Abstract
The newly recognized Konservat-Lagerstätte of Ettling (Bavaria), field site of the Jura-Museum Eichstätt (JME), is unique among Late Jurassic plattenkalk basins (Solnhofen region) in its abundant, extremely well preserved fossil vertebrates, almost exclusively fishes. We report actinopterygians (ginglymodins, pycnodontiforms, halecomorphs, aspidorynchiforms, “pholidophoriforms,” teleosts); turtles; and non-vertebrates (echinoderms, arthropods, brachiopods, mollusks, jellyfish, sponges, biomats, plants) in a current faunal list. Ettling has yielded several new fish species (Bavarichthys incognitus; Orthogonikleithrus hoelli; Aspidorhynchus sanzenbacheri; Macrosemimimus fegerti). Upper and lower Ettling strata differ in faunal content, with the lower dominated by the small teleost Orthogonikleithrus hoelli (absent from the upper layers, where other prey fishes, Leptolepides sp. and Tharsis sp., occur instead). Pharyngeal and stomach contents of Ettling fishes provide direct evidence that Orthogonikleithrus hoelli was a primary food source during early Ettling times. Scarcity of ammonites and absence of vampyromorph coleoids at Ettling differ markedly from the situation at other nearby localities in the region (e.g., Eichstätt, Painten, Schamhaupten, the Mörnsheim beds), where they are more common. Although the exact biochronological age of Ettling remains uncertain (lack of suitable index fossils), many Ettling fishes occur in other plattenkalk basins of Germany (e.g., Kelheim) and France (Cerin) dated as Late Kimmeridgian to Early Tithonian (eigeltingense horizon), suggesting a comparable geologic age. The Ettling deposits represent an independent basin within the larger Upper Jurassic “Solnhofen Archipelago”, a shallow subtropical sea containing scattered islands, sponge-microbial and coral reefs, sandbars, and deeper basins on a vast carbonate platform along the northern margin of the Tethys Ocean.
Highlights
The Upper Jurassic Plattenkalk region of Bavaria, Germany is famous for its well preserved fossils [1], [2], including numerous vertebrates
The purpose of the present paper is to provide an overview of the Ettling quarry and a complete list of the Ettling fauna known to date; to present a preliminary investigation of predatorprey relationships and trophic hierarchies during early and late Ettling times based on direct fossil evidence from stomach and pharyngeal contents; and to discuss the potential systematic and paleoecological implications of these new findings
At Eichstätt invertebrates are the predominant fossils, so common that some beds are virtually covered with specimens
Summary
The Upper Jurassic Plattenkalk region of Bavaria, Germany is famous for its well preserved fossils [1], [2], including numerous vertebrates (notably Archaeopteryx, [3]). The Upper Kimmeridgian to Lower Tithonian limestones of this area formed on the floor of a shallow, subtropical carbonate sea containing scattered islands, sponge-microbial and coral reefs, carbonate sandbars, and deeper basins, on a vast carbonate platform (the “Solnhofen Archipelago”) along the northern margin of the Tethys ocean [1], [2] These plattenkalks or lithographic limestones formed in small (under 10 km in diameter) basins (German: “Wannen” [4], [5]) on the carbonate platform, in the midst of a surrounding shallow epicontinental sea [5], [6], [7], [8]. This work includes documentation of the Ettling fossil fauna and comparison of the fossil faunas in each basin, which can shed light on paleoenvironmental conditions (e.g., salinity and water depth)
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