PBDB Collection

Gerdemann clay pit, Gronau: Late/Upper Berriasian, Germany
collected by Presented by Herren Gerdemann and Bertelsmann (quarry owners) 1910

List of taxa

Where & when

Geology

Taphonomy & methods

Metadata & references

Taxonomic list

Reptilia - Nodosauridae

	? Nodosauridae indet. Marsh 1890		1 specimen
	= Nodosauridae indet. Marsh 1890	Sachs 1997
	distal end of humerus
	= Hylaeosaurus sp. Mantell 1833	Sachs and Hornung 2013
	GPMM A3D.3, distal portion of a right humerus and cervico-pectoral lateral spine (DLM 537)
Reptilia - Theropoda

	Theropoda indet. Marsh 1881	Sachs 1996	2 specimens
	= ? Theropoda indet. Marsh 1881	Sachs 1997
	teeth
Reptilia - Crocodylia

	Crocodylia indet. (Owen 1842)		1 specimen
	A crocodilian tooth was identified early by the famous palaeontologist Eberhard Fraas (Landois 1904)
Reptilia - Plesiosauria

	Plesiosauria sp. (de Blainville 1835)	Wegner 1914	3 specimens

	Iguanodon sp. Mantell 1825	Hosius 1893	1 specimen
	Hosius (1893) described a clavicula of the ornithopod dinosaur ‘‘Iguanodon’’ from the Gronau pit. However, this element belongs to the distal propodial part of a large plesiosaurid according to Wegner (1914).
	= Plesiosauria indet. de Blainville 1835	Wegner 1914
Reptilia - Plesiosauria - Elasmosauridae

	Plesiosauria informal species B	Wegner 1914	1 specimen
	GWWU A3.B2, partial postcranial skeleton from "alpha", as the Berriasian-Valanginian boundary interval (latest Berriasian)
	= Gronausaurus wegneri n. gen., n. sp. Hampe 2013	Hampe 2013
	GMM-A3B.2 - holotype (partial skeleton comprising three isolated teeth, jaw and skull roof fragments, braincase, 6 cervical, 4 pectoral, 16 dorsal, 4 sacral, and 22 caudal vertebrae, rib fragments, pectoral girdle with left coracoid, glenoid ramus of the left scapula, fragments of the right proximal coracoid, pelvic girdle containing both pubes, left ischium and ilium, shaft of right ilium, propodials with right humerus, distal end of left humerus, both femora, several epipodial and autopodial elements)
	= Elasmosauridae sp. Cope 1869	Benson and Druckenmiller 2014
Reptilia - Plesiosauria - Leptocleididae

	Plesiosaurus valdensis (Lydekker 1889)	Koken 1905
	recombined as Hastanectes valdensis
	Vertebrae from the collection of an official of the local public health authority

	Brancasaurus brancai n. gen., n. sp. Wegner 1914	Wegner 1914	1 individual
	GWWU A3.B4 (skeleton with skull) from the "subcretaceous fauna" level (mid-Berriasian)
Reptilia - Plesiosauria

	Plesiosaurus limnophilus Koken 1887	Koken 1905
	nomen dubium belonging to Plesiosauroidea
	Vertebrae from the collection of an official of the local public health authority

	Plesiosaurus kanzleri n. sp. Koken 1905	Koken 1905
	nomen vanum belonging to Plesiosauria
	Dorsal vertebra

	Plesiosaurus degenhardti Koken 1887	Koken 1905
	nomen vanum belonging to Plesiosauria
	Vertebrae from the collection of an official of the local public health authority
Reptilia - Pleurosternidae

	Testudines indet. Batsch 1788		1 individual
	= Desmemys sp. Wegner 1911	Sachs 1997
Reptilia

	Desmemys bertelmanni n. gen., n. sp. Wegner 1911	Wegner 1914	1 individual
	nomen dubium belonging to Paracryptodira
	(holotype)
Ionoscopiformes - Furidae

	Callopterus sp. Thollière 1854	Hampe 2013
	The fish fauna is represented by teeth of hybodont sharks (Hybodus, Egertonodus, Lonchidion, Lissodus) and of actinopterygian genera, such as the amiiform Caturus, the semionodontid Lepidotes, the pycnodontids Coelodus and Sphaerodus and the pholidophoriformes Ionoscopus and Callopterus (Kemper 1976; Nyhuis and Herbig 2009).
Actinopteri - Amiiformes - Caturidae

	Caturus sp. Agassiz 1834	Hampe 2013
	The fish fauna is represented by teeth of hybodont sharks (Hybodus, Egertonodus, Lonchidion, Lissodus) and of actinopterygian genera, such as the amiiform Caturus, the semionodontid Lepidotes, the pycnodontids Coelodus and Sphaerodus and the pholidophoriformes Ionoscopus and Callopterus (Kemper 1976; Nyhuis and Herbig 2009).
Actinopteri - Amiiformes

