Marnes d'Auzas Formation
Introduction The '''Marnes d’Auzas Formation''' ('''Auzas Marls Formation''') is a geological Formation in southwestern France (departments of Ariège and Haute-Garonne) whose strata date back to the Late Maastrichtian. It is about 100 metres thick and consists primarily of marls with some interbeds of sandstones. It corresponds to sediments whose depositional environment evolved from the paralic domain (coastal lagoons, tidal marsh, tidal muddy channel) at the base of the formation, towards a more continental domain (alluvial plain, fluvial channels) in its upper part. The Marnes d’Auzas Formation was deposited in the west coast of the former Ibero-Armorican Island, which included much of France and Spain.
Vertebrate paleofauna Holotype maxilla of ''Canardia garonnensis'' from the site of Tricouté 3 in the basal part of the Marnes d'Auzas Formation. * '''Theropods''':** Theropoda indet. (a medium-sized form only known by a tooth)** Dromaeosauridae indet. * '''Hadrosaurs''':** ''Canardia garonnensis'' ** Lambeosaurinae indet. * '''Sauropods''':** Titanosauria indet. (compared to the Ibero-Armorican titanosaurs from the Campanian and early Maastrichtian times, the teeth of this form are more like those of ''Atsinganosaurus'' than those of ''Ampelosaurus'' or ''Lirainosaurus''. * '''Bird''':** Enantiornithes indet. * '''Mammals''':** Theria indet. * '''Pterosaurs''':** Azhdarchidae indet. (only known by a very large cervical vertebra suggesting an individual with a wing-span of 9 m) * '''Turtle''':** ''Iberoccitanemys convenarum''** ? ''Foxemys'' sp. * '''Squamata''':** Mosasauroidea indet. (only known by a vertebra first attributed to a Varanoidea, would actually be a freshwater mosasaur)** ? Amphisbaenia indet. ** cf. Teiidae indet. * '''Crocodylia''':** ''Thoracosaurus neocesariensis'' (according to Christopher Brochu, the species from the Marnes d'Auzas represents a distinct taxon from ''T. neocesariensis'')** cf. ''Musturzabalsuchus'' sp. * '''Amphibia''':** Albanerpetontidae indet. ** Anura indet. ** ? Urodela indet. * '''Fish''':** ''Palaeogaleus'' sp. ** ''Rhinobatos'' sp. ** ''Rhombodus binkhorsti''** ''Coupatezia'' sp. ** cf. ''Pycnodus'' sp. ** Lepisosteidae indet. ** Phyllodontidae indet. ** Sparidae indet.Bones of an indeterminate Lambeosaurinae from the site of Cassagnau 2 in the middle part of the Marnes d'Auzas Formation. Predentary in dorsal (A) and ventral (B) views. Partial left dentary in medial view (C). Dentary tooth crowns in lingual view (D). Complete left pubis in lateral view (E). Left dentary in medial view (F), belonging to the same individual as the predentary.
See also * List of dinosaur-bearing rock formations
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