Earth:La Huérguina Formation

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Short description: Geological formation in Spain
La Huérguina Formation
Stratigraphic range: Late Barremian
129.4–126.3 Ma
Las Hoyas - 2018 field works 02.jpg
Lithographic limestones of the Las Hoyas locality
TypeGeological formation
UnderliesContreras Formation or Unconformity with the Utrillas Group
OverliesTragacete Formation
Thickness60–100 m (200–330 ft)
Lithology
PrimaryLimestone, marl
OtherConglomerate
Location
Coordinates [ ⚑ ] 40°05′23″N 1°53′52″W / 40.0897°N 1.8978°W / 40.0897; -1.8978
RegionCuenca, Castile-La Mancha
Country Spain
ExtentSouth Iberian Basin
Type section
Named forHuérguina
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The La Huérguina Formation (also known as the Calizas de La Huérguina Formation, La Huérguina Limestone Formation or as the Una Formation) is a geological formation in Spain whose strata date back to the Barremian stage of the Early Cretaceous.[1] Las Hoyas is a Konservat-Lagerstätte within the formation, located near the city of Cuenca, Spain. The site is mostly known for its exquisitely preserved dinosaurs, especially enantiornithines.[2] The lithology of the formation mostly consists of lacustrine limestone deposited in a freshwater wetland environment.

Las Hoyas

Taphonomy

As a Konservat-Lagerstätten, the preservation is exceptional. This may be a result of three factors: Microbial mats, Obruption and Stagnation.

Microbial mats may be responsible for the preservation of soft tissue in many fossils from Las Hoyas, like Pelecanimimus' crest. The iron carbonate depositions, a result from bacterial metabolism which covered the dinosaur's crest enhanced the preservation of those soft tissues. Evidence of these mats comes from the studies on microfacies and the fossils themselves.

Obruption is notable in the formation, due to the presence of highly articulated specimens. From actuotaphonomy studies on several different organisms it can be estimated that the burial of most entities was quick. Concornis may have been buried in less than 15 days, after a period of sub-areal exposition.

Paleoenvironment

Las Hoyas was an inland lacustrine environment which presents an important aquatic and terrestrial flora (with many specimens of Charophytes, Montsechia, Weischelia or Frenelopsis) and diverse fauna, with specimens of at least five or six Phyla: arthropods, molluscs, Chordata and many vermiform soft bodied animals which might be Nemertines or annelids.

Among vertebrates the most abundant and diverse group are fish. The presence of mostly articulated skeletons, exceptional preservation of tissue and lack of any other signs of transportation may indicate that these are demic and autochthonous entities (meaning that they lived and died in the same place where they fossilized).

Crocodylomorphs are the most abundant amniotes from Las Hoyas.

Dinosaurs from Las Hoyas (avian and non avian) are unique in many ways. The first ornithomimosaur dinosaur described in Europe, Pelecanimimus polyodon, shows some characters previously unknown in these dinosaurs which enhanced the knowledge on the evolution of the group, such as a high number of teeth. Concavenator corcovatus presents two unique features: very tall neural spines on the vertebrae near the hip, which look like a hump, and a structure on its forearm, which if homologous to quill knobs would push back the origin of feathers earlier in theropod evolution.

Las Hoyas birds are enantiornithes, the most diverse Cretaceous bird clade, which became extinct at the end of the period. Iberomesornis romerali shows both derived ("avian") and primitive ("dinosaurian") characters. Within the derived characters we can underline the presence of a pygostile, although it is still very large compared to that of modern neornithines and the presence of a quilled sternum. Eoalulavis hoyasi shows the first report of an alula or "bastard wing", which means it had a flight manoeuvrability analogous to that of modern birds.

Research

The Las Hoyas site has been studied for more than two decades by researchers from the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, the Universidad Complutense de Madrid and the National University of Distance Education, in collaboration with the Museo de las Ciencias de Castilla-La Mancha, which is responsible for the fossil record from the area.

Fossil content

Crustaceans

Crustaceans
Genus Species Location Stratigraphic position Material Notes Images
Austropotamobius A. llopisi Las Hoyas Numerous specimens[3] A crayfish
Delclosia D. martinelli An atyid shrimp
Lahuerguinagrapta[4] L. multicostata A clam shrimp belonging to the family Afrograptidae
Skyestheria[4] Indeterminate A clam shrimp belonging to the family Polygraptidae
Pseudestherites[4] A clam shrimp belonging to the family Antronestheriidae
Spinogriphus [5] S. ibericus A member of Peracarida belonging to Spelaeogriphacea

Chondrichthyes

Chondrichthyes
Genus Species Location Stratigraphic position Material Notes Images
Lonchidion[6] Indeterminate Las Hoyas A full body impression of a juvenile Hybodont

