Tahora Formation

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Template:Short description Template:Use New Zealand English Script error: No such module "Infobox".Script error: No such module "check for unknown parameters". The Tahora Formation is a Late Cretaceous geologic formation that outcrops in northeastern New Zealand near Napier.[1][2] It is Haumurian in age according to the New Zealand geologic time scale (mainly Campanian, but ranging from Santonian to lower Maastrichtian). It forms part of the Upper Cretaceous to Teurian (Danian) (lower Paleocene) Tinui Group. It unconformably overlies the Jurassic to Lower Cretaceous Urewera Group or the Upper Cretaceous Matawai Group. It is conformably overlain by the Haumurian to Teurian Whangai Formation. It consist of three members, the Maungataniwha Sandstone Member, the Mutuera Member and the Houpapa Member.[3] It is named for Tahora Station, south of Matawai in the Gisborne Region. The aptly named Maungataniwha (Māori for "mountain of monsters") Sandstone Member is known for its rich reptile fossil remains, first investigated by amateur palaeontologist Joan Wiffen.

Depositional environment

The whole of the Tinui Group is interpreted to be an upper Cretaceous transgressive sequence. The Maungataniwha Sandstone Member was deposited in a very shallow water to beach environment. The siltstones of the time-equivalent Mutuera Member are thought to have been deposited in a mid to outer shelf environment. The Houpapa Member is interpreted to be the fill of local channels cut into the underlying strata.[3]

Fossil content

Vertebrates

Indeterminate dinosaur remains have been recovered from the formation, including indeterminate theropod, sauropod, and ornithischian remains.[4] Other fossils found in the Tahora Formation include plesiosaurs and pterosaurs.[5]

Because of a lack of material, the exact taxonomic placement of the theropod from the Tahora Formation is uncertain, although its discoverer Joan Wiffen considered it possibly a megalosaurid, at the time a poorly defined group of unspecialized large carnivorous dinosaurs. The vertebra was described by Molnar (1981), and was considered an indeterminate theropod by Agnolin et al. (2010).[6][7]

Reptiles

Plesiosaurs
Plesiosaurs recorded from Tahora Formation
Genus Species Member/Location Material Description Image
Tuarangisaurus[8] T. keyesi Maungataniwha Sandstone A nearly complete skull, mandible, rear skull elements, and nine anterior-most cervical vertebrae from the same individual. An elasmosaurid.
File:Tuarangisaurus keyesi.png
Mosasaurs
Mosasaurs recorded from Tahora Formation
Genus Species Member/Location Material Description Image
Moanasaurus[9] M. mangahouangae Maungataniwha Sandstone[10] A disarticulated skull, vertebrae, ribs and flipper bones. A Mosasaurini mosasaur.
File:Moanasaurus2.png
Pterosaurs
Pterosaurs recorded from Tahora Formation
Genus Species Member/Location Material Description Image
Azhdarchidae[11] Indeterminate Maungataniwha Member, Mangahouanga Stream Distal left ulna, coracoid fragment
Dinosaurs
Dinosaurs recorded from Tahora Formation
Genus Species Member/Location Material Description Image
Ankylosauria[12][7] Indeterminate Maungataniwha Member, Mangahouanga Stream An incomplete rib and two caudal veterbral centra
Ornithopoda[7] Indeterminate Maungataniwha Member, Mangahouanga Stream Partial right ilium
Sauropoda[12] Indeterminate Maungataniwha Member A rib fragment
Theropoda[7][12] Indeterminate Maungataniwha Member, Mangahouanga Stream Caudal vertebra, pedal phalanx

Invertebrates

Invertebrates found in the formation include beetles,[13] ammonites, annelids, belemnites, bivalves, brachiopods, crinoids, crustaceans, gastropods, nautiloids and scaphopods.[2]

See also

References

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  4. ↑ Weishampel, et al. (2004). "Dinosaur distribution" Pp. 517-607. in Weishampel, David B.; Dodson, Peter; and Osmólska, Halszka (eds.): The Dinosauria, 2nd, Berkeley: University of California Press. 861 pp. Template:ISBN. " Pp. 517-607.
  5. ↑ Mangahouanga Stream at Fossilworks.org
  6. ↑ Molnar,R.E.1981.AdinosaurfromNewZealand.Pp.91–96in M.M.Cresswell&P.Vella(eds)GondwanaFive:Proceeding of the Fifth International Gondwanan Symposium. Wellington. A. A., Balkema, Rotterdam.
  7. ↑ a b c d Script error: No such module "Citation/CS1".
  8. ↑ Script error: No such module "Citation/CS1".
  9. ↑ Script error: No such module "Citation/CS1".
  10. ↑ Script error: No such module "Citation/CS1".
  11. ↑ Script error: No such module "Citation/CS1".
  12. ↑ a b c Script error: No such module "Citation/CS1".
  13. ↑ GS 14182, Mangahouanga Stream (V19/f133) at Fossilworks.org

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