#Solnhofen Limestone

[saritapaleo]

Archovember 2024 Day 26 - Compsognathus longipes

Before it was confirmed that birds were dinosaurs, Compsognathus longipes was regarded as the smallest dinosaur for decades. About the size of a chicken, its name means “elegant/refined/dainty jaw”. It lived in Late Jurassic Europe, found thus far in both Germany and France, with possible teeth also found in Portugal. It was carnivorous, and the remains of small lizards were found preserved in both fossil specimens. They were likely fast, scurrying animals, using their long tails for balance.

In the Late Jurassic, Europe was a dry, tropical archipelago at the edge of the prehistoric Tethys Sea. Both Compsognathus specimens were preserved within lagoons, possibly having died chasing lizards on the beach and then being swept out to sea in a flash flood. The German specimen is known from the Painten Formation, a part of the Solnhofen Limestone. The French specimen was found in limestone on the plateau of Canjuers. One of Compsognathus’ most famous contemporaries is the avialan Archaeopteryx, and the two may have competed over prey. It would have also lived alongside early pterosaurs like Propterodactylus, Rhamphorhynchus, and Anurognathus (as seen above). There were also a diverse variety of turtles, rhynchocephalians, and lizards living here as well, many of which served as prey for this tiny, catlike predator.

This art may be used for educational purposes, with credit, but please contact me first for permission before using my art. I would like to know where and how it is being used. If you don’t have something to add that was not already addressed in this caption, please do not repost this art. Thank you!

[fromthedust]

reconstruction of Archaeopteryx

Archaeopteryx fossil - Berlin specimen

Paleontologists have long thought that Archaeopteryx ('ancient feather' or 'ancient wing') fossils placed the dinosaur at the base of the bird evolutionary tree. Recent evidence suggests the beast may be best described as a birdlike dinosaur rather than an early bird, though it probably could fly after a fashion. Archaeopteryx is about 150 million years of age, while the ancestor of all living birds lived sometime in the Late Cretaceous — 50 to 65 million years ago.

In 1861, the first Archaeopteryx skeleton, which was missing most of its head and neck, was unearthed near Langenaltheim, Germany. However, the most complete skeleton, the Berlin Specimen, was discovered in 1874 or 1875 near Eichstatt, Germany by farmer Jakob Niemeyer, who sold it in 1876 to innkeeper Johann Dörr. Through various transactions, the fossil, which is the first found to have an intact head, eventually wound up being in the Humboldt Museum fur Naturkunde, where it still resides. To date there have been 11 other Archaeopteryx fossils found, the latest discovered in 2010 (described in 2014). All of the fossils come from the limestone deposits near Solnhofen. Recent tests performed on the specimens indicate that the primary coloring of the feathers of Archaeopteryx were black, possibly with lighter colored tips.

Jurassic deposits of Solnhofen limestone in southern Germany are marked by rare but exceptionally well preserved fossils of many species. It was first quarried nearly 2,000 years ago by the Romans who used the stone for paving roads and building walls. In later Roman times the mosaic floor of the church of Hagia Sofia in Istanbul was made of this limestone. In the Middle Ages, the stone was also used as floor and roofing material, and artisans used the material in the making of bas-relief sculptures and headstones. A decisive turning point in the history of the stone was the determination in 1673 by Alois Senefelder that the dense, fine-grained material was ideally-suited for use in the newly discovered printing process of lithography, a use that caused quarrying to increase dramatically.

[akhuna01]

I spent a night in Eichstätt in Germany, which is famous for its fossil sites (Archaeopterix was found in the area!). Mom and I went to two limestone quarries (Eichstätt Blumenberg and Mühlheim/Mörnsdorf) to try our luck finding something cool, and we did (ammonites, sea lily buds, crinoids and a tiny fish).

But we also visited the Juramuseum Willibaldsburg Eichstätt, which was amazing.

They had fish tanks, and I finally met an adorable horseshoe crab in person!

A living fossil!

These are so incredible - look, the last steps of the crab are preserved as well. The little guy walked around, then passed away, and millions of years ago it's still there ♥️

Same thing with this little lizard - its last footsteps are immortalised next to it.

Another animal track.