Osteichthyes

Osteichthyes
Genus Species Location Stratigraphic position Material Notes Images
Caturus Caturus sp. Las Hoyas Amiiformes
Gordichthys G. conquensis Las Hoyas Gonorynchiform
Hispanamia[7] H. newbreyi Las Hoyas Amiid, originally described as Amiopsis
cf. "Holophagus"[8] Indeterminate Las Hoyas Coelacanth
Hoyasotes H. tanyrhis Las Hoyas Member of Lepidotidae, originally described as Lepidotes[9]
Lepidohyas L. microrhis Las Hoyas
Notagogus N. aff. N. ferreri Las Hoyas Macrosemiid
Pleuropholis P. sp. Las Hoyas
Propterus P. sp. Las Hoyas Macrosemiid
Rubiesichthys R. gregalis Las Hoyas Gonorynchiform
Stenamara S. mia Las Hoyas Pycnodont
Turbomesodon T. praeclarus Las Hoyas
Vidalamia V. cf. catalunica Las Hoyas Amiid

Amphibians

Amphibians
Genus Species Location Stratigraphic position Material Notes Images
Albanerpeton Indeterminate Uña Frontals Albanerpetontid
Celtedens C. ibericus Las Hoyas
Celtedens ibericus.svg
C. megacephalus Uña
Gracilibatrachus G. avallei Las Hoyas Pipimorph frog
Hylaeobatrachus Indeterminate Las Hoyas Salamander
Iberobatrachus I. angelae Las Hoyas Frog
Valdotriton V. gracilis Las Hoyas Salamander
Wealdenbatrachus W. jucarensis Uña Frog

Turtles

Turtles
Genus Species Location Stratigraphic position Material Notes Images
Hoyasemys H. jimenezi Las Hoyas A eucryptodire[10]
Hoyasemys.jpg
Pleurosternidae Indeterminate Uña
Pelomedusidae Indeterminate Uña

Squamates

Squamates
Genus Species Location Stratigraphic position Material Notes Images
Becklesius Indeterminate, B. cataphractus Uña Paramacellodid lizard
Cuencasaurus C. estesi Uña
Hoyalacerta H. sanzi Las Hoyas
Jucaraseps J. grandipes Las Hoyas Scleroglossa
Meyasaurus M. diazromerali Las Hoyas teiioid lizard
M. unaensis Uña
Paramacellodus P. sinuosus Uña Paramacellodid lizard
Scandensia S. ciervensis Las Hoyas

Mammals

Mammals
Genus Species Location Stratigraphic position Material Notes Images
Crusafontia C. cuencana Uña Dryolestid
Eobaatar E. hispanicus Uña Eobaatarid multituberculate
Galveodon G. nannothus Uña Paulchoffatiid multituberculate
Spinolestes[11] S. xenarthrosus Las Hoyas Exceptionally complete specimen, preserving soft tissues such as pelage, ears and internal organs. Gobiconodont Eutriconodont

Crocodyliformes

Crocodyliformes
Genus Species Location Stratigraphic position Material Notes Images
Bernissartia Indeterminate Uña
Bernissartia BW.jpg
Cassissuchus C. sanziuami Las Hoyas Gobiosuchid
Montsecosuchus Indeterminate Las Hoyas
Montsecosuchus.jpg
Sabresuchus S.ibericus Uña
Unasuchus U. reginae Uña
Bernissartiidae Indeterminate Las Hoyas

Ornithodirans

Ornithodirans
Genus Species Location Stratigraphic position Material Notes Images
Concavenator C. corcovatus Las Hoyas "Nearly complete and articulated skeleton." Carcharodontosaurid dinosaur[12]
Concavenator reconstruction.png
Concornis[13] C. lacustris[13] Las Hoyas "Postcranial skeleton."[14] enantiornithean bird
Concornis lacustris 34.jpg
Eoalulavis[13] E. hoyasi[13] Las Hoyas "Thoracic region and forelimbs."[14] enantiornithean bird
Euronychodon Indeterminate Las Hoyas [15]
Europejara E. olcadesorum Las Hoyas Tapejarid pterosaur
Europejara olcadesorum head.png
Iberomesornis I. romerali Las Hoyas "Postcranial skeleton." enantiornithean bird[13][16]
Iberomesornis romerali by durbed.jpg
Mantellisaurus M. atherfieldensis Las Hoyas "incomplete but fully-articulated right hindlimb" Iguanodontian dinosaur[17]
Mantellisaurus atherfieldensis Steveoc.jpg
Pelecanimimus P. polyodon Las Hoyas "Skull and partial skeleton" Ornithomimosaurian dinosaur[13][18]
Pelecanimimus restoration.jpeg
Paronychodon Indeterminate Las Hoyas [19]
Ricardoestesia Indeterminate Las Hoyas [20]


