Ammonite Hill interdunal channel 31 (271080/1) (Cretaceous of Egypt)

Where: Egypt (30.0° N, 26.5° E: paleocoordinates 16.6° N, 22.1° E)

• coordinate estimated from map

When: Libyoceras ismaelis ammonoid zone, Ammonite Hill Member (Dakhla Formation), Maastrichtian (72.1 - 66.0 Ma)

• The lower part of the Ammonite Hill Member encloses the ammonite Libyoceras ismaelis and a large number of the pelecypod Exogyra overwegi. The record of both species documents a Maastrichtian age for the fossil-bearing horizons.

• member-level stratigraphic resolution

Environment/lithology: coastal; silty, calcareous sandstone and gray, green claystone

• The type section of the Ammonite Hill Member, located in Conoco Channel 20, is about 95 m thick. Towards the west, in the direction of the palaeocoast line, the terrestrial input is continuously increasing, sot hat sanda nd sandstonep revail. In the samed irection, the occurrence of vertebrate remains gradually increases.
• The Ammonite Hill Member comprises a series of calcareous siltstone and sandstone and grey to greenish foliated clay. Sometimes, the sandstones are several metres thick. Thinner layers show either intensive bioturbations or enormous concentrations of the oyster Exogyra overwegi.

Size class: macrofossils

Collected by Professor K. -W. Barthel and team in 1979-1980

Collection methods: quarrying, surface (float), surface (in situ),

• Department of Geology and Palaeontology, now the Department of Applied Geosciences II of the Technical University of Berlin. They bear the registration numbers Vb- 173, Vb-214 and 215, Vb-64 1, Vb-648 and

Primary reference: E. S. Gaffney, H. Tong, and P. A. Meylan. 2006. Evolution of the side-necked turtles: The families Bothremydidae, Euraxemydidae, and Araripemydidae. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 300:1-318 [M. Uhen/M. Uhen/M. Uhen]more details

Purpose of describing collection: general faunal/floral analysis

PaleoDB collection 83310: authorized by Mark Uhen, entered by Mark Uhen on 17.08.2008, edited by Roger Benson

Creative Commons license: CC BY (attribution)

Taxonomic list

Show authors, comments, and common names
Reptilia
 Testudines - Bothremydidae
Zolhafah bella n. gen. n. sp., Arenila krebsi
Zolhafah bella n. gen. n. sp. Lapparent de Broin and Werner 1998 sideneck turtle
Holotype skull Vb- 173 (field number 27 1080/1/7A),
Arenila krebsi Lapparent de Broin and Werner 1998 sideneck turtle
Pelvis Vb-215
 Testudines - Cheloniidae
aff. Tasbacka sp.
aff. Tasbacka sp. Nesov 1986 sea turtle
Left humerus Vb-214