland, Øster Voldgade 10, DK-1350 Copenhagen K, Denmark
*
Author for correspondence: LL Delsett, Email: l.l.delsett@nhm.uio.no
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Knowledge about marine reptile diversity and disparity during the Late Jurassic is increasing. This contribution describes marine reptile skeletal elements (ichthyosaur and plesiosaur) from Kingofjeld mountain in NE Greenland. The assemblage is early Late Oxfordian (Late Jurassic) in age, and consists of c. 100 disarticulated skeletal elements. The location is of biogeographic importance as it was at the time situated between the Boreal realm and the Tethys Sea and is promising in terms of future prospecting.

Keywords

ichthyosaursplesiosaursBernbjerg FormationKingofjeldKuhn ØLate JurassicGreenland
Type
Original Article
Information
Geological Magazine , Volume 157 , Special Issue 10: Mesozoic of the Arctic , October 2020 , pp. 1612 - 1621
Copyright
© Cambridge University Press 2019

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Aldinger, H (1935) Geologische Beobachtungen im oberen Jura des Scoresbysundes (Ostgrönland). Meddelelser om Grønland 99, 128 pp.Google Scholar
Alsgaard, PC, Felt, VL, Vosgerau, H and Surlyk, F (2003) The Jurassic of Kuhn Ø, North-East Greenland. In The Jurassic of Denmark and Greenland (eds Ineson, JR and Surlyk, F), pp. 865–92. Copenhagen: Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland Bulletin 1.Google Scholar
Alvarado-Ortega, J, Barrientos-Lara, JI, Espinosa-Arrubarrena, L and Melgarejo-Damián, MDP (2014) Late Jurassic marine vertebrates from Tlaxiaco, Oaxaca State, southern Mexico. Paleontologica Electronica 17, 1–25.Google Scholar
Bardet, N (1994) Extinction events among Mesozoic marine reptiles. Historical Biology 7, 313–24.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bardet, N and Fernández, M (2000) A new ichthyosaur from the Upper Jurassic lithographic limestones of Bavaria. Journal of Paleontology 74, 503–11.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Benson, RBJ, Butler, RJ, Lindgren, J and Smith, AS (2010) Mesozoic marine tetrapod diversity: mass extinctions and temporal heterogeneity in geological megabiases affecting vertebrates. Proceedings of the Royal Society B – Biological Sciences 277, 829–34.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Blazejowski, B, Giesszcz, P and Tyborowski, D (2016) New finds of well-preserved Tithonian (Late Jurassic) fossils from Owadów-Brzezinki Quarry, Central Poland: a review and perspectives. Volumina Jurassica 14, 123–32.Google Scholar
Buchholtz, EA (2001) Swimming styles in Jurassic ichthyosaurs. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 21, 61–73.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Buchy, M (2010) First record of Ophthalmosaurus (Reptilia: Ichthyosauria) from the Tithonian (Upper Jurassic) of Mexico. Journal of Paleontology 84, 149–55.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Buffetaut, E, Romasson, R and Tong, H (2003) Restes fossiles de grands reptiles Jurassiques et Cretaces dans L’Aube (France). Bulletin d’Information des Géologues du Bassin de Paris 40, 33–43.Google Scholar
Callomon, JH and Birkelund, T (1980) The Jurassic transgression and the mid-late Jurassic succession in East Greenland. Geological Magazine 117, 211–26.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
de Blainville, MHD (1835) Description de quelques espèces de reptiles de la Californie, précédée de l’analyse d’un systéme général d’erpétologie et d’amphibiologie. Nouvelles Annales du Muséum d’Histoire Naturelle 4, 233–96.Google Scholar
Delsett, LL, Druckenmiller, PS, Roberts, AJ and Hurum, JH (2018) A new specimen of Palvennia hoybergeti: implications for cranial and pectoral girdle anatomy in ophthalmosaurid ichthyosaurs. PeerJ e5776. doi: 10.7717/peerj5776.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Delsett, LL, Novis, LK, Roberts, AJ, Koevoets, MJ, Hammer, Ø, Druckenmiller, PS and Hurum, JH (2016) The Slottsmøya marine reptile Lagerstätte: depositional environments, taphonomy and diagenesis. In Mesozoic Biotas of Scandinavia and its Arctic Territories (eds Kear, BP, Lindgren, J, Hurum, JH, Milàn, J and Vaida, V), pp. 165–88. Geological Society of London, Special Publication no. 434.Google Scholar
