Dinosaur finds in France

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Dinosaur finds in France extend in principle over the entire geological period or the entire stratigraphic interval in which dinosaurs also occur in other parts of the world: from the Upper Triassic to the end of the Upper Cretaceous . The French dinosaur finds are among the most important in Europe. With the exception of the marginocephalia ( ceratopsians and pachycephalosaurs ), all large groups are represented. So far, 20 different species have been described for the first time on the basis of diagnostic skeletal remains from France , mainly theropods .

history

The first dinosaur discovery in France dates back to the 18th century. Important palaeontologists such as Georges Cuvier (1769–1832), Jacques-Amand Eudes-Deslongchamps (1794–1867), Paul Gervais (1816–1879), Albert Gaudry (1827–1908), Charles Depéret have contributed to the current state of knowledge in French dinosaur research (1854–1927), Friedrich von Huene (1875–1969) and Albert-Félix de Lapparent (1905–1975) made significant contributions, not to mention the tireless work of many other professional colleagues and private collectors .

The years between 1993 and 2003 were of great importance for French dinosaur research due to new discoveries, new descriptions and revisions. New discoveries were made in the Upper Triassic of Eastern France, in the Central Jurassic of Normandy and in the Upper Cretaceous of Provence and Languedoc . Traces are very common in the Upper Triassic and Lower Jura. Finds of dinosaur eggs from the Upper Cretaceous are among the most important worldwide.

General

The fossil record of French dinosaurs during the Upper Cretaceous is of very good quality, and the Middle and Upper Jurassic periods are also fairly well documented. There are gaps in tradition for the sections Pliensbachium to Bajocium , Berriasium to Valanginium and Turonium to Santonium . These gaps in the fossil record are likely due to global sea level highs and climate changes.

Most of the finds come from shallow marine deposits, with the exception of the dinosaur societies of the continental Upper Cretaceous ( Campanian to Maastrichtian ), of course.

Finds and sites

Grallator step seal (negative or convex hyporelief)
Live reconstruction of Thecodontosaurus

In the following, in stratigraphic order, details of the discoveries of dinosaur body and trace fossils made in France up to at least the year 2003 and their localities are given.

Triad

The earliest suspected trace finds of dinosaurs (which probably go back to non-dinosaur archosaurs ) come from the middle Triassic of the unmetamorphic sedimentary rock fringes of the south-eastern Massif Central ( Mont Lozère east side and the Gard department ). These are the Ichno genera Anchisauripus , Coelurosaurichnus and Grallator . In the Upper Triassic ( Norium ) of the north-eastern fringe of the Massif Central and in the northern Ardèche , the Otozoum / Grallator association is quite common. Otozoum may have been caused by prosauropods , Grallator is considered a trace of a coelophysid theropod .

The oldest dinosaur remains (of prosauropods), albeit very fragmentary (teeth, individual vertebrae), occur in Lorraine , Franche-Comté and Languedoc . In particular in the Marnes irisées supérieures of the Upper Triassic ( Carnian ), prosauropod remains were discovered, predominantly belonging to the genus Plateosaurus . The following sites are known of Plateosaurus , which is also very common in southwestern Germany:

Thecodontosaurus also occurs in the Marnes irisées supérieures (near Le Chappou, tooth finds in the Jura department). Ornithical teeth (bird's pelvis dinosaurs) come from Lons-le-Saunier and theropod and possibly ornithical teeth from Saint-Nicolas-de-Port. This indicates that ornithischia were native to Europe before the start of the Rhaetian transgression .

With remains of prosauropods, Provenchères-sur-Meuse (Haute-Marne department) is the only previously known site of the Rhätium .

Lower Jurassic

Ichnofossils are also present in the early Lias ( Hettangian and Sinemurian ). Three-toed (tridactyle) traces were found in the Aveyron , Gard , Hérault , Lozère , Vendée and Var departments . These tracks are assigned to the Ichnotaxa Dilophosauripus , Eubrontes and Grallator . In the Vendée (northern Aquitaine Basin ) the trace fossils Anatopus , Grallator , Eubrontes , Saltopoides and Talmontopus can be found .

In the early Lias (Hettangium) of the Dordogne department there are quadruple tracks, which are probably caused by a Protostegosaurid , but it could also be tracks from Scelidosaurus .

An incomplete (vertebrae and pelvic bones) skeleton of a theropod comes from the Moon-Airel Formation (border area Rhätium-Hettangium) near Airel in Normandy. For these remains, first mentioned in the literature under the name Halticosaurus , the new Liliensternus species L. airelensis ( Coelophysoidea ) was later established . Most recently, new investigations showed that this is not a Liliensternus , but a representative of another, previously unknown genus of Coelophysoids called Lophostropheus .