	Ionoscopus sp. Costa 1853	Hampe 2013
	The fish fauna is represented by teeth of hybodont sharks (Hybodus, Egertonodus, Lonchidion, Lissodus) and of actinopterygian genera, such as the amiiform Caturus, the semionodontid Lepidotes, the pycnodontids Coelodus and Sphaerodus and the pholidophoriformes Ionoscopus and Callopterus (Kemper 1976; Nyhuis and Herbig 2009).
Actinopteri - Lepisosteiformes

	Lepidotes sp. Agassiz 1832	Hampe 2013
	The fish fauna is represented by teeth of hybodont sharks (Hybodus, Egertonodus, Lonchidion, Lissodus) and of actinopterygian genera, such as the amiiform Caturus, the semionodontid Lepidotes, the pycnodontids Coelodus and Sphaerodus and the pholidophoriformes Ionoscopus and Callopterus (Kemper 1976; Nyhuis and Herbig 2009).
Actinopteri - Pycnodontiformes - Pycnodontidae

	Sphaerodus sp. Agassiz 1833	Hampe 2013
	The fish fauna is represented by teeth of hybodont sharks (Hybodus, Egertonodus, Lonchidion, Lissodus) and of actinopterygian genera, such as the amiiform Caturus, the semionodontid Lepidotes, the pycnodontids Coelodus and Sphaerodus and the pholidophoriformes Ionoscopus and Callopterus (Kemper 1976; Nyhuis and Herbig 2009).

	Coelodus sp. Haeckel	Hampe 2013
	The fish fauna is represented by teeth of hybodont sharks (Hybodus, Egertonodus, Lonchidion, Lissodus) and of actinopterygian genera, such as the amiiform Caturus, the semionodontid Lepidotes, the pycnodontids Coelodus and Sphaerodus and the pholidophoriformes Ionoscopus and Callopterus (Kemper 1976; Nyhuis and Herbig 2009).
Chondrichthyes - Hybodontiformes - Lonchidiidae

	Lonchidion sp. Estes 1964	Hampe 2013
	The fish fauna is represented by teeth of hybodont sharks (Hybodus, Egertonodus, Lonchidion, Lissodus) and of actinopterygian genera, such as the amiiform Caturus, the semionodontid Lepidotes, the pycnodontids Coelodus and Sphaerodus and the pholidophoriformes Ionoscopus and Callopterus (Kemper 1976; Nyhuis and Herbig 2009).
Chondrichthyes - Hybodontiformes

	Lissodus sp. Brough 1935	Hampe 2013
	The fish fauna is represented by teeth of hybodont sharks (Hybodus, Egertonodus, Lonchidion, Lissodus) and of actinopterygian genera, such as the amiiform Caturus, the semionodontid Lepidotes, the pycnodontids Coelodus and Sphaerodus and the pholidophoriformes Ionoscopus and Callopterus (Kemper 1976; Nyhuis and Herbig 2009).
Chondrichthyes - Hybodontiformes - Hybodontidae

	Hybodus sp. Agassiz 1834	Hampe 2013
	The fish fauna is represented by teeth of hybodont sharks (Hybodus, Egertonodus, Lonchidion, Lissodus) and of actinopterygian genera, such as the amiiform Caturus, the semionodontid Lepidotes, the pycnodontids Coelodus and Sphaerodus and the pholidophoriformes Ionoscopus and Callopterus (Kemper 1976; Nyhuis and Herbig 2009).

	Egertonodus sp. Maisey 1987	Hampe 2013
	The fish fauna is represented by teeth of hybodont sharks (Hybodus, Egertonodus, Lonchidion, Lissodus) and of actinopterygian genera, such as the amiiform Caturus, the semionodontid Lepidotes, the pycnodontids Coelodus and Sphaerodus and the pholidophoriformes Ionoscopus and Callopterus (Kemper 1976; Nyhuis and Herbig 2009).
Gastropoda - Cassiopidae

	Glauconia sp. Stoliczka 1868	Wegner 1914
	invalid subgroup of Cassiopidae
Bivalvia - Cardiida - Cyrenidae

	Cyrena sp. Lamarck	Wegner 1914
Bivalvia - Pholadida - Corbulidae

	Corbula sp. Bruguière 1789	Hampe 2013
see common names

Geography

Country:	Germany	State/province:	Nordrhein-Westfalen
Coordinates:	52.3° North, 7.0° East (view map)
Paleocoordinates:	43.4° North, 15.4° East
Basis of coordinate:	based on nearby landmark
Geographic resolution:	outcrop

Time

Period:	Cretaceous	Epoch:	Early/Lower Cretaceous
Stage:	Berriasian	10 m.y. bin:	Cretaceous 1
Key time interval:	Late/Upper Berriasian
Age range of interval:	140.60000 - 139.80000 m.y. ago

Stratigraphy

Formation:	Bückeberg
Stratigraphic resolution:	bed
Stratigraphy comments: Early Cretaceous, latest Berriasian, upper Osterwald Succession, Bückeberg Formation aka "Wealden 6" Although "Berriasian ("Wealden") and middle Valanginian" shales were quarried, the reported specimen ages in Hampe (2013) are middle-late Berriasian

