Also known as Pfaffenberg, Hollitzer quarry, Bad Deutsch Altenburg
Where: Lower Austria, Austria (48.1° N, 16.9° E)
• Paleocoordinates: 47.4° N, 17.4° E (Wright 2013)
• coordinate based on nearby landmark
• small collection-level geographic resolution
When: MN 16 (3.2 - 2.6 Ma)
• Das geologische Alter kann durch das Auftreten der hier sehr gut belegten Art Mimomys septimanus (4 Kiefer, 212 Molaren) mit Csarnotanum (Mittelpliozän) angegeben werden. [The geologic age can be determined as Csarnotanum (Middle Pliocene) based on the abundant remains of Mimomys septimanus (4 jaws, 212 molars).] (Mais & Rabeder, 1977)
•Vencel & Vardai (2000) assign the locality to the mammal zone MN 16.
• bed-level stratigraphic resolution
Environment/lithology: cave; gray marl
•[In spring of 1977 a cave appeared at the 3rd level of the quarry subsequent to a blasting operation. The cave opens within one of the 32° south dipping bedding joints and was partly filled with grey marl that also contained yellowish and reddish-brown portions.] (Mais & Rabeder, 1977)
•"Die Schichtfuge ist über die ganze Abbaufläche zwischen dritter und vierter Etage (280 bis 300 Meter) als sedimenterfüllter Kluftraum zu verfolgen, der meist eine Höhe von 0,5 Meter aufweist und mit Sand und Schutt verfüllt ist. An drei Stellen ist die Schichtfuge zu größeren Räumen erweitert [...], die nur teilweise verfüllt sind. Nur in der tiefsten dieser Höhlen lag über einem rotbraunen Sand der fossilführenden Mergel. Diese bis zu einem Meter mächtige Fundschicht ging nach oben in einen dunkelgrünen fossilleeren Ton über, der von nicht verfestigtem Schutt und Sintergrus bedeckt war. Der freibleibende Höhlenraum zeigte zwei kuppelförmige Kolke, die mit Knötchensinter überzogen waren."
•[The bedding joint, forming a sediment filled gap, can be traced along the entire quarry face of the 3rd and 4th level over a distance of 280 to 300 m. The joint is mostly 0.5 m high and is filled with sand and rubble. In three places it widens to larger cavities which are only partially filled. Only in the deepest of these cavities the fossiliferous marl was encountered lying above a reddish-brown sand. The fossiliferous bed was up to 1 m thick and graded upward into a dark green unfossiliferous clay which in turn was capped by loose rubble and travertine gravel. Two dome-like structures covered by nodular travertine, projected into the cave space that was not filled by sediment.] (Mais & Rabeder, 1977)
•The dolomitic limestone in which the caves have formed probably is of Middle Triassic age (Döppes & Rabeder, 1996, Mitt. Abt. Geol. Paläont. Landesmus. Joanneum 54, p. 24) and belongs to the alpidic basement of the Vienna Basin.
Size classes: macrofossils, mesofossils
• Fossiliferous marl contains "masses of small bones, particularly snake vertebrae". (Mais & Rabeder, 1977)
Preservation: original phosphate
Collection methods: UWPI = Paläontologisches Institut der Universität Wien [Vienna University Paleontological Institute]
Primary reference: K. Mais and G. Rabeder. 1977. Eine weitere pliozäne Höhlenfauna aus dem Steinbruch Hollitzer bei Bad Deutsch-Altenburg (Niederösterreich). Die Höhle 28(3):84-86 [J. Mueller/T. Liebrecht]more details
Purpose of describing collection: taxonomic analysis
PaleoDB collection 167680: authorized by Johannes Mueller, entered by Torsten Liebrecht on 27.03.2015, edited by Terri Cleary
Creative Commons license: CC0 (CC0)
Taxonomic list
•It is not clear whether Venczel & Vardai (2000) re-identified all or only a fraction of the Elaphe sp. listed by Mais & Rabeder (1977).
Mammalia | |
"Desmana kormosi" = Galemys kormosi, Talpa minor
"Desmana kormosi" = Galemys kormosi Schreuder 1940 Pyrenean desman
Talpa minor Freudenberg 1914 mole | |
Sorex sp. Linnaeus 1758 long-tailed shrew
Episoriculus gibberodon Petenyi 1864 red-toothed shrew genus name spelled "Episoricolus" in the reference
| |
"Apodemus cf. sylvaticus" = Mus sylvaticus
"Apodemus cf. sylvaticus" = Mus sylvaticus Linnaeus 1758 wood mouse | |
Sciurus sp. Linnaeus 1758 squirrel | |
Hypolagus beremendensis rabbit | |
Reptilia | |
Coluber gemonensis, Coluber jugularis, Coluber caspius1, cf. Coluber viridiflavus1, Elaphe quatuorlineata2
Coluber gemonensis racer
Coluber jugularis racer | |
Natrix natrix Linnaeus 1758 water snake | |
Lacerta sp. Linnaeus 1758 squamates | |
"Ophisaurus pannonicus" = Pseudopus pannonicus
"Ophisaurus pannonicus" = Pseudopus pannonicus Kormos 1911 legless lizard |