Teeth with the sawtooth-like incisal edge (so-called serration) typical of theropods were found in Hettange ( Département Moselle ) in Lorraine. They probably do not belong to dinosaurs, but to phytosaurs .

Middle Jurassic

Hypsilophodon

The oldest known remains of dinosaur eggs in France, which belong to sauropods , come from the Dogger ( Bathonium ) des Quercy .

Partial finds of megalosaurid theropods come from the departments of Calvados (from the Vaches-Noires cliffs ), Haute-Saône and Doubs (all finds from Oxfordium to Callovium ; these finds are regarded as Spinosauridae or as representatives of the genera Piveteausaurus , Poekilopleuron or Streptospondylus ) . Specimens of the genus Dubreuillosaurus from Conteville in the Calvados department were destroyed by bombing in 1944. From Argences Calvados (Callovian) several vertebrae and ribs of the stem to the herbivorous Stegosauriden counting durobrovensis Lexovivosaurus . Other herbivorous dinosaurs are the hypsilophodontids . Many of their teeth were found near Larnagol in the Lot (Bathonium) department . Partial theropod remains are reported from the Aveyron (Bathonium) and Doubs (Callovium) (cervical spine) departments.

Upper Jurassic

Compsognathus from Canjuers

Trace fossils of the Malm ( Tithonium ) were found near Crayssac in the Lot department; there are imprints of theropods, sauropods and probably ornithopods here. Theropod tracks have been reported from the Île d'Oléron in the Charente-Maritime department . The Cerin site near Marchamp in the Ain department ( Kimmeridgian to Tithonian ) provided the Ichnofossil Saltosauropus , which may have been caused by a turtle . In 2004 the Coisia site was discovered in the Tithonian of the Jura . On 200 square meters there are more than 200 prints of 25 to 50 centimeters in length. They are assigned to the Ichno genus Parabrontopodus and were very likely made by a sauropod.

Quite a lot of dinosaur remains were found in the Upper Jurassic of the coastal region of the English Channel (north-western Paris basin ). The Octeville (Kimmeridgium) site in the Seine-Maritime department is particularly worth mentioning . It provided a partial skeleton of the sauropod Dacentrurus lennieri , which was also destroyed in World War II, and the thigh bone of a Dryosaurus . Teeth of nodosaurids and iguanodontids occur in the tithonium in Purbeck facies of Boulogne-sur-Mer and in La Crèche in the Pas-de-Calais department (sauropods). The Boulonnais also contains remains of sauropods, megalosaurids, coelurosaurs and camptosaurus . In the Oxfordium of Lisieux (Calvados) the presence of large theropods is considered certain.

In the east and south-east of France, Damparis (Jura) with the taxa Bothriospondylus madagascariensis (Sauropoda), Haplocanthosaurus and Lapparentosaurus should be mentioned. Tracks, teeth and caudal vertebrae from the Oxfordium of Plaimbois-du-Miroir (Département Doubs) suggest a large theropod. A caudal vertebra found in the Portlandium near Ville-en-Blaisois (Département Haute-Marne) indicates a Camarasaurid . The Canjuers site (Département Var) in lithographic limestone with Compsognathus longipes is also important ; possibly this is also a new taxon related to Compsognathus corallestris or Compsognathus longipes (find from 1971). This find represents the most fully preserved dinosaur fossil in France.

A small theropod and ribs from the Tithonium near Cognac in Charente and a theropod tooth from the Île d'Oléron (also Tithonium) were reported from the Atlantic region .

Lower Cretaceous

Live reconstruction of Iguanodon bernissartensis

Dinosaur finds from the Lower Cretaceous come from the Lower Chalk belt of the Paris Basin, starting on the northern edge of the Ardennes with the locations Louppy-le-Château , Varennes-en-Argonne and Grandpré via the Département Meuse with Cousancelles and Ville-sur-Saulx to the Département Haute-Marne with Wassy . All of these sites contain megalosaurids of the genus Erectopus (from the phosphate-bearing lower Albium of Louppy-le-Château) and Iguanodontids in the vicinity of Saint-Dizier with Iguanodon ( I. atherfieldensis and I. bernissartensis ). In northern France, Lower Cretaceous occurs in the Bray anticline ( Villers-Saint-Barthélemy ) and in the Pas-de-Calais ( Wimereux ) department . Remnants of sauropods and megalosaurids can be found here.

