Toolebuc Formation
{{Short description|Geological formation in Australia}}
{{Use Australian English|date=May 2024}}
{{Infobox rockunit
| name = Toolebuc Formation
| type = Geological formation
| age = {{fossil range|Albian|Albian|Albian}}
| period = Albian
| prilithology = Limestone, mudstone
| otherlithology = Shale
| region = Queensland
| country = Australia
| coordinates = {{coord|20.4|S|144.4|E|display=inline,title}}
| paleocoordinates = {{coord|52.7|S|132.5|E|display=inline}}
| unitof = Rolling Downs Group
| underlies = Allaru Formation
| overlies = Wallumbilla Formation
| thickness = Up to {{convert|65|m|ft|abbr=on}}
| extent = Eromanga Basin
| map = {{Location map+ | Australia
| relief = 1
| width = 250
| float = center
| places =
{{Location map~ | Australia
| lat_deg = -20.4
| lon_deg = 144.4
| mark = Green pog.svg
| marksize = 12
}}
}}
}}
The Toolebuc Formation is a geological formation that extends from Queensland across South Australia and the Northern Territory in Australia, whose strata date back to the Albian stage of the Early Cretaceous. Dinosaurs,Weishampel et al., 2004, pp.573-574 pterosaurs, plesiosaurs, ichthyosaurs, protostegid turtles, sharks, chimaeroids and bony fish remains are among the fossils that have been recovered from the formation.
Description
Deposition occurred in a cool to temperate inland sea setting and the present lithology is dominantly made up of limey shales with abundant Inoceramus bivalve shells. Ichthyosaurs and protostegid turtles were the most common marine reptiles at this time in the Eromanga Sea, in contrast to older Aptian deposits such as the Bulldog Shale of South Australia, which show that plesiosaurs were previously more abundant and also more diverse. The Toolebuc Formation is one of the richest known sources of Mesozoic vertebrate fossils in Australia, with notable collecting areas situated around the towns of Richmond, Julia Creek, Hughenden and Boulia.
Fossil content
Possible indeterminate ankylosaurid remains are present in Queensland, Australia. Indeterminate ornithopod remains have also been found in Queensland, Australia.
= Animals =
== Dinosaurs ==
class="wikitable" align="center" | |||||
colspan="6" align="center" | Dinosaurs of the Toolebuc formation | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Genus | Species | Presence | Materials | Notes | Images |
rowspan = 2|Kunbarrasaurus
| K. ieversi | Queensland | A preserved skeleton | rowspan = 2| A parankylosaur.{{cite journal |vauthors=Frauenfelder TG, Bell PR, Brougham T, Bevitt JJ, Bicknell RD, Kear BP, Wroe S, Campione NE |year=2022 |title=New Ankylosaurian Cranial Remains From the Lower Cretaceous (Upper Albian) Toolebuc Formation of Queensland, Australia |journal=Frontiers in Earth Science |volume=10 |pages=Article 803505 |doi=10.3389/feart.2022.803505 |doi-access=free}} | rowspan = 2| File:Minmi model Canberra email.jpg | |||||
K. sp
|Queensland |A partial skull | |||||
Muttaburrasaurus
|M. sp. |Queensland | Fossil remains. | An iguanodontian ornithopod. | | |||||
Nanantius
|N. eos | Queensland | "Tibiotarsi and vertebra""Table 11.1," in Weishampel et al., 2004, p.213 | An enantiornithean avialan. | |
== Pterosaur ==
== Plesiosaurs ==
class="wikitable" align="center" | |||||
colspan="6" align="center" | Plesiosaurs of the Toolebuc formation | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Genus | Species | Presence | Materials | Notes | Images |
Kronosaurus
| K. queenslandicus | Queensland | | A pliosaur. | |||||
Eromangasaurus
| E. australis | Queensland | | An elasmosaur. | |||||
Polycotylidae indet.