Delsett, LL, Roberts, AJ, Druckenmiller, PS and Hurum, JH (2017) A new ophthalmosaurid (Ichthyosauria) from Svalbard, Norway, and evolution of the ichthyopterygian pelvic girdle. PLOS ONE 12, e0169971. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0169971.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Druckenmiller, PS, Hurum, JH, Knutsen, EM and Nakrem, HA (2012) Two new ophthalmosaurids (Reptilia: Ichthyosauria) from the Agardhfjellet Formation (Upper Jurassic: Volgian/Tithonian), Svalbard, Norway. Norwegian Journal of Geology 92, 311–39.Google Scholar
Dypvik, H, Hakansson, E and Heinberg, C (2002) Jurassic and Cretaceous palaeogeography and stratigraphic comparisons in the North Greenland-Svalbard region. Polar Research 21, 91–108.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fernández, MS (1999) A new ichthyosaur from the Los Molles Formation (Early Bajocian), Neuquen Basin, Argentina. Journal of Paleontology 73, 677–81.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fernández, M (2007) Redescription and phylogenetic position of Caypullisaurus (Ichthyosauria: Ophthalmosauridae). Journal of Paleontology 81, 368–75.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fernández, M and Campos, L (2015) Ophthalmosaurids (Ichthyosauria: Thunnosauria): alpha taxonomy, clades and names. Publicación Electrónica de la Asociación Paleontológica Argentina 15, 20–30. doi: 10.5710/PEAPA.15.09.2015.96.Google Scholar
Fernández, M and Iturralde-Vinent, M (2000) An Oxfordian Ichthyosauria (Reptilia) from Vinales, western Cuba: paleobiogeographic significance. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 20, 191–3.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fernández, MS and Maxwell, EE (2012) The genus Arthropterygius Maxwell (Ichthyosauria: Ophthalmosauridae) in the Late Jurassic of the Neuquén Basin, Argentina. Geobios 45, 535–40.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fernández, M and Talevi, M (2014) Ophthalmosaurian (Ichthyosauria) records from the Aalenian–Bajocian of Patagonia (Argentina): an overview. Geological Magazine 151, 49–59.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fernández, MS, Vennari, VV, Herrera, Y, Campos, L, Talevi, M and de la Fuente, M (2018) New marine reptile assemblage from the Jurassic-Cretaceous boundary beds of the High Andes, Argentina. 10th International Congress on the Jurassic System, Mexico, Paleontología Mexicana, 2-2018. http://www.ojs-igl.unam.mx/index.php/Paleontologia/issue/view/135/showTocGoogle Scholar
Fischer, V, Appleby, RM, Naish, D, Liston, J, Riding, JB, Brindley, S and Godefroit, P (2013) A basal thunnosaurian from Iraq reveals disparate phylogenetic origins for Cretaceous ichthyosaurs. Biology Letters 9, 1–6.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fischer, V, Bardet, N, Benson, RBJ, Arkhangelsky, MS and Friedman, M (2016) Extinction of fish-shaped marine reptiles associated with reduced evolutionary rates and global environmental volatility. Nature Communications 7, 10825. doi: 10.1038/ncomms10825.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fischer, V, Maisch, MW, Naish, D, Kosma, R, Liston, J, Joger, U, Krüger, FJ, Pardo-Pérez, JM, Tainsh, J and Appleby, RM (2012) New ophthalmosaurid ichthyosaurs from the European Lower Cretaceous demonstrate extensive ichthyosaur survival across the Jurassic–Cretaceous boundary. PLOS ONE 7, e29234. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.29234.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Foffa, D, Young, MT and Brusatte, SL (2018) Filling the Corallian gap: new information on Late Jurassic marine reptile faunas from England. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 63, 287–313.