Reuchenette Formation

Reuchenette Formation
Stratigraphic range: Kimmeridgian, 157 Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N ↓
Type	Geological formation
Sub-units	Membre de Chevenez, Membre de Courtedoux, Marne du Banné, Membre de Vabenau
Underlies	Twannbach Formation
Overlies	Formation de Court, Balsthal-Formation, Membre de Porrentruy, Verena-Member, Holzflue-Member, Formation de Courgenay
Thickness	140 metres average, 160 m in type area.
Lithology
Primary	Limestone
Other	Mudstone
Location
Region	Europe
Country	Switzerland

The Reuchenette Formation is a Jurassic geologic formation in Switzerland. It is Kimmeridgian in age and predominantly consists of well stratified limestone, with lithology variable both laterally and stratigraphically including wackestones, packstones and grainstones, as well as mudstone.^[1] Dinosaur remains are among the fossils that have been recovered from the formation, including the Turiasaurian sauropod Amanzia greppini, alongside a theropod tooth belonging to Ceratosauria indet, originally assigned to Megalosaurus meriani.^[2] teleosaurid crocodyliformes are also known, including Sericodon, Proexochokefalos and Machimosaurus.^[3] The metriorhynchid thalatosuchians Torvoneustes^[4] and Dakosaurus. The hybodontid shark Asteracanthus.^[5] The thalassochelydian turtle Thalassemys^[6] and Solnhofia is known from the formation,^[7] as is the platychelyid turtles Platychelys,^[8] and the plesiochelyid turtle Plesiochelys.^[9]

Vertebrate Fauna

Color key Taxon Reclassified taxon Taxon falsely reported as present Dubious taxon or junior synonym Ichnotaxon Ootaxon Morphotaxon		Notes Uncertain or tentative taxa are in small text; crossed out taxa are discredited.

Ray-finned fish

Genus	Species	Material	Notes	Images
"Lepidotes"	"L". laevis	Jaw Fragment	Ginglymodi
	L. sp.	Four enameloid caps of the grinding tooth	Ginglymodia
Gyrodus	G. "jurassicus"	Lower jaw	Pycnodontidae
	G. sp.	Two incisors	Pycnodontidae
Proscinetes	P. sp. 1	Enameloid cap of grinding tooth, six vomers and four prearticulars	Pycnodontidae
	P. sp. 2	Enameloid cap of grinding tooth, vomer and three prearticulars	Pycnodontidae
Pycnodontiforme	Indeterminate	Enameloid cap of grinding tooth	Pycnodontidae
Caturus	C. sp.	Seven teeth	Caturidae
Callopterus	C. sp.	Tooth	Caturidae
Ionoscopus	I. sp.	Tooth	Caturidae
Belonostomus	B. sp.	Predentary	Aspidorhynchidae

Cartilaginous fish

Genus	Species	Material	Notes	Images
Asteracanthus[10]	A. udulfensis	149 teeth from different parts of the jaw	Acrodontine hybodontiforme with strongly ornamented dentition adapted for crushing hard-shelled prey, so far only known from the Reuchenette Formation
"Hybodus"[10]	"H". sp.	101 teeth from different parts of the jaw	Hybodontiforme with teeth similar to teeth from "Hybodus" lusitanicus, but they are smaller and slightly different in the bluntness of their main cusp
	"H". multicuspidatus	19 mostly incomplete teeth	Hybodontiforme whose teeth are very similar to those of Polyacrodus brevicostatus, however that genus is considered a nomen dubium
Planohybodus[10]	P. sp.	22 teeth	Hybodontiforme that may represent a new species
cf. Meristodonoides[10]	cf. M. sp.	22 teeth	Hybodontiforme very similar to Meristodonoides, the teeth are too poorly preserved to properly confirm the inclusion in the genus
Pseudorhina[10]	P. sp.	One partial tooth	Pseudorhina tooth displaying a unique morphology, however too fragmentary to name
	P. acanthoderma	69 teeth from different parts of the jaw	Large angelshark known best by complete specimens hailing from the contemporary Nusplingen Limestone
	P. alifera	27 teeth from different parts of the jaw	Medium-sized angelshark known best by complete specimens hailing from the Solnhofen Limestone
Protospinax[10]	P. sp.	Three teeth	Squalomorph known from complete specimens hailing from the Solnhofen Limestone, the material from the Swiss Jura is too fragmentary to identify on a species level
Heterodontidae[10]	Indeterminate	One fragment of a fin spine and 5 teeth	Indeterminate bullhead shark
Heterodontus[10]	H. semirugosus	Six anterior teeth	Bullhead shark
?Paracestracion[10]	?P. sp.	One fin spine	Heterodontiforme tentatively referred to Paracestracion
Palaeoscyllium[10]	P. cf. formosum	15 teeth from different parts of the jaw	Catshark most similar to P. formosum
Corysodon[10]	C. cirinensis	Four teeth	The systematic position of this genus is disputed, its also known from Cerin and Solnhofen
Rhinobatoidea[10]	Indeterminate	25 teeth	Teeth that could either belong to Belemnobatis or Spathobathis
Belemnobatis[10]	B. sismondae	339 teeth from different parts of the jaw	Spathobathid known by more complete specimens from Cerin
	B. morinicus	55 teeth	Spathobathid known by more complete specimens from Cerin
Spathobathis[10]	S. bugesiacus	157 teeth from different parts of the jaw	Spathobathid known by more complete specimens from Cerin
Ischyodus[10]	I. quenstedti	16 fin spines, 34 dental plates, 9 palatine plates and 25 mandibular plates	Large chimaera with a wide distribution in Late Jurassic Europe
Laffonia[11]	L. helvetica	1 egg capsule	Egg capsule similar to those of the modern short-nose chimaera

