Jaws of a large belemnite and an ammonite from the Aalenian (Middle Jurassic) of Switzerland

Klug C, Etter W, Hoffmann R, Fuchs D, de Baets K (2020)

Publication Type: Journal article

Publication year: 2020

Journal

Swiss Journal of Palaeontology Springer Verlag

Book Volume: 139

Article Number: 4

Journal Issue: 1

DOI: 10.1186/s13358-020-00207-7

Abstract

Although belemnite rostra can be quite abundant in Jurassic and Cretaceous strata, the record of belemnite jaws was limited to a few specimens from Germany and Russia. Here, we describe and figure three cephalopod jaws from the Middle Jurassic Opalinus Clay of northern Switzerland. Although flattened, the carbonaceous fossils display enough morphological information to rule out an ammonoid, nautiloid or octobrachian origin of the two larger jaws. Their similarities to belemnite jaws from Germany and Russia conforms with our interpretation of these specimens as belemnite jaws. Based on their rather large size, we tentatively assign these two jaws to the megateuthidid Acrocoelites conoideus. The third jaw is a rather small upper jaw of an ammonoid. Since Leioceras opalinum is by far the most common ammonite in this unit in northern Switzerland, we tentatively suggest that the upper jaw belongs to this species.

Authors with CRIS profile

Kenneth de Baets Geozentrum Nordbayern

Involved external institutions

Naturhistorisches Museum Basel CH Switzerland (CH) Bayerische Staatssammlung für Paläontologie und Geologie DE Germany (DE) Ruhr-Universität Bochum (RUB) DE Germany (DE)

How to cite

APA:

Klug, C., Etter, W., Hoffmann, R., Fuchs, D., & de Baets, K. (2020). Jaws of a large belemnite and an ammonite from the Aalenian (Middle Jurassic) of Switzerland. Swiss Journal of Palaeontology, 139(1). https://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s13358-020-00207-7

MLA:

Klug, Christian, et al. "Jaws of a large belemnite and an ammonite from the Aalenian (Middle Jurassic) of Switzerland." Swiss Journal of Palaeontology 139.1 (2020).

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