In south-eastern France there are sites in the Vaucluse department ( Bédoin and Mondragon ), they contain small sauropods. It is also worth mentioning the find of an allosaurid from the Valanginium near Montmirat (Département Gard), from which shoulder and arm bones were preserved. In the Gard also are Fons and Serviers-et-Labaume to name where tooth finds of Deinonychosauriern were made. The discovery of a genusaurus , which probably belonged to the Abelisaurids, comes from the Albium near Sisteron in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence department .

Upper Chalk

Eggshell fragment that is attributed to the " Hypselosaurus " dinosaur genus .

There are many sites in the Upper Cretaceous, which are listed in the following, sorted by department:

Ampelosaurus atacis
  • Haute-Garonne : The Calcaires du Jadet contain unspecified hadrosaurids, the Marnes de Lestaillats unspecified dromaeosaurids, hadrosaurids, nodosaurids and theropods, the Marnes d'Auzas unspecified ankylosaurs, hadrosaurids and theropods. All three formations belong to the Maastrichtium.
  • Hérault : The already mentioned Grès de Saint-Chinian (Campan - Maastricht) produced, in addition to an unspecified Abelisaurid, the species Ampelosaurus atacis , a questionable Megalosaurus pannoniensis , Rhabdodon priscus , Rhodanosaurus lugdunensis and Variraptor mechinorum as well as eggs. In a formation of the campanium that has not yet been named, Dromaeosaurids and Nodosaurids, which have not yet been specified, were also represented by Struthiosaurus languedocensis and Rhabdodon priscus (subcampan of Villeveyrac ). Eggs were also discovered in an unnamed formation in the campanium.
  • Indre-et-Loire : A nodosaurid tooth was hidden in the Cenoman.
  • Landes : A not yet named formation of the campanium led an unspecified lithostratier.
  • Maine-et-Loire : In the Sables de Brézé des Cenomans, there were unspecified theropod remains. The Cenoman, which was reconditioned during the Miocene , contained an indeterminate iguanodontide and teeth from theropods and ornithopods.
  • Orne : In the Craie chloritée there are unspecified dinosaur remains.
  • Sarthe : A formation of the cenomans that has not yet been named gave unspecified titanosaurid remains. A titanosaur vertebra was found in the La Mans cenomaniac .
  • Var : The previously mentioned Grès à reptiles of the Maastrichtian ( Fox-Amphoux site in the Aix-en-Provence basin) contained, in addition to undetermined Abelisaurids, Ankylosaurs and Avialae , the species Hypselosaurus priscus (questionable), a questionable Megalosaurus pannoniensis , Rhabdodon priscus , a questionable Titanosaurus indicus and Variraptor mechinorum , as well as eggs. A Tarascosaurus salluvicus was identified in a not yet named formation of the Campan . Eggs occur in two unnamed formations of the Maastrichtian.
  • Vaucluse : A not yet named formation of the cenomans contains sauropod remains.
  • Vendée : An unnamed formation of the Turonium with unspecified theropods and an unnamed formation of the Santonium also with unspecified theropods.
  • Vienne : Dinosaur remains were found in an unnamed formation that had been relocated in the Miocene.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Philippe Taquet: Cuvier-Buckland-Mantell et les dinosaures . In: E. Buffetaut, JM Mazin, E. Salmon (eds.): Actes du Symposium paléontologique Georges Cuvier: communications données à l'occasion du cent cinquantième anniversaire de la mort de Georges Cuvier, du 25 octobre au 28 octobre 1982, au Musée du Château, Montbéliard, France . 1984, p. 475-491 .
  2. ↑ Eric Buffetaut: The significance of dinosaur remains in marine sediments: an investigation based on the French record . In: Berlin Geoscience treatises E series . tape 13 , 1994, pp. 125-133 .
  3. ↑ L. Courel, G. Demathieu, R. Buffard: Empreintes de pas de vertébrés et stratigraphie du Trias . In: Bulletin de la Société géologique de France . tape 10 , 1968, p. 275-281 .
