Wadi Al Dab'i (Cretaceous of Jordan)

Also known as Harrana fauna

Where: Jordan (31.6° N, 36.5° E: paleocoordinates 15.9° N, 30.2° E)

• coordinate estimated from map

• local area-level geographic resolution

When: Muwaddar Chalk Marl Formation, Late/Upper Maastrichtian (70.6 - 66.0 Ma)

• Most vertebrate fossils from lowest stratigraphic zone buried beneath 25 meters of sediments. Menuites fresvillensis is a good index taxon for upper Maastrichtian strata Pachydiscus (P.) dossantosi links Jordan with the (upper) lower to lower upper Maastrichtian in the United Arab Emirates/Oman border area and with more poorly constrained Maastrichtian levels in Brazil and Nigeria. The record of Menuites fresvillensis and sphenodiscids suggests correlation of the MCMF with the Emael and Nekum members of the Maastrichtian Formation (ca 66.5–66.1 Ma), plus the upper part of the coeval Kunrade Formation, in the type area of the Maastrichtian Stage (southeast Netherlands, northeast Belgium). However, associated ‘tegulated’ inoceramids from the MCMF are assignable to the group of Tenuipteria argentea (Conrad, 1858), which corroborates the latest Maastrichtian age of that unit and allows correlation with North America and Europe.

• group of beds-level stratigraphic resolution

Environment/lithology: offshore; lithified marl

• The predominantly chalky lithology, coupled with the paucity of any diversified benthic macrofaunal assemblages, the absence of erosional surfaces and the presence of diverse planktonic faunas, indicates a moderate to deep-water pelagic environment (Powell 1989). On the basis of macrofossil evidence at a number of localities, inclusive of sclerorhynchid saw fishes and ginglymostomatid sharks, palaeowater depth is estimated not to have exceeded 100 metres, under prevailing subtropical palaeoclimatic conditions (Kaddumi 2009a).
• Slightly bituminous light gray chalk marl with very large concretions up to 4 meters in diameter rich in vertebrate remains and also containing secondary Uranium and calcite veins.

Size class: macrofossils

Collection methods: Repository: Eternal River Museum of Natural History (ERMNH) at Amman

Primary reference: H. F. Kaddumi. 2006. A new genus and species of gigantic marine turtles (Chelonioidea: Cheloniidae) from the Maastrichtian of the Harrana Fauna-Jordan. PalArch Vertebrate Paleontology 2(1):1-14 [P. Holroyd/P. Holroyd]more details

Purpose of describing collection: taxonomic analysis

PaleoDB collection 170239: authorized by Patricia Holroyd, entered by Patricia Holroyd on 17.06.2015, edited by Matthew Clapham

Creative Commons license: CC BY (attribution)

Taxonomic list

unclassified
  -
Selachia indet.
"enigmatic tiny 2 mm selachian teeth with three lateral cusplets and broad massive root"
Cephalopoda
 Ammonitida - Pachydiscidae
Menuites fresvillensis Seunes 1890 ammonite
 Ammonitida - Sphenodiscidae
Libycoceras acutodorsatus Noetling 1897 ammonite
 Ammonitida - Baculitidae
Baculites sp. Lamarck 1799 ammonite
Baculites ovatus auctorum non Say 1821
Bivalvia
 Myalinida - Inoceramidae
Chondrichthyes
 Myliobatiformes -
 Lamniformes - Anacoracidae
Squalicorax pristodontus Agassiz 1835 crow shark
 Lamniformes - Otodontidae
Reptilia
 Testudines - Cheloniidae
Gigantatypus salahi n. gen. n. sp.
Gigantatypus salahi n. gen. n. sp. Kaddumi 2006 sea turtle
 Squamata - Mosasauridae
Mosasauridae indet. Gervais 1852 mosasaur
:new species and genus of small durophagous mosasaurs similar to carinodens"
Platecarpus sp. Cope 1869 mosasaur
"Platecarpus indet."
Tylosaurus indet. Marsh 1872 mosasaur
"Mosasaurus hoffmanni" = Mosasaurus hoffmannii Mantell 1829 mosasaur
"Liodon anceps" = Leiodon anceps Owen 1841 mosasaur
Clidastes sp. Cope 1868 mosasaur
 Pterosauria -
 Plesiosauria - Polycotylidae
Polycotylidae indet. Williston 1908 plesiosaur
Actinopteri
 Aulopiformes - Enchodontidae
Enchodus elegans Dartevelle and Casier 1949
 Aulopiformes - Eurypholidae
 Aulopiformes - Dercetidae
Dercetis sp. Agassiz 1834
 Ichthyodectiformes - Ichthyodectidae
 Ichthyodectiformes - Saurodontidae
Saurodon sp. Hays 1829
Saurocephalus sp. Harlan 1824