Poreba site (Triassic to of Poland)

Where: Śląskie, Poland (50.0° N, 18.9° E: paleocoordinates 36.9° N, 16.7° E)

• coordinate based on nearby landmark

• outcrop-level geographic resolution

When: Wozniki Limestone Formation, Norian to Norian (228.0 - 201.3 Ma)

• The strata exposed at Poreba (region of Jura Krakowsko-Czestochowska) belong to the upper part of the Middle Keuper profile, and are known in lithostratigraphic schemes as the Zbaszynek Beds, deposits with many ‘bone-breccia’ horizons. The Zbaszynek Beds are correlated with the Upper Keuper formations (Arnstadt Formation and lowermost Exter Formation) from the Germanic Basin (see Bachmann and Kozur, 2004; Franz et al., 2007a, 2007b)... palynomorph taxa are known only from other central European sites believed to correspond to the late Norian and Rhaetian stages. This layer = Wozniki Limestone/Wozniki Fm. in local lithostratigraphic schemes. 4 horizons with vertebrate bones.

• group of beds-level stratigraphic resolution

Environment/lithology: fluvial; yellow, calcareous conglomerate and gray, muddy, calcareous claystone

• These strata contain bone-bearing yellowish carbonitic conglomerates and gray fluvial carbonitic mudstones and claystones, interbedded with horizontally stratified yellowish or reddish sandstones. The whole observed stratigraphic section in this locality is at least 6 m thick and is partially exposed in the northern part of Por  eba city, near the old waste dump (Fig. 1), about 4 km from Zawiercie, southern Poland (Szulc et al., 2006).Well-preserved, often eroded or rounded vertebrate bones or fragments of bones occur mainly in yellowish carbonate conglomerates; sometimes the bones are covered with a calcareous crust, rather than a more typical pyritic crust. Isolated and well-preserved bones were also found in gray mudstones and claystones.

Size classes: macrofossils, microfossils

Preservation: original sporopollenin

Collected in 2008–2012

Collection methods: quarrying, surface (in situ),

• ZPAL, Institute of Paleobiology, Polish Academy of Sciences,Warsaw

Primary reference: T. Sulej, G. Niedźwiedzki, and R. Bronowicz. 2012. A new Late Triassic vertebrate fauna from Poland with turtles, aetosaurs, and coelophysoid dinosaurs. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 32(5):1033-1041 [R. Benson/R. Benson]more details

Purpose of describing collection: taxonomic analysis

PaleoDB collection 132933: authorized by Roger Benson, entered by Roger Benson on 29.08.2012, edited by Matthew Carrano and Patricia Holroyd

Creative Commons license: CC BY (attribution)