| Undescribed polycotylid (specimen QM F18041, nicknamed Penny){{Cite web|title=Kronosaurus Korner - Penny the Plesiosaur|url=https://www.kronosauruskorner.com.au/museum/collections/penny-the-plesiosaur|access-date=2021-05-17|website=www.kronosauruskorner.com.au}} | Queensland | | An indeterminate polycotylid. | |
== Icthyosaurs ==
class="wikitable" align="center" | |||||
colspan="6" align="center" | Ichthyosaurs of the Toolebuc formation | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Genus | Species | Presence | Materials | Notes | Images |
Platypterygius
| P. australis | Queensland | | align=center | A platypterygiine ichthyosaur. |
== Turtles ==
class="wikitable" align="center" | |||||
colspan="6" align="center" | Turtles of the Toolebuc formation | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Genus | Species | Presence | Materials | Notes | Images |
Bouliachelys
| B. suteri | "Around Boulia in Western Queensland"{{Cite book |last=Kear |first=Benjamin P. |title=Dinosaurs in Australia: Mesozoic life from the Southern Continent |date=2011 |publisher=CSIRO Pub |others=Robert J. Hamilton-Bruce, CSIRO Publishing |isbn=978-0-643-10169-2 |location=Collingwood, Vic. |pages=88 |oclc=692219338}} | | A Protostegidae sea turtle. | |||||
Cratochelone
| C. berneyi | Queensland | | A Protostegidae sea turtle. | |||||
Notochelone
| N. costata | Queensland | | A Protostegidae sea turtle. |
== Fish ==
== Arthropod ==
class="wikitable" align="center" | ||||
colspan="5" align="center" | Arthropods of the Toolebuc formation | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Genus | Species | Presence | Notes | Images |
Brunnaega
|B. tomhurleyi | | An isopod, over 130 fossil individuals found infesting a Pachyrhizodus marathonensis carcass. | |
== Molluscs ==
class="wikitable" align="center" | ||||
colspan="5" align="center" | Molluscs of the Toolebuc formation | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Genus | Species | Presence | Notes | Images |
Beudanticeras
|B. flindersi | | | ||||
Enchoteuthis
|E. tonii | | | ||||
Inoceramus
| I. sutherlandi | "Siphon Paddock, Dunluce Street, near Hughendon, North Queensland, Australia"{{Cite journal |author=Robin I. Knight |author2=Noel J. Morris |author3=Jonathan A. Todd |author4=Lauren E. Howard |author5=Alexander D. Ball |date=13 May 2013 |title=Exceptional preservation of a novel gill grade in large Cretaceous inoceramids: systematic and palaeobiological implications |journal=Palaeontology |volume=57 |issue=1 |pages=37–54 |doi=10.1111/pala.12046 |doi-access=free}} | | ||||
Trachyteuthis
|T. willisi | | |
See also
- List of dinosaur-bearing rock formations
- Paja Formation, Kronosaurus and Platypterygius Lagerstätte in Colombia
- Sierra Madre Formation, contemporaneous fossiliferous formation of Mexico
- Santana Group, contemporaneous Lagerstätte in northeastern Brazil
- Crato Formation
- Romualdo Formation
References
{{reflist|30em}}
= Bibliography =
- {{cite journal |last1=Leahey |first1=Lucy G. |last2=Molnar |first2=Ralph E. |last3=Carpenter |first3=Kenneth |last4=Witmer |first4=Lawrence M. |last5=Salisbury |first5=Steven W. |year=2015 |title=Cranial osteology of the ankylosaurian dinosaur formerly known as Minmi sp. (Ornithischia: Thyreophora) from the Lower Cretaceous Allaru Mudstone of Richmond, Queensland, Australia |journal=PeerJ |volume=3 |page=e1475 |doi=10.7717/peerj.1475 |doi-access=free |pmid=26664806|pmc=4675105 }}
- {{cite book |editor-last=Weishampel |editor-first=David B. |editor-link=David B. Weishampel |editor-last2=Dodson |editor-first2=Peter |editor-link2=Peter Dodson |editor-last3=Osmólska |editor-first3=Halszka |editor-link3=Halszka Osmólska |year=2004 |title=The Dinosauria, 2nd edition |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vtZFDb_iw40C |publisher=Berkeley: University of California Press |access-date=2019-02-21 |isbn=0-520-24209-2}}
Category:Cretaceous System of Australia
Category:Early Cretaceous Australia
Category:Shallow marine deposits