Abel, P., Sachs, S. & Young, M. T. (2018) Thalattosuchian remains from the late Aalenian Eisensandstein Formation of Baden-Württemberg, southwestern Germany. Geobonn 2018, Abstracts: 223.
—The fossil record of marine reptiles from the Aalenian is globally poor. In Germany they are mostly limited to isolated and fragmentary remains, although at least one ichthyosaur, Stenopterygius aaleniensis, is known from a complete and articulated skeleton. The Aalenian thalattosuchian record has not yet been studied in detail, and a number of specimens are still undescribed. Among these unpublished fossils is cranial and postcranial material from the late Aalenian Eisensandstein Formation (“Dogger β”) of Baden-Württemberg (SW Germany) that is housed at the Staatliches Museum für Naturkunde Stuttgart. Despite their fragmentary nature, this material can be attributed to both major thalattosuchian subclades, Teleosauroidea and Metriorhynchoidea. The teleosauroid material includes five incomplete rostra, one dorsal and two caudal vertebrae. Metriorhynchoids are represented by a fragmentary dentary and an isolated postorbital. Most specimens derive from localities in Aalen-Wasseralfingen and they are preserved in an iron oolite matrix. The same region yielded historical material of which some was described in the 1840s as Glaphyrorhynchus aalensis. These specimens, which were held in the collection of Graf zu Münster, appear to be lost and the validity of Glaphyrorhynchus, which was one of the first described thalattosuchians from Germany, cannot be confirmed. The material from the Eisensandstein Formation forms part of an ongoing projec to describe the Aalenian thalattosuchian record of Germany. Although only fragments are preserved, their study enhances our knowledge of Thalattosuchia – particularly helping to close some stratigraphic gaps in their fossil record. Furthermore, the material offers new insight into the late Aalenian marine ecosystems.
