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Introduction
Additional affiliations
January 2016 - present
Niedersächsisches Landesmuseum Hannover
Position
- Researcher
May 2006 - August 2014
April 2006 - May 2006
Position
- Supervision of students on a field trip and field work for Bachelor qualification in the southwestern U.S.A (Nevada)
Description
- Supervision of undergraduates on field-trip and field-work for Bachelor qualification on alluvial fan sedimentology and fault-scarp analysis in the Basin-and-Range Province, Nevada
Education
October 2007 - July 2013
October 1997 - January 2004
Publications
Publications (99)
NOTE: The article is in German language, however, an extended English abstract and an English appendix with ichnotaxonomic data and discussions, as well as English figure and table captions are available.
New occurrences of dinosaur tracks in
the lowermost Cretaceous of the Bückeberg mountain (Berriasian; northwestern
Germany)
A total of six vert...
The knowledge of Pliensbachian (Early Jurassic, ∼192.9-184.2 Ma) plesiosaurs is notoriously insufficient. Although there have been specimens described from different parts of the world, only three of them have been established as diagnosable taxa. Here, we describe two previously unreported lower Pliensbachian plesiosaur occurrences that originate...
The enigmatic chimaeroid genus Stoilodon Nessov & Averianov, 1996 had been previously known only by mandibular dental plates found in the Upper Jurassic to Lower Cretaceous of the Russian Platform. Here we report the first occurrence of the genus from Western Europe. The new material derives from brackish deposits of the uppermost Berriasian Isterb...
Here we describe a new genus and species of metriorhynchid crocodylomorph, Enalioetes schroederi gen. et sp. nov., from the lower Valanginian Stadthagen Formation (Lower Cretaceous) of northwestern Germany. Enalioetes schroederi is the most complete and well-preserved Cretaceous metriorhynchid skull known to date, preserving most of the cranium and...
Here two long-bone fragments from the Osning Formation (Valanginian – Lower Hauterivian) of the vicinity of Bielefeld, northwestern Germany, are described
and referred to pterosaurs. The fragments probably represent parts of a femur and an incomplete wing-finger phalanx, respectively. The preserved features indicate the presence of moderately to la...
Upland environments are severely underrepresented in the fossil record, which causes substantial gaps in our knowledge of their paleodiversity. Barremian–Aptian upland paleokarst fissure and cave deposits exposed at Balve-Beckum in northwestern Germany yield a large amount of vertebrate remains. Disarticulated and fragmentary bones and teeth repres...
Supplement to Naturhistorica 164/165: 3-28.
Available from: http://www.n-g-h.org/pages/publikationen/naturhistorica---berichte-der-ngh/naturhistorica-164-165-supplement.php
fragmentary centrum of a dorsal vertebra and a manual ungual phalanx of eusauropod
dinosaurs from the Upper Barremian – Lower Aptian of Balve in western Germany
are described. The dorsal centrum shares potential synapomorphies with the enigmatic
genus Ornithopsis and can probably be referred to a titanosauriform. The Balve record
is of significance...
In 1908, Hermann Löns outlined the concept of a "Quintär" ("Quintary period") to describe geological and biological manifestations of the Age of Humans. His definition of the "Quintary" consisted of two components: a lithostratigraphical ("Quintary deposits" or "Quintary stratum"), and a faunistic ("Quintary fauna") one. With a view on the stratigr...
The Lower Cretaceous record of pycnodont fishes from northern Germany is nearly exclusively confined to isolated teeth and dentitions but occurs across a broad range of facies realms.
The Upper Jurassic to Lower Cretaceous pycnodont fauna in northern Germany shows changing patterns in terms of diversity and abundance. A diversity peak is reached i...
Alle Abbildungen in der Reihenfolge, in der sie im Text erwähnt werden. Eine zusätzliche gesonderte Darstellung soll den Lesefluss des bilingualen Textes erleichtern.
All figures in the sequence they appear in the text. An additional, separate presentation is aimed to support the flow of reading of the bilingual text.
Alle Tabellen in der Reihenfolge, in der sie im Text erwähnt werden. Eine zusätzliche gesonderte Darstellung soll den Lesefluss des bilingualen Textes erleichtern. Einige Informationen wurden ergänzt.
All tables in the sequence they appear in the text. An additional, separate presentation is aimed to support the flow of reading of the bilingual te...
