Glücksbrunn/Heidelberg near Schweina (Permian of Germany)

Also known as Schweina; Altenberg; Kupferschiefer, Copper Shale

Where: Thuringia, Germany (50.8° N, 10.3° E: paleocoordinates 15.2° N, 22.8° E)

• coordinate estimated from map

• outcrop-level geographic resolution

When: Kupferschiefer Member (Werra Formation), Wuchiapingian (259.9 - 254.2 Ma)

• The Kupferschiefer (T1) is the basalmost unit of the Werra Formation (Z1), the latter being the basalmost formation of the Zechstein Series (Uppermost Permian of Central Europe).

•Brauns et al. (2003) reported a date of 257.3±1.6 Ma (Late Permian/Lopingian: Wuchiapingian) for the Kupferschiefer based on a Re-Os geochronological study. The presence of the conodont Mesogondolella britannica in Kupferschiefer equivalents supports a middle Wuchiapingian age for the Protorosaurus-bearing levels (Legler et al. 2005, 2008).

• member-level stratigraphic resolution

Environment/lithology: offshore; carbonaceous shale

• Deposition took place "below wave base in a stratified water body (Paul, 1986a)" (Becker & Bechstädt, 2006, Sedimentology 53, pp. 1083–1120)

•"Sedimentation rates during Kupferschiefer deposition were low (5 mm kyr); (Füchtbauer, 1968). The Kupferschiefer is thus interpreted as a condensed section, which formed during maximum flooding (Ross & Ross, 1995; Strohmenger et al., 1996a)." (Becker & Bechstädt, 2006).

Size class: macrofossils

Preservation: permineralized

Collected by C. B. von Cotta, among others in 1733, ?1848

Collection methods: quarrying,

• Swedenborg's Specimen was collected in 1733, the Freiberg Specimen was collected by von Cotta before or in 1848 (cf. von Meyer, 1856).

Primary reference: H. v. Meyer. 1856. Zur Fauna der Vorwelt. Band 3. Saurier aus dem Kupferschiefer der Zechsteinformation 28 p. [J. Mueller/T. Liebrecht/T. Liebrecht]more details

Purpose of describing collection: taxonomic analysis

PaleoDB collection 93034: authorized by Johannes Mueller, entered by Torsten Liebrecht on 22.12.2009

Creative Commons license: CC BY (attribution)

Taxonomic list

Reptilia
 Diapsida -
Protorosaurus speneri n. gen. n. sp.
Protorosaurus speneri n. gen. n. sp. Meyer 1832 archosauromorph
NHMW 1943I4 ("Swedenborg'sches Exemplar in Wien"), FG 2666a/2004, slab and counterslab