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gasparini, Z, Fernández, MS, De La Fuente, M, Herrera, Y, Codorniu, L and Garrido, A (2015) Reptiles from lithographic limestones of the Los Catutos Member (Middle-Upper Tithonian), Neuquen Province, Argentina: an essay on its taxonomic composition and preservation in an environmental and geographic context. Ameghiniana 52, 1–28.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hammer, O, Hryniewicz, K, Hurum, JH, Hoyberget, M, Knutsen, EM and Nakrem, HA (2013) Large onychites (cephalopod hooks) from the Upper Jurassic of the Boreal Realm. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 58, 827–35.Google Scholar
Huene, FV (1935) Ein plesiosaurier-rest aus Grönländischem oberem Jura. Meddelelser om Grønland 99.Google Scholar
Ineson, JR and Surlyk, F (eds) (2003) The Jurassic of Denmark and Greenland. Copenhagen: Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland Bulletin 1.Google Scholar
Kelley, NP and Pyenson, ND (2015) Evolutionary innovation and ecology in marine tetrapods from the Triassic to the Anthropocene. Science 348, aaa3716. doi: 10.1126/science.aaa3716.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Knutsen, EM, Druckenmiller, PS and Hurum, JH (2012) Two new species of long-necked plesiosaurians (Reptilia: Sauropterygia) from the Upper Jurassic (Middle Volgian) Agardhfjellet Formation of central Spitsbergen. Norwegian Journal of Geology 92, 187–212.Google Scholar
Laurenti, JN (1768) Specimen Medicum, Exhibens Synopsin Reptilium Emendatam cum Experimentis circa Venena. Wien: Johann Thomas von Trattner, 215 pp + pls I-V.Google Scholar
Lingham-Soliar, T (2003) Extinction of ichthyosaurs: a catastrophic or evolutionary paradigm? Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie – Abhandlungen 228, 421–52.Google Scholar
Madsen, V (1904) On Jurassic fossils from East Greenland. Meddelelser om Grønland 29, 157–211.Google Scholar
Marzola, M, Mateus, O, Milàn, J and Clemmensen, LB (2018) A review of Palaeozoic and Mesozoic tetrapods from Greenland. Bulletin of the Geological Society of Denmark 66, 21–46.Google Scholar
Maxwell, EE (2010) Generic reassignment of an ichthyosaur from the Queen Elizabeth Islands, Northwest Territories, Canada. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 30, 403–15.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Maxwell, EE and Kear, BP (2010) Postcranial anatomy of Platypterygius americanus (Reptilia: Ichthyosauria) from the Cretaceous of Wyoming. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 30, 1059–68.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Maync, W (1947) Stratigraphie der Jurabildungen Ostgrönlands zwischen Hochstetterbugten (75N). Meddelelser om Grønland 132, 1–223.Google Scholar
McGowan, C and Motani, R (2003) Ichthyopterygia. Munich: Verlag Dr. Friedrich Pfeil.Google Scholar
Milàn, J (2009) På svaneøglejagt 81° nord – gensyn med et 155 mio. år gammelt fossil. Geologisk Nyt 1, 10–15.Google Scholar
Moon, BC and Kirton, AM (2016) Ichthyosaurs of the British Middle and Upper Jurassic. Part 1 Ophthalmosaurus. London: Monograph of the Palaeontographical Society 170, 84 pp.Google Scholar
Mutterlose, J, Brumsack, H, Flögel, S, Hay, W, Klein, C, Langrock, U, Lipinski, M, Ricken, W, Söding, E, Stein, R and Swientek, O (2003) The Greenland-Norwegian Seaway: a key for understanding Late Jurassic to Early Cretaceous paleoenvironments. Paleoceanography 18, 1–26.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Owen, R (1840) Report on British fossil reptiles. Part I. Report of the British Association for the Advancement of Science 9, 43–126.Google Scholar