I've reached the image limit, but I have so much more. Wait for the 2nd part (i'll do a self-reblog for it)

[alex-fictus]

The Paleo Party Guest of the day is Archaeopteryx!

We have 13 body specimen of this bird-dinosaur threshold species, all with relatively high quality preservation (thank you, Solnhofen Limestone!)

Age: 150-148 million years ago

Location: Southern Germany

[a-dinosaur-a-day]

don't worry, marine ecosystems are getting their own polls

[mineralsrocksandfossiltalks]

Throwback Thursday: Hermann von Meyer and Archaeopteryx

This is Christian Eric Hermann von Meyer. He lived from 1801-1869 in Germany and he did a lot of amazing things for paleontology. He issued a work known as the Palaeologica where he proposed classifying fossil reptiles into four groups:

Saurians with toes silimar to living species

saurians with limb similar to heavy land mammals

saurians with limbs for swimming

saurians with flying limbs

He is probably best known for describing the early sauropodomorph, Plateosaurus engelhardti.

Arguably, his greatest discovery was a fossil feather he found in 1861 in the Solnhofen Limestone of Bavaria.

He named the animal Archaeopteryx lithographica. Just when he was about to publish a nearly complete skeleton was found. It was missing the head but the front limb and the bony tail were surrounded by feather impressions. This made Archaeopteryx a little more legit.

Much to his annoyance, the owner of the fossil solit to the British Museum of London. In fact Richard Owen was the one who negotiated the deal.

The most famous specimen is the complete one housed in the Berlin museum showing the skull with a toothed beak, fingered wings and feather impressions around the whole body.

Now you know a little bit more about the first bird! Tune in tomorrow to learn about a Cretaceous relative. Fossilize you later!

[housecow]

Would you want to travel sometime in the future? Not just the US, but the world in general? Europe for instance.

yes!! i actually have a trip to italy set up for next year :)) idk about much more than that, grad school will be a massive time commitment but… i will get to do some traveling due to the nature of the program, sooo 🥳

i’d love to visit germany, too!! so many cool fossils, i very much want to see the solnhofen limestone and the associated museums—where the first beautifully preserved archaeopteryx was found!!!

also, as a personal goal. i wanna go to mongolia…… i am a huge fan of wide open space and i want to eat horse in their native habitat

[akariuta311101]

C-Compsognathus

1. Time Period: Compsognathus lived during the late Jurassic period, approximately 150 million years ago.

2. Size and Weight: Compsognathus was a small theropod dinosaur, reaching about 1 meter (3.3 feet) in length and weighing around 3 kilograms (6.6 pounds).

3. Physical Characteristics: It had a slender body with a long, flexible tail and strong hind legs, indicating it was a fast runner. Its head was relatively large for its body, equipped with sharp, small teeth suitable for catching prey.

4. Diet: As a carnivore, Compsognathus primarily fed on small vertebrates, including lizards and possibly insects. Fossils have been found with remains of small lizards in their stomachs.

5. Fossils: The first fossils of Compsognathus were discovered in the Solnhofen limestone of Germany in the 1850s. A more complete specimen was later found in France, providing a comprehensive look at its anatomy.

6. Hunting Behavior: Compsognathus was likely an agile predator, using its speed and dexterity to catch small prey. Its sharp teeth and claws were well-suited for gripping and tearing.

7. Paleobiology: Studies of Compsognathus fossils have given insights into its growth, locomotion, and predatory strategies. It is considered one of the best-known small theropods, providing a clearer picture of the diversity within this group.

8. Significance: Compsognathus holds an important place in paleontology as one of the first nearly complete dinosaur skeletons discovered, which greatly advanced the understanding of dinosaur biology and evolution.

9. Distribution: Fossil evidence suggests Compsognathus inhabited regions that are now Europe, specifically areas with a warm, semi-arid climate during the late Jurassic period.

10. Feathers and Relation to Birds: While no direct evidence of feathers has been found on Compsognathus fossils, its close relatives, like Sinosauropteryx, had simple feathers, suggesting that Compsognathus might have had primitive feathering as well.

11. Cultural Impact: Compsognathus has been popularized in various media, including films like “Jurassic Park: The Lost World,” where it was depicted as a small but agile and dangerous predator, capturing the public’s imagination.

