Villalba de la Sierra Formation

Villalba de la Sierra Formation
Villalba de la Sierra Formation
Stratigraphic range: Campanian-Maastrichtian; ~84–66 Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
	Excavation of a titanosaur at Lo Hueco
Type	Geological formation
Lithology
Primary	Mudstone
Other	Sandstone, gypsum
Location
Coordinates	40°00′N 2°00′W / 40.0°N 2.0°W
Approximate paleocoordinates	30°42′N 0°36′W / 30.7°N 0.6°W
Region	Castilla-La Mancha
Country	Spain
Extent	Iberian Ranges
Type section
Named for	Villalba de la Sierra
	Villalba de la Sierra Formation (Spain)

The Villalba de la Sierra Formation is a Campanian to Maastrichtian geologic formation in Spain. Fossil dinosaur eggs have been reported from the formation, that comprises gypsiferous, grey, argillaceous mudstones and sandstones, deposited in a floodplain environment^[1]^[2] characterised by high seasonality and variability in water availability.^[3]

Fossil content

The formation has provided abundant titanosaurian remains, including Lohuecotitan and Qunkasaura, the only two genera currently named.^[4]^[5] More than 10,000 fossil remains of various fishes, amphibians, lizards, dinosaurs (Ampelosaurus sp., Rhabdodon sp.), turtles (Foxemys mechinorum, Iberoccitanemys convenarum), and crocodiles (Lohuecosuchus megadontos, Agaresuchus fontisensis, Musturzabalsuchus sp.) are also known from the site, one of the richest for the Late Cretaceous in Europe.^[4]^[6]

Dinosaurs of the Villalba de la Sierra Formation
Taxon	Species	Presence	Materials	Notes	Images
Lohuecotitan	L. pandafilandi	Lo Hueco.	A disarticulated partial skeleton	A titanosaur.
Qunkasaura^[7]	Q. pintiquiniestra	Lo Hueco.	A partial skeleton belonging to a single individual.	A saltasauroid titanosaur.

Crocodiles of the Villalba de la Sierra Formation
Taxon	Species	Presence	Materials	Notes	Images
Agaresuchus	A. fontisensis
Lohuecosuchus	L. megadontos
Musturzabalsuchus	M. sp

Turtles of the Villalba de la Sierra Formation
Taxon	Species	Presence	Materials	Notes	Images
Foxemys	F. mechinorum
Iberoccitanemys	I. convenarum

^ Lo Hueco, Fuentes (G1) at Fossilworks.org
^ Weishampel et al., 2004, pp.517-607
^ Peyrot, Daniel; Barroso-Barcenilla, Fernando; Cambra-Moo, Oscar (1 October 2013). "Paleoecology of the late Campanian/early Maastrichtian Fossil-Lagerstätte of "Lo Hueco" (Cuenca, Spain): Palynological insights". Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology. 387: 27–39. Bibcode:2013PPP...387...27P. doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2013.07.005. Retrieved 22 November 2022.
^ ^a ^b Díez Díaz et al., 2016
^ Mocho, P.; Escaso, F.; Marcos-Fernández, F.; Páramo, A.; Sanz, J. L.; Vidal, D.; Ortega, F. (2024). "A Spanish saltasauroid titanosaur reveals Europe as a melting pot of endemic and immigrant sauropods in the Late Cretaceous". Communications Biology. 7. 1016. doi:10.1038/s42003-024-06653-0. PMC 11375222.
^ Ortega et al., 2015
^ Mocho, P.; Escaso, F.; Marcos-Fernández, F.; Páramo, A.; Sanz, J. L.; Vidal, D.; Ortega, F. (2024). "A Spanish saltasauroid titanosaur reveals Europe as a melting pot of endemic and immigrant sauropods in the Late Cretaceous". Communications Biology. 7. 1016. doi:10.1038/s42003-024-06653-0. PMC 11375222. PMID 39232208.

Díez Díaz, V.; Mocho, P.; Páramo, A.; Escaso, F.; Marcos-Fernández, F.; Sanz, J.L.; Ortega, F. (2016). "A new titanosaur (Dinosauria, Sauropoda) from the Upper Cretaceous of Lo Hueco (Cuenca, Spain)". Cretaceous Research. 68: 49–60. Bibcode:2016CrRes..68...49D. doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2016.08.001.
Ortega, F.; Bardet, N.; Barroso-Barcenilla, F.; Callapez, P.M.; Cambra-Moo, O.; Daviero- Gómez, V.; Díez Díaz, V.; Domingo, L.; Elvira, A.; Escaso, F.; García-Oliva, M.; Gómez, B.; Houssaye, A.; Knoll, F.; Marcos-Fernández, F.; Martín, M.; Mocho, P.; Narváez, I.; Pérez- García, A.; Peyrot, D.; Segura, M.; Serrano, H.; Torices, A.; Vidal, D.; Sanz, J.L. (2015). "The biota of the Upper Cretaceous site of "Lo Hueco" (Cuenca, Spain)". Journal of Iberian Geology. 41 (1). doi:10.5209/rev_JIGE.2015.v41.n1.48657. hdl:10486/675918.
Weishampel, David B.; Dodson, Peter; Osmólska, Halszka, eds. (2004). The Dinosauria (2nd ed.). Berkeley: University of California Press. pp. 1–880. ISBN 0-520-24209-2. Retrieved 2019-02-21.