Road-cut 700 m SE of the center of Zell am Aichelberg (Jurassic of Germany)

Where: Baden-Wuürttemberg, Germany (48.6° N, 9.6° E: paleocoordinates 38.3° N, 18.9° E)

• coordinate based on nearby landmark

• small collection-level geographic resolution

When: Pleurolytoceras torulosum ammonoid zone, Opalinuston Formation, Early/Lower Aalenian (175.6 - 171.6 Ma)

• The locality was open only for a short time in June 1976 and exposed weathered Opalinuston mudstones, as confirmed by ammonites. torulosum is a subzone of the Leioceras opalinum Zone.

• formation-level stratigraphic resolution

Environment/lithology: marine; massive, nodular, calcareous claystone

• When actively quarried, the Heiningen Brick Quarry (Ziegelwerk) exposed the lower 10m of the Opalinuston Formation. This monotonous series of dark, poorly laminated claystones was deposited in a oxic epicontinental marine basin [22]. Sedimentation rates and subsidence were relatively high, and the fauna includes soft-bottom dwellers (bivalve Bositra buchi, gastropods Teretrina opalina and ‘‘pelikan foot’’ Toarctocera subpunc- tata), ammonites (Leioceras opalinum, Pachylytoceras torulosum), brachio- pods (Discina sp.), and plankton (coccoliths, radiolarians, and dinoflagellates) [20,22]. Driftwood is common. Vertebrate remains such as ganoid fishes (Dapedium sp.) and ichthyosaur vertebrae are rare, but in southern Germany the general lack of Aalenian reptiles is caused by the rare exposure of Middle Jurassic rocks rather than preservational bias. However, the fast sedimentation rates of the Opalinuston Formation (120–150 m for only the Lower Aalenian) suggest that vertebrate finds should be fewer per cubic meter than, for instance, in the Toarcian Posidonia Shale. At Zell and Heiningen, the articulated ichthyosaurs were found in hard, sideritic limestone concretions.

Size class: macrofossils

Collected in 1976; reposited in the SMNS

Collection methods: quarrying, surface (in situ),

• The locality was open only for a short time in June 1976

Primary reference: E. E. Maxwell, M. S. Fernández, and R. R. Schoch. 2012. First diagnostic marine reptile remains from the Aalenian (Middle Jurassic): a new ichthyosaur from southwestern Germany. PLoS ONE 7(8):e41692 [R. Benson/R. Benson]more details

Purpose of describing collection: taxonomic analysis

PaleoDB collection 132114: authorized by Roger Benson, entered by Roger Benson on 08.08.2012, edited by Jonathan Tennant

Creative Commons license: CC BY (attribution)

Taxonomic list

Show authors, comments, and common names
Reptilia
 Ichthyosauria -
Stenopterygius sp., Stenopterygius aaleniensis n. sp., Stenopterygius hauffianus
Stenopterygius sp. Jaekel 1904 ichthyosaur
SMNS 51948, SMNS 53001
Stenopterygius aaleniensis n. sp. Maxwell et al. 2012 ichthyosaur
SMNS 90699, holotype partial skeleton
Stenopterygius hauffianus von Huene 1922 ichthyosaur
SMNS 51552