[greenfrog04]

A well known Fossil, 9.7m long mortichnia of a horshoe crab. Source:

The longest complete death track fossil to be found. Not too recent of a discovery ,but it is one of my favourite famous fossils, i wanted to share it.

Article by Nick Crumpton for bbc, 6th September 2012:

"A 9.7m-long trackway was created around 150 million years ago when a horseshoe crab fell into a lagoon.

The find is of interest because the fossil of the animal itself is present at the end of the trackway, where the animal died.

The research appears in the journal Ichnos.

The fossil trackway of the animal's last moments - known as a mortichnia, or death march - was discovered in the lithographic limestone of Bavaria in Germany in 2002, where spectacular fossils of the famous feathered dinosaur Archaeopteryx have also been found.

Since then, the fossil trackway had remained an exhibit in the Wyoming Dinosaur Center in the US until Dean Lomax of the Doncaster Museum and Art Gallery and Christopher Racay began working on a project to describe it"

Article by Sergio Prostak for Sci.news, 30th August 2012:

"Around 150 million years ago, during the Jurassic Period, the horseshoe crab left its tracks in the prehistoric substrate of a lagoon in tropical Germany.

The track, which is over 9.7 m (31.8 ft) in length, displays both the beginning and end, resulting with the crab itself preserved.

It was discovered during an expedition in 2002 and derives from the famous Solnhofen Lithographic Limestone of Bavaria in Germany. The specimen remained unstudied until paleontologists realized its importance within paleoichnology – the study of fossilized traces.

The study is published online in the latest issue of the journal Ichnos.

The sheer size of the track in question is extremely rare in itself, but to have the tracemaker (the horseshoe crab) preserved at the end of its ‘mortichnia’ (death march) and the landing position of the crab preserved is quite spectacular. Such a discovery is extremely rare; it allows a glimpse into a moment of locomotion that may have taken just minutes, that is now captured forever, thus allowing the final moments of a horseshoe crabs’ life before it succumbed."

[newlabdakos]

Rhamphorhynchus

(temporal range: 150.8-148.5 mio. years ago)

[text from the Wikipedia article, see also link above]

Rhamphorhynchus (/ˌræmfəˈrɪŋkəs/,[1] from Ancient Greek rhamphos meaning "beak" and rhynchus meaning "snout") is a genus of long-tailed pterosaurs in the Jurassic period. Less specialized than contemporary, short-tailed pterodactyloid pterosaurs such as Pterodactylus, it had a long tail, stiffened with ligaments, which ended in a characteristic soft-tissue tail vane. The mouth of Rhamphorhynchus housed needle-like teeth, which were angled forward, with a curved, sharp, beak-like tip lacking teeth, indicating a diet mainly of fish; indeed, fish and cephalopod remains are frequently found in Rhamphorhynchus abdominal contents, as well as in their coprolites.[2]

Although fragmentary fossil remains possibly belonging to Rhamphorhynchus have been found in England, Tanzania, and Spain, the best preserved specimens come from the Solnhofen limestone of Bavaria, Germany. Many of these fossils preserve not only the bones but impressions of soft tissues, such as wing membranes. Scattered teeth believed to belong to Rhamphorhynchus have been found in Portugal as well.

[saritapaleo]

Archovember 2024 Day 20 - Anurognathus ammoni

The type species of the anurognathids, Anurognathus ammoni was a small, batlike pterosaur from Late Jurassic Germany. It had a short head with small, needle-like teeth used for eating insects. While most other Jurassic pterosaurs had long tails, Anurognathus’ was short, allowing it more maneuverability for catching its prey. Bumps on the jaw provided attachment points for long, sensory, whisker-like bristles. Large, forward pointing eyes helped this animal see in dim light, and it was probably most active at dawn and dusk. The second specimen of Anurognathus is exquisitely preserved, and under UV light one can observe imprints of the flight membrane and remains of the muscles of the thigh and arm!