Correlation

See also

  • List of dinosaur-bearing rock formations
  • Paja Formation, contemporaneous Lagerstätte of Colombia
  • Yixian Formation, contemporaneous Lagerstätte of China

References

  1. Martínez et al., 2017
  2. Weishampel et al., 2004, pp.556-563
  3. Barrios-de Pedro, Sandra; Chin, Karen; Buscalioni, Ángela D. (June 2020). "The late Barremian ecosystem of Las Hoyas sustained by fishes and shrimps as inferred from coprofabrics" (in en). Cretaceous Research 110: 104409. doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2020.104409. Bibcode2020CrRes.11004409B. https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0195667119304628. 
  4. 4.0 4.1 4.2 Gallego, Oscar F.; Monferran, Mateo D.; Zacarías, Iracema A.; Jiménez, Victoria C.; Buscalioni, Angela D.; Liao, Huanyu (June 2020). "Clam shrimp fauna (Diplostraca-Spinicaudata and Estheriellina) from the Lower Cretaceous of Las Hoyas, Cuenca (Spain)" (in en). Cretaceous Research 110: 104389. doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2020.104389. Bibcode2020CrRes.11004389G. https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0195667119302721. 
  5. Jaume, Damià; Pinardo‐Moya, Eva; Boxshall, Geoff A. (January 2013). "A presumed spelaeogriphacean crustacean from an upper Barremian wetland (Las Hoyas; Lower Cretaceous; Central Spain)" (in en). Palaeontology 56 (1): 15–28. doi:10.1111/j.1475-4983.2012.01144.x. ISSN 0031-0239. Bibcode2013Palgy..56...15J. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1475-4983.2012.01144.x. 
  6. Marugán-Lobón, Jesús; Martín-Abad, Hugo; Buscalioni, Ángela D. (2023-04-03). "The Las Hoyas Lagerstätte: a palaeontological view of an Early Cretaceous wetland". Journal of the Geological Society 180 (3). doi:10.1144/jgs2022-079. ISSN 0016-7649. 
  7. MartÍn-Abad, Hugo; Poyato-Ariza, Francisco JosÉ (2017-06-05). "A new genus and species for the amiiform fishes previously assigned to Amiopsis from the Early Cretaceous of Las Hoyas, Cuenca, Spain". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 181 (3): 604–637. doi:10.1093/zoolinnean/zlx010. ISSN 0024-4082. 
  8. Martín-Abad, Hugo; Martínez, Marian Fregenal- (2021-12-02). "The ecology of the Lower Cretaceous coelacanths from Las Hoyas Konservat- Lagerstätte (Cuenca, Spain): A new insight after the integration of palaeontological and sedimentological data" (in en). Spanish Journal of Palaeontology 36 (2): 191–204. doi:10.7203/sjp.36.2.21966. ISSN 2660-9568. https://ojs.uv.es/index.php/sjpalaeontology/article/view/21966. 
  9. Paiva, Hanna Carolina Lins de; Gallo, Valéria (2018-12-01). "Quasimodichthys gen. nov. (Neopterygii: Semionotiformes): A morphological and ontogenetic study" (in en). Journal of South American Earth Sciences 88: 132–143. doi:10.1016/j.jsames.2018.08.010. ISSN 0895-9811. Bibcode2018JSAES..88..132P. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0895981118301950. 
  10. Pérez García et al., 2012
  11. Martin et al., 2015
  12. Ortega et al., 2010
  13. 13.0 13.1 13.2 13.3 13.4 13.5 "15.9 Provincia de Quenca, Spain; 4. Calizas de La Huergina Formation," in Weishampel et al., 2004, pp.561-562
  14. 14.0 14.1 "Table 11.1," in Weishampel et al. ,2004, p.212
  15. Listed as "cf. Euronychodon sp." in "15.9 Provincia de Quenca, Spain; 4. Calizas de La Huergina Formation," in Weishampel et al., 2004, p.561
  16. "Table 11.1," in Weishampel et al., 2004, p.213
  17. Serrano et al., 2013
  18. "Table 6.1," in Weishampel et al., 2004, p.138
  19. Listed as "cf. Paranychodon sp." in "15.9 Provincia de Quenca, Spain; 4. Calizas de La Huergina Formation," in Weishampel et al., 2004, p.561
  20. Listed as "cf. Ricardoestesia sp." in "15.9 Provincia de Quenca, Spain; 4. Calizas de La Huergina Formation," in Weishampel et al., 2004, p.561

Bibliography

External links