Sachs, S., Schwermann, A.H., Hornung, J.J. & Madzia, D. (2022) A new Early Cretaceous assemblage of iguanodontian dinosaurs from Western Germany. 82 Annual meeting of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology, Abstracts: 291.
—The Lower Cretaceous (Barremian-Aptian) fissure filling at Balve in North Rhine-Westphalia (Western Germany) has yielded a diverse vertebrate fauna, comprising selachians, osteichthyes, amphibians, squamates, crocodiles, turtles, pterosaurs, theropod, sauropodomorph, and ornithischian dinosaurs, as well as mammals. The locality has been excavated since 2002 by the LWL Museum of Natural History in Münster and regular field seasons still provide new material every year. Within the past two decades a variety of ornithopod remains were uncovered at Balve. These comprise cranial remains (a partial dentary and isolated teeth) as well as postcranial material, including vertebrae, ribs, a sacrum, a scapula, pollex claws, and pelvic, and limb bone elements. The specimens can be largely assigned to Iguanodon-grade styracosternans. While most elements are isolated and show taphonomic wear, at least some equally sized vertebrae and the sacrum were found in close association and may belong to a single, immature individual. Larger elements (e.g., a vertebral centrum) match the size of adult Iguanodon bernissartensis specimens. Peripheral skeletal elements (pedal bones and caudal vertebrae) dominate quantitatively. Large bones are prone to be fragmented. The material potentially includes a robust and a gracile morphotype, but the disarticulated preservation and the presence of various ontogenetic stages require further investigation. The potential co-occurrence of a robust and gracile form would mirror coeval occurrences from England, Bernissart (Belgium), and the geographically close Nehden locality in Brilon (Germany).