Taxonomic list

• The newly discovered vertebrate assemblage is dominated by bones of a turtle (mainly shell fragments) and a coelophysoid theropod dinosaur (vertebrae, part of pelvis, and long bones). Bones of a large carnivorous archosaur and osteoderms of aetosaurs are very rare at this locality. Other vertebrate remains, including dipnoan teeth, hybodont shark fin spines, and ganoid skull elements and scales, are also rare. These strata also contain numerous well-preserved micro- and macrofloral remains. The dominant plant species at Poreba is a conifer similar to Brachyphyllum sp. Fragments of branches with leaves and numerous fragments of charcoalized wood trunks, sometimes of large size, also occur (Fig. 2A, B). Abundant pollen of cf. Classopollis sp., which occur at Poreba in the gray facies, has elsewhere been associated with plants from the Cheirolepidiaceae (Reymanowna, 1992). The probable ginkgoalean palynomorph Monosulcites sp., as well as probable ginkgoalean leaves with perpendicular veins, were found but are too poorly preserved for detailed taxonomic descriptions. The liverwort spore Ricciisporites tuberculatus Lundblad, 1954, is also present at Poreba...well-preserved bivalve shells similar to freshwater unionids from Marciszow (Skawina and Dzik, 2011) were also recovered. Unidentified temnospondyl amphibians are represented by two large teeth, whereas two dental plate fragments belong to dipnoan fishes
unclassified
  -
Ricciisporites tuberculatus
"The liverwort spore Ricciisporites tuberculatus Lundblad, 1954, is also present at Poreba"
Osteichthyes
 Tetrapoda -
Tetrapoda "indet. A"1 tetrapod
ZPAL V.39/81–89, 301–308, 312–317, 319–320
Tetrapoda "indet. B"1 tetrapod
ZPAL V.39/323–324
Amphibia
 Temnospondyli -
Temnospondyli indet.1 tetrapod
ZPAL V.39/327
Reptilia
 Diapsida -
Archosauromorpha "indet. B"1 Huene 1946 archosauromorph
ZPAL V.39/369–371
Archosauromorpha "indet. A"1 Huene 1946 archosauromorph
Two teeth (ZPAL V. 39/39 and ZPAL V. 39/40) from a large predatory archosaur (larger and more robust than any known coelophysoid from Europe and probably similar in size to Gojirasaurus, a large coelophysoid from the Upper Triassic of New Mexico)
 Dinosauromorpha - Silesauridae
Silesauridae indet.1 Langer et al. 2010 ornithodiran
ZPAL V.39/44, proximal L femur
 Theropoda -
Theropoda indet.1 Marsh 1881 theropod
The central part of a pelvis (ZPAL V. 39/33)
 Theropoda - Herrerasauridae
Herrerasauridae indet.1 Benedetto 1973 herrerasaurid
a partially preserved scapula (ZPAL V. 39/35), proximal L fibual (ZPAL V.39/46, proximal R femur (ZPAL V.39/47
 Theropoda -
? Neotheropoda indet.1 Bakker 1986 neotheropod
ungual phalanges from the pes (ZPAL V. 39/36), teeth (ZPAL V. 39/37), and caudal vertebrae with elongated centra (ZPAL V. 39/38); distal R tibia (ZPAL V.39/45)
 Pseudosuchia -
Aetosauria indet. Lydekker 1889 aetosaur
one spine, a dorsal vertebra (ZPAL V. 39/29), and multiple fragments of osteoderms, including ZPAL V. 39/30, 39/41, 39/31; also ZPAL V.39/73–80
 Testudinata -
Testudinata indet.1 Oppel 1811 turtle
ZPAL V.39/331–366
 Testudinata - Proterochersidae
Proterochersis porebensis n. sp.2 Szczygielski and Sulej 2016 turtle
A whole shell (ZPAL V. 39/34) and numerous bones of various sizes (ZPAL V.39/1–28, 48–72, 155–300)
Osteichthyes
 Dipnoi - Ceratodontidae
Ceratodus sp.1 Agassiz 1838 lungfish
ZPAL V.39/153, 154
 Actinopterygii -
Actinopterygii indet.1 Cope 1887 ray-finned fish
ZPAL V.39/96, 97, 136–152, 367, 368
Chondrichthyes
 Hybodontiformes -
cf. Lissodus sp. Brough 1935 elasmobranch
ZPAL V.39/134, 135; multiple fragments of dorsal fin spines ranging from ca. 10 to ca. 58 mm in length
 Hybodontiformes - Hybodontidae
Hybodontidae indet.1 Agassiz 1834 elasmobranch
ZPAL V.39/32, 98–133
Equisetopsida
 Pinidae - Pinidae
cf. Classopollis sp. Pflug 1953
Abundant pollen of cf. Classopollis sp.
cf. Brachyphyllum sp. Brongniart 1828
The dominant plant species at Poreba is a conifer similar to Brachyphyllum sp. Fragments of branches with leaves and numerous fragments of charcoalized wood trunks, sometimes of large size, also occur
Angiospermae
  -
Monosulcites sp. Cookson and Couper 1953
The probable ginkgoalean palynomorph Monosulcites sp., as well as probable ginkgoalean leaves with perpendicular veins, were found but are too poorly preserved for detailed taxonomic descriptions