The record of Cretaceous pterosaur remains from Germany is sparse. The material recovered to date includes the fragmentary holotypes of Targaryendraco wiedenrothi and Ctenochasma roemeri, as well as a few isolated pterodactyloid teeth and some indeterminate skeletal elements, together with a plaster cast of a large Purbeckopus manus imprint. Here,...
The Geoscience Collections of the University of Göttingen, comprising over 4,5 million objects and series, can be traced back almost 300 years. The Deorgia augusta houses the fourth largest geoscientific collection in Germany; which is also the largest German geoscientific university collection.
Metriorhynchidae was a clade of extinct crocodylomorphs that adapted to a pelagic lifestyle, becoming a key component of Mesozoic lagoonal and coastal marine ecosystems. The type genus Metriorhynchus is one of the best-known genera of Mesozoic crocodylomorphs, and since the mid-19th century, the ‘concept’ of Metriorhynchus has become associated wit...
Based on a detailed morphological comparison of the original figures, the lost holotype of "Ornithocheirus hilsensis" is identified as the distal part of the proximal pedal phalanx from digit I of a large-sized theropod. The distinctness in the morphology of the distal epiphysis of this element from that present in the manus and in pedal digits II-...
During the Jurassic, metriorhynchid crocodylo-morphs radiated in marine ecosystems. However , their Cretaceous fossil record is sparse. This hampers our understanding of their marine specialisations, particularly as the first evidence mesopelagic adaptations are seen in Va-langinian specimens. One of the best preserved Cretaceous metriorhynchids is...
Enaliosuchus macrospondylus Koken, 1883 was one of the first thalattosuchian taxa from the Cretaceous to be described. The type series includes an atlas-axis complex, remnants of three post-axial cervical vertebrae, several dorsal vertebrae, a caudal vertebra, an incomplete femur and a fragmentary sacral rib from the upper Valanginian of northern G...
An isolated hyomandibula from a lower Toarcian carbonate concretion of the Ahrensburg erratics assemblage (Schleswig-Holstein, northern Germany) represents the first record of a chondrosteid fish from the Lower Jurassic of the southwestern Baltic realm. Except for its smaller size, the specimen is morphologically indistinguishable from correspondin...
Because of significantly differing facies, the Muschelkalk of the area is described separately according to the regions of western margin of the Upper Rhine Graben (Haardt Hills), Westrich Hills in Palatinate with eastern and western Saarland, and southern foreland of the Sierck Swell. Facies and lithostratigraphic units of the Haardt margin are ro...
In stark contrast to the famously rich Jurassic fossil record, the documented occurrences of Cretaceous pterosaur remains from Germany are extremeley sparse. To date, only a few bones and footprint traces have been found in strata of Berriaisian–Hauterivian age. The most complete and best-preserved of these specimens is the holotype of ‘Ornithochei...
In stark contrast to the famously rich Jurassic fossil record, the documented occurrences of Cretaceous pterosaur remains from Germany are extremeley sparse. To date, only a few bones and footprint traces have been found in strata of Berriaisian–Hauterivian age. The most complete and best-preserved of these specimens is the holotype of ‘Ornithochei...
Cretaceous pterosaur fossils are rare in Germany. The specimens documented to date are limited to only a few fragmentary body fossils and footprint traces from different Lower Cretaceous strata. Here we add to this sparse, but palaeobiogeographically significant record with the description of an incomplete mandible from marine sediments of the lowe...
Isolated teeth and a humerus from the Campanian of Hannover indicate a considerable local diversity of mosasaur taxa. The lower Misburg Formation (lower Campanian of the Lehrte West Syncline) yields Clidastes sp. (Mosasaurinae), Prognathodon sp. (Mosasaurinae), ?Hainosaurus sp. (Tylosaurinae) and an unidentified mosasaurid. It further confirms the...
Isolated remains of mosasaurids and plesiosaurians are recorded from the lower Campanian Bottrop
and Vaals formations of North Rhine-Westphalia, western Germany. A tooth crown from Bottrop-
Fuhlenbrock, referred to an elasmosaurid plesiosaurian, represents the first record of this group from
late-Upper Cretaceous strata of the area. Another presume...
The collection and dissemination of vertebrate ichnological data is struggling to keep up with techniques that are becoming commonplace in the wider palaeontological field. A standard protocol is required to ensure that data is recorded, presented and archived in a manner that will be useful both to contemporary researchers, and to future generatio...