Owen, R (1860) Palaeontology; or, a systematic summary of extinct animals and their geologic remains. Adam and Charles Black, Edinburgh, xv+420 pp.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Paparella, I, Maxwell, EE, Cipriani, A, Roncacè, S and Caldwell, MW (2016) The first ophthalmosaurid ichthyosaur from the Upper Jurassic of the Umbrian–Marchean Apennines (Marche, Central Italy). Geological Magazine 154, 837–58.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Prasad, GVR, Pandey, DK, Alberti, M, Fürsich, FT, Thakkar, MG and Chauhan, GD (2017) Discovery of the first ichthyosaur from the Jurassic of India: implications for Gondwanan palaeobiogeography. PLOS ONE 12, e0185851. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0185851.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rees, PM, Ziegler, AM and Valdes, PJ (2000) Jurassic phytogeography and climates: new data and model comparisons. In Warm Climates in Earth History (eds Huber, BT, Macleod, KG and Wing, SL), pp. 297–318. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Roberts, AJ, Druckenmiller, PS, Delsett, LL and Hurum, JH (2017) Osteology and relationships of Colymbosaurus Seeley, 1874, based on new material of C. svalbardensis from the Slottsmøya Member, Agardhfjellet Formation of central Spitsbergen. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 37, e1278381. doi: 10.1080/02724634.2017.1278381.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Roberts, AJ, Druckenmiller, PS, Sætre, G-P and Hurum, JH (2014) A new Upper Jurassic ophthalmosaurid ichthyosaur from the Slottsmøya Member, Agardhfjellet Formation of Central Spitsbergen. PLOS ONE 9, e103152. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.103152.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sander, PM (2000) Ichthyosauria: their diversity, distribution, and phylogeny. Paläontologische Zeitschrift 74, 1–35.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, AS (2007) The back-to-front plesiosaur Cryptoclidus (Apractocleidus) aldingeri from the Kimmeridgian of Milne Land, Greenland. Bulletin of the Geological Society of Denmark 55, 1–7.Google Scholar
Surlyk, F (1977) Stratigraphy, tectonics and palaeogeography of the Jurassic sediments of the areas north of Kong Oscars Fjord, East Greenland. Geology of Greenland Survey Bulletin 123, 56 pp.Google Scholar
Surlyk, F (1978) Submarine fan sedimentation along fault scarps on tilted fault blocks (Jurassic–Cretaceous boundary, East Greenland). Geology of Greenland Survey Bulletin 128, 108 pp.Google Scholar
Surlyk, F (2003) The Jurassic of East Greenland: a sedimentary record of thermal subsidence, onset and culmination of rifting. In The Jurassic of Denmark and Greenland, vol. 1 (eds Ineson, JR and Surlyk, F), pp. 659–722. Copenhagen: Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland Bulletin 1.Google Scholar
Troelsen, J (1952) Geological investigations in Ellesmere Island, 1952. Arctic 5, 198–210.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tyborowski, D (2016) A new ophthalmosaurid ichthyosaur from the Late Jurassic of Owadów-Brzezinki Quarry, Poland. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 61, 791–803.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vosgerau, H, Bojesen-Koefoed, JA, Petersen, HI and Surlyk, F (2000) Forest fires, climate, and sea-level changes in a coastal plain – shallow marine succession (Early–Middle Oxfordian Jakobsstigen Formation, North-East Greenland). Journal of Sedimentary Research 70, 408–18.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Welles, SP (1943) Elasmosaurid plesiosaurs with description of new material from California and Colorado. Memoirs of the University of California 13, 125–254.Google Scholar
Zammit, M (2012) Cretaceous ichthyosaurs: dwindling diversity, or the Empire strikes back? Geosciences 2, 11–24.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zverkov, NG, Arkhangelsky, MS, Pardo-Pérez, J and Beznosov, PA (2015) On the Upper Jurassic ichthyosaur remains from the Russian North. Proceedings of the Zoological Institute RAS 319, 81–97.Google Scholar
Zverkov, NG and Efimov, VM (2019) Revision of Undorosaurus, a mysterious Late Jurassic ichthyosaur of the Boreal Realm. Journal of Systematic Palaeontology 17, 963–93.CrossRefGoogle Scholar