Lithology and environment

Primary lithology:	"shale"
Secondary lithology:	claystone
Includes fossils?	Y
Lithology description: "...an irregular fissured shale whose fissure surfaces are coloured very characteristically rustybrown and are full of compressed Cyrena [Cyrena is a synonym of the freshwater/estuarine bivalve Corbicula according to the bivalve Treatise]. This shaly bed is underlaid by a 3 cm thick sticky layer of clay which runs far into the outcrop. According to the master, the skeleton (of Brancasaurus) was found immediately above the clay bed in the lowest part of the irregularly fissured top layer of the schist" (Wegner 1914, from a translation).
Environment:	estuary/bay
Geology comments: The occurrence of the monotypicmyoid clam Corbula indicates a brackish environment of the Osterwald Succession (Kemper 1976).

Taphonomy

Modes of preservation:	body
Size of fossils:	macrofossils,mesofossils
Preservation of anatomical detail:	variable
Articulated whole bodies:	some
Associated major elements:	some
Disassociated major elements:	some
Disassociated minor elements:	some
Fragmentation:	frequent
Spatial resolution:	parautochthonous

Collection methods and comments

Collection excludes:	some genera,species names
Collection methods:	selective quarrying,mechanical,field collection,survey of museum collection
Reason for describing collection:	taxonomic analysis
Collectors:	Presented by Herren Gerdemann and Bertelsmann (quarry owners)	Collection dates:	1910
Collection method comments: GWWU, Geomuseum der Westfaelischen Wilhems-Universitaet, Münster, Germany collection At the beginning of the 20th century, the pit of the Gerdemann & Co. brickworks had a depth of 30–40 m that contained Berriasian (‘‘Wealden’’) and middle Valanginian shales (Schleicher 1995). The pit was closed in 1917, because of a water ingress (Thiermann 1968). During a period of water shortage in 1959 the pit was later dewatered but subsequently closed again (Kemper 1961).

Metadata

Database number:	45760
Authorizer:	M. Carrano, R. Benson, P. Mannion	Enterer:	M. Carrano, P. Mannion, J. Tennant, R. Benson
Modifier:	G. Varnham	Research group:	vertebrate
Created:	2004-11-30 13:23:57	Last modified:	2022-03-01 09:53:28
Access level:	the public	Released:	2004-11-30 13:23:57
Creative Commons license:	CC BY

Reference information

Primary reference:

12119.

ETE

S. Sachs. 1997. Erster Nachweis eines gepanzerten Dinosauriers (Reptilia, Ornithischia, Thyreophora) aus der Unterkreide (Berrias) von Gronau in Westfalen. Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie Monatshefte 1997(1):56-64 [M. Carrano/M. Carrano/M. Carrano]

Secondary references:

46032		R. B. J. Benson and P. S. Druckenmiller. 2014. Faunal turnover of marine tetrapods during the Jurassic–Cretaceous transition. Biological Reviews 89(1):1-23 [R. Benson/R. Benson/P. Mannion]
46070		O. Hampe. 2013. The forgotten remains of a leptocleidid plesiosaur (Sauropterygia: Plesiosauroidea) from the Early Cretaceous of Gronau (Münsterland, Westphalia, Germany). Palaeontologische Zeitschrift 87:473-491 [P. Mannion/P. Mannion/R. Benson]
46082		A. Hosius. 1893. Ueber marine Schichten im Wa¨lderthon von Gronau (Westfalen) und die mit denselben vorkommenden Bildungen (Rhizocorallium Hohendahli, sog. Dreibeine). Zeitschrift der deutschen geologischen Gesellschaft 45:34-53 [R. Benson/R. Benson]
46081		E. Koken. 1905. Neue Plesiosaurierreste aus dem norddeutschen Wealden. Centralblatt für Mineralogie, Geologie und Paläontologie 6:681-693 [R. Benson/R. Benson]
12121	ETE	S. Sachs. 1996. Dinosaurier-Funde aus Westfalen. Berliner Naturwissenschaften Verein Bielefeld und Umgegend 37:237-253 [M. Carrano/M. Carrano/M. Carrano]
19329	ETE	S. Sachs. 1997. Mesozoische Reptilien aus Nordrhein-Westfalen [Mesozoic reptiles from Nordrhein-Westfalen]. In S. Sachs, O. W. M. Rauhut, & A. Weigert (eds.), Terra Nostra. 1. Treffen der deutschsprachigen Paläoherpetologen Düsseldorf 22-27 [M. Carrano/M. Carrano]
46127		S. Sachs and J. J. Hornung. 2013. Ankylosaur remains from the Early Cretaceous (Valanginian) of northwestern Germany. PLoS One 8(4):e60571:1-7 [P. Mannion/J. Tennant/M. Carrano]
37875		T. Wegner. 1914. Brancasaurus brancai n. g. n. sp., ein elasmosauride aus dem Wealden Westfalens. In F. Schoendorf (ed.), Branca-Festschrift 235-305 [R. Benson/R. Benson]