Plateosaurus and other Triassic vertebrates in Germany: new papers

[Ben Creisler <bscreisler@yahoo.com>]

From: Ben Creisler
bscreisler@yahoo.com
 
 
Two papers in the new issue of open-access Palaeodiversity (free pdfs):
 http://www.palaeodiversity.org/currentissue.htm
 RAINER R. SCHOCH (2011)
Tracing SEEMANN’s dinosaur excavation in the Upper Triassic of Trossingen: his 
field notes and the present status of the material.
Palaeodiversity 4: 245–282
http://www.palaeodiversity.org/pdf/04/Palaeodiversity_4_Schoch.pdf
　
The field notes of REINHOLD SEEMANN, who conducted the 1932 dinosaur excavation 
at Trossingen, are published for the first time. An English translation of the 
whole text is also provided. Quarry maps and stratigraphic sections were 
redrawn and compared with new data gathered in ongoing excavations. Of the 65 
finds listed by SEEMANN, only 21 have survived the Second World War 
(Plateosaurus: 18, Proganochelys: 3). This includes most of the well-preserved 
skeletons, which had been moved to safe places during the war. An overview of 
these finds and their present state is given for the first time. This reveals 
major differences in preservation of bones, and it adds to the knowledge of 
bone completeness classes at Trossingen. The missing finds were probably 
destroyed by fire in 1944, and there are no remains from these specimens left. 
In combination with the field notes and sketches, the new data on SEEMANN’s 
material may serve as a platform for
 future studies of and excavations at the Trossingen lagerstaette.
　
　
HANS HAGDORN & RAOUL J. MUTTER (2011)
The vertebrate fauna of the Lower Keuper Albertibank (Erfurt Formation, Middle 
Triassic) in the vicinity of Schwäbisch Hall (Baden-Württemberg, Germany).
Palaeodiversity 4: 223–243
http://www.palaeodiversity.org/pdf/04/Palaeodiversity_4_HagdornMutter.pdf
　
In the vicinity of Schwäbisch Hall, the Lower Keuper (Ladinian) Albertibank is 
characterized by a small-scale lateral facies change and a distinctive fauna 
composed of ostracods, fishes, and lower tetrapods, comprising the remarkably 
abundant polzbergiid actinopterygian Serrolepis suevicus, small unidentified 
species of ?Redfieldiiformes and Saurichthyidae, the small brackish water shark 
Lonchidion, two dipnoans, a large coelacanthiform, the temnospondyl amphibians 
Mastodonsaurus and Gerrothorax, a small nothosaur, and the "rauisuchian" 
Batrachotomus. Facies and fauna give evidence of an occasionally dry falling 
lacustrine environment. The dentition of Serrolepis is indicative of a 
specialized durophagous diet, presumably on ostracods.