Found in the Altmühltal Formation, Anurognathus lived on an archipelago at the edge of the ancient Tethys Sea. Briny, muddy lagoons allowed for many well-preserved fossils. One of the most famous finds from this formation is the avialan Archaeopteryx, an important species in the study of the origin of birds. Aside from Archaeopteryx, Anurognathus would have also lived alongside other early avialans like Alcmonavis, anchiornithids like Ostromia, and other small theropods like Compsognathus and Sciurumimus. There was a large diversity of fellow pterosaurs here as well, including Pterodactylus, Aerodactylus, Altmuehlopterus, Aurorazhdarcho, Balaenognathus, Ctenochasma, Germanodactylus, Propterodactylus, and Rhamphorhynchus. Pseudosuchians like Atoposaurus and Crocodilaemus lived here as well, and thalattosuchians like Cricosaurus and Dakosaurus would have swam through the nearby seas, alongside icthyosaurs and sea turtles. On land, lizards and rhynchocephalians would have scurried through the underbrush.

This art may be used for educational purposes, with credit, but please contact me first for permission before using my art. I would like to know where and how it is being used. If you don’t have something to add that was not already addressed in this caption, please do not repost this art. Thank you!

[ognimdo2002]

Rhingall (Rhamphorhynchus muensteri) – Overlook Flying Demon

“ With its needle-shaped fangs on its lip for a gory appearance and its naivete, this flying fella glides in the Jurassic canopy to seashores. ”

– Eostre

Rhamphorhynchus is the one of the extinct genus of long-tailed pterosaurs in the Jurassic period of Eurasia, it is a type species is Rhamphorhynchus muensteri.

Rhamphorhynchus was introduced in No Way to Seaway, Weather Dragons, Two Lights, Worldcraft, and Rescris as part of Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure sequel.

Etymology

Rhamphorhynchus had an "unofficial" common name among the German people as Rhingall, while in the Netherlands it was called Rheengel. Both are meant to be the onomatopoeia word for this species as originated from mating season calls. Rhamphorhynchus is from Ancient Greek rhamphos meaning "beak" and rhynchus meaning "snout". While the scientific name is muensteri, is named after Georg zu Münster.

Take Note: All of my drawings and photos of people, animals, plants, mythology, disasters, organizations, events, and more are purely fictitious. These are included in real-life situations and events with fictional characters or creatures that aren't real, be at your own risk. For nationality or indigenous, be advised. Ognimdo.

D

Distribution and Habitat

Rhamphorhynchus was native in Africa, Europe, and Asia during the Jurassic period. Although fragmentary fossil remains possibly belonging to Rhamphorhynchus have been found in England, Tanzania, and Spain, the best preserved specimens come from the Solnhofen limestone of Bavaria, Germany.

Reference

[akhuna01]

Does anybody have a clue what this fossil could be? Some sort of tiny squid, or part of a sea lily? Found in Solnhofen, ca 1993

ID would be lovely!

[paleonativeart]

Day 27: Anurognathus ammoni

This is a frog-mouth pterosaur that was originate from German rock formation called Solnhofen Limestone, which was home of the numbers of late Jurassic pterosaurs and two non-avian dinosaurs such as Coelurosaurian compsognathus and avialae Archaeopteryx.

[white-throated-packrat]

Feathers don't fossilize as often as bones do, but in the right conditions they do.

For example, Archaeopteryx specimens come from limestone quarries -- one of the species is Archaeopterx lithographica, because those were lithographic limestone quarries. Limestone suitable for lithography is very fine grained, and when it contains fossils, it can preserve soft features, like feathers, fur, and occasionally whole bodies; the Solnhofen deposits, where Archaeopteryx was found, has even yielded fossilized jellyfish

Do you have any favourite bird fossils?

I actively study fossil birds so that's actually really hard for me to pick just one :') like... all of them

this one of Nahmavis from Green River has always been one of my favorites though

[mineralsrocksandfossiltalks]

Wordplay Wednesday: TITHONIAN

Here is a word used by paleontologists and geologists quite frequently along with many other related words. The Tithonian was the final age of the Late Jurassic Epoch of the Jurassic Period of the Mesozoic Era or the Phanerozoic Eon spanning from 19.2 +/- 0.7 Ma to 145 Ma.

Rocks associated with this age include upper Brushy Basin Member of the Morrison Formation in North America,

Solnhofen Limestone in Germany,

Lourinha Formation in Portugal, the Tendaguru Formation in Africa,

the Shangshaximiao Formation in China, and the Chacarilla Formation in South America just to name a few.