Reptiles

Testudinata

Genus	Species	Material	Notes	Images
Craspedochelys	C. picteti
	C. jaccardi
Plesiochelys	P. bigleri
Platychelys	P. oberndorferi
Portlandemys	P. gracilis
Solnhofia	S. brachyrhyncha
Tropidemys	T. langii
Thalassemys	T. bruntrutana
	T. hugii
	"T." moseri

Crocodylomorpha

Genus	Species	Material	Notes	Images
Dakosaurus	D. maximus
Machimosaurus	H. hugii
Proexochokefalos	P. cf. bouchardi
Sericodon	S. jugleri
Torvoneustes	T. jurensis

Dinosauria

Genus	Species	Material	Notes	Images
Amanzia[2]	A. greppini
Ceratosauria	Indeterminate

Pterosauria

Genus	Species	Material	Notes	Images
Pterodactyloidea	Indeterminate	Second wing phalanx (NMS 20’870)

Invertebrate Fauna

Cephalopoda

Genus	Species	Material	Notes	Images

See also

• List of dinosaur-bearing rock formations
  • List of stratigraphic units with indeterminate dinosaur fossils

References

1. "Reuchenette Formation". strati.ch.
2. Schwarz, Daniela; Mannion, Philip D.; Wings, Oliver; Meyer, Christian A. (December 2020). "Re-description of the sauropod dinosaur Amanzia ("Ornithopsis/Cetiosauriscus") greppini n. gen. and other vertebrate remains from the Kimmeridgian (Late Jurassic) Reuchenette Formation of Moutier, Switzerland". Swiss Journal of Geosciences. 113 (1): 2. Bibcode:2020SwJG..113....2S. doi:10.1186/s00015-020-00355-5. ISSN 1661-8726.
3. Johnson, Michela M.; Young, Mark T.; Brusatte, Stephen L. (2020). "The phylogenetics of Teleosauroidea (Crocodylomorpha, Thalattosuchia) and implications for their ecology and evolution". PeerJ. 8: e9808. doi:10.7717/peerj.9808. PMC 7548081. PMID 33083104.
4. Girard, L. C.; De Sousa Oliveira, S.; Raselli, I.; Martin, J. E.; Anquetin, J. (2023). "Description and phylogenetic relationships of a new species of Torvoneustes (Crocodylomorpha, Thalattosuchia) from the Kimmeridgian of Switzerland". PeerJ. 11. e15512. doi:10.7717/peerj.15512. PMC 10362849. PMID 37483966.
5. Léa Leuzinger; Gilles Cuny; Evgeny Popov; Jean-Paul Billon-Bruyat (2017). "A new chondrichthyan fauna from the Late Jurassic of the Swiss Jura (Kimmeridgian) dominated by hybodonts, chimaeroids and guitarfishes". Papers in Palaeontology. 3 (4): 471–511. Bibcode:2017PPal....3..471L. doi:10.1002/spp2.1085. hdl:11336/41081.
6. Anquetin, J.; Püntener, C.; Joyce, W.G. (2017). "A Review of the Fossil Record of Turtles of the Clade Thalassochelydia" (PDF). Bulletin of the Peabody Museum of Natural History. 58 (2): 317–369. Bibcode:2017BPMNH..58..317A. doi:10.3374/014.058.0205. S2CID 31091127.
7. Anquetin, Jérémy; Püntener, Christian (2020-11-12). "A new species of the large-headed coastal marine turtle Solnhofia (Testudinata, Thalassochelydia) from the Late Jurassic of NW Switzerland". PeerJ. 8: e9931. doi:10.7717/peerj.9931. ISSN 2167-8359. PMC 7666818. PMID 33240584.
8. Sullivan, Patrick M.; Joyce, Walter G. (August 2017). "The shell and pelvic anatomy of the Late Jurassic turtle Platychelys oberndorferi based on material from Solothurn, Switzerland". Swiss Journal of Palaeontology. 136 (2): 323–343. Bibcode:2017SwJP..136..323S. doi:10.1007/s13358-017-0136-7. ISSN 1664-2376.
9. Christian Püntener; Jérémy Anquetin; Jean-Paul Billon-Bruyat (2017). "The comparative osteology of Plesiochelys bigleri n. sp., a new coastal marine turtle from the Late Jurassic of Porrentruy (Switzerland)". PeerJ. 5: e3482. doi:10.7717/peerj.3482. PMC 5493033. PMID 28674653.
10. Leuzinger, Léa; Cuny, Gilles; Popov, Evgeny; Billon-Bruyat, Jean-Paul (2017). "A new chondrichthyan fauna from the Late Jurassic of the Swiss Jura (Kimmeridgian) dominated by hybodonts, chimaeroids and guitarfishes". Papers in Palaeontology. 3 (4): 471–511. Bibcode:2017PPal....3..471L. doi:10.1002/spp2.1085. ISSN 2056-2802.
11. Zhao, Yang; Bestwick, Jordan; Fischer, Jan; Bastiaans, Dylan; Greif, Merle; Klug, Christian (2025-02-16). "The first record of a shortnose chimaera-like egg capsule from the Mesozoic (Late Jurassic, Switzerland)". Swiss Journal of Palaeontology. 144 (1): 8. doi:10.1186/s13358-025-00352-x. ISSN 1664-2384. PMC 11830639. PMID 39967761.

• Weishampel, David B.; Dodson, Peter; and Osmólska, Halszka (eds.): The Dinosauria, 2nd, Berkeley: University of California Press. 861 pp. ISBN 0-520-24209-2.