  4. ^ Martin G. Lockley, Christian Meyer: Dinosaur tracks and other fossil footprints of Europe . Columbia University Press, New York 2000.
  5. ^ N. Bardet, Gilles Cuny: Triassic reptile faunas from France . In: Paleontologia Lombarda (Società italiana di Scienze naturali, Museo Civico di Storia naturale di Milano), Nuova series . tape 2 , 1993, p. 9-17 .
  6. ^ Gilles Cuny, Adrian Hunt, Jean-Michel Mazin, Raymond Rauscher: Teeth of enigmatic sharks and an ornithischian dinosaur from the uppermost Triassic of Lons-le-Saunier (Jura, France) . In: Paleontological Journal . tape 74 , no. 1-2 , 2000, pp. 171-185 , doi : 10.1007 / BF02987959 .
  7. ^ Gilles Cuny: French vertebrate faunas and the Triassic-Jurassic boundary . In: Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology . tape 119 , no. 3-4 , 1995, pp. 343-358 , doi : 10.1016 / 0031-0182 (95) 00017-8 .
  8. ↑ Jean Le Lœuff, Martin Lockley, Christian Meyer, Jean-Pierre Petit: Discovery of a thyreophoran trackway in the Hettangian of central France . In: Comptes Rendus de l'Académie des Sciences, Series IIA - Earth and Planetary Science . tape 328 , no. 3 , 1999, p. 215-219 , doi : 10.1016 / S1251-8050 (99) 80099-8 .
  9. ↑ Martin D. Ezcurra, Gilles Cuny: The coelophysoid Lophostropheus airelensis , gen. Nov .: a review of the systematics of “Liliensternus” airelensis from the Triassic – Jurassic outcrops of Normandy (France) . In: Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology . tape 27 , no. 1 , 2007, p. 735-86 , doi : 10.1671 / 0272-4634 (2007) 27 [73: TCLAGN] 2.0.CO; 2 .
  10. ↑ G. Garcia, B. Marandat, M. Vianey-Liaud: Discovery of discretispherulitic eggshells from the Middle Jurassic Quercy’s . In: AM Bravo, T. Reyes (Ed.): 1st International Symposium on Dinosaur Eggs and Babies, 23-26 September 1999, Isona i Conca Dellà, Spain . 1999, p. 23 .
  11. ↑ Jürgen Kriwet, Oliver MW Rauhut, Uwe Gloy: Microvertebrate remains (Pisces, Archosauria) from the Middle Jurassic (Bathonian) of southern France . In: New Yearbook of Geology and Paleontology Treatises . tape 206 , 1997, pp. 1-28 .
  12. ↑ Jean-Michel Mazin, Pierre Hantzpergue, Jean-Paul Bassoullet, Gérard Lafaurie, Patrick Vignaud: Le gisement de Crayssac (Tithonia inférieur, Quercy, Lot, France): découverte de pistes de dinosaures en place et premier bilan ichnologique . In: Comptes Rendus de l'Académie des Sciences, Series IIA - Earth and Planetary Science . tape 325 , no. 9 , 1997, pp. 733-739 , doi : 10.1016 / S1251-8050 (97) 89118-5 .
  13. ↑ Jean Le Lœuff, Eric Buffetaut, Catherine Merser: Découverte d'un dinosaure sauropod tithonien dans la région de Cognac (Charente) . In: Géologie de la France . Born in 1996, No. 2 , 1996, p. 79-81 ( online [accessed August 21, 2013]).
  14. ^ B. Pérez-Moreno, JL Sanz, J. Sudre, B. Sigé: A theropod dinosaur from the Lower Cretaceous of southern France . In: Revue de Paléobiologie . Volume special 7, 1993, p. 173-188 .
  15. Jump up ↑ Hugues Accarie, Bernard Beaudoin, Jean Dejax, Gérard Friès, Jean-Guy Michard, Philippe Taquet: Découverte d'un dinosaure théropode nouveau ( Genusaurus sisteronis ng, n. Sp.) Dans l'Albien marin de Sisteron (Alpes-de- Haute-Provence, France) et extension au Crétacé inférieur de la lignée cératosaurienne . In: Comptes rendus de l'Académie des sciences, Série IIa - Sciences de la terre et des planètes . 1995, p. 327-334 ( online [accessed August 21, 2013]).
  16. ↑ Didier Néraudeau, Ronan Allain, Vincent Perrichot, Blaise Videt, France de Lapparent de Broin, François Guillocheau, Marc Philippe, Jean-Claude Rage, Romain Vullo: Découverte d'un dépôt paralique à bois fossiles, ambre insectifère et restes d'Iguanodontidae (Dinosauria, Ornithopoda) dans le Cénomanien inférieur de Fouras (Charente-Maritime, Sud-Ouest de la France) . In: Comptes Rendus Palevol . tape 2 , no. 3 , 2003, p. 221-230 , doi : 10.1016 / S1631-0683 (03) 00032-0 .