Sachs, S., Hornung, J.J., Lallensack, J.N. & Kear, B.P., XX.XXXX.2017. First evidence of a large predatory plesiosaurian from the Lower Cretaceous non-marine ‘Wealden facies’ deposits of northwestern Germany. Alcheringa XX, X–X. ISSN 0311-5518. Here, we describe the incomplete mandible of a large-skulled ‘pliosauromorph’ plesiosaurian from the Lowe...
Here we report on a new basal elasmosaurid plesiosaurian, Lagenanectes richterae, gen. et sp. nov., from the
Lower Cretaceous (probably Upper Hauterivian) of Germany. The material includes a partial skull (cranium and mandible),
the atlas-axis complex, additional cervical vertebrae, caudal vertebrae, an ilium, and limb elements. The basioccipital a...
Reptilien gehören in der sächsischen Kreide (Elbtal-Gruppe) zu den Seltenheiten. Die wenigen bekannten Reste sind historische Funde, die erstmals im 19. Jahrhundert von Hanns Bruno Geinitz bearbeitet wurden. Sie stammen aus zwei stratigraphischen Einheiten, der Dölzschen-Formation (oberes Obercenomanium) sowie dem Strehlener und Weinböhlaer Kalk de...
The holotype of Brancasaurus brancai is one of the most historically famous and anatomically complete Early Cretaceous plesiosaurian fossils. It derived from the Gerdemann & Co. brickworks clay pit near Gronau (Westfalen) in North Rhine-Westphalia, northwestern Germany. Stratigraphically this locality formed part of the classic European “Wealden fa...
Two genus-group names of flat-worms—Leptocleidus Mueller, 1936 and Macrorhynchus von Graff, 1882—are junior homonyms that are preoccupied by fossil diapsid reptile genera—Leptocleidus Andrews, 1922, and Macrorhynchus Dunker, 1843—and an extant teleost fish genus—Macrorhynchus [Gmelin, 1801] ex La Cépède, 1800. These are replaced by nomina nova (Pha...
Early Jurassic plesiosaurian fossils are rare in the Scandinavian region, with a few isolated bones and teeth known from Bornholm, and anecdotal finds from East Greenland. The only other identifiable specimens derive from Toarcian-aged (based on ammonites) erratics deposited during Late Pleistocene glacial advances near the town of Ahrensburg, NE o...
The Saxonian Cretaceous Basin constitutes an important source of rare Late Cretaceous marine amniote fossils from Germany. It is also historically famous, having been documented in a series of monographic works published by the distinguished German palaeontologist Hanns Bruno Geinitz in the nineteenth century. The most productive rock units include...
und Oberbajocium (Parkinsonienton-Formation) von Bielefeld-Bethel werden vorgestellt. In beiden stratigraphischen Intervallen lassen sich Thalattosuchier, Ichthyosaurier und Plesiosaurier nachweisen. Dieser Befund zeigt das Persistieren typischer unterjurassischer Faunenelemente tieferer Beckenbereiche in den Mitteljura hinein an, und ist von beson...
The family Elasmosauridae constitutes one of the most iconic plesiosaurian clades. Their conservative body plan represents the popular model for Plesiosauria, and is characterised by a distinctive osteological morphology especially adapted for hyper-elongation of the neck. Here we report on a new basal elasmosaurid from the Lower Cretaceous (upper...
In Germany, mosasaur remains are very rare and only incompletely known. However, the earliest records date back to the 1830s, when tooth crowns were found in the chalk of the Isle of Rügen. A number of prominent figures in German palaeontology and geosciences of the 19th and 20th centuries focused on these remains, including, among others, Friedric...
Two genera of tylosaurine mosasaurs, Tylosaurus and Hainosaurus, are recorded for the first time from Germany. Tylosaurus sp. is represented by two isolated tooth crowns, originally described as Mosasaurus? alseni (here considered a nomen dubium) from the latest Santonian–Early Campanian, which are very similar to T. ivoensis and T. gaudryi. The ma...
Die Tongrube Gerdemann bei Gronau (Westfalen) zählt zu den bedeutendsten historischen Fundpunkten für Wirbeltierfossilien aus der Unteren Kreide in Deutschland. Aus diesem Aufschluss werden zwei Knochen vorgestellt, die sich in der Sammlung der Universität Münster bzw. der Ausstellung des Drilandmuseums
in Gronau befinden und dort lange ein wenig b...
A new barnacle species,Tesseropora canariana sp. nov., from Lower Pliocene shoreline deposits of western Fuerteventura is described. It represents the first record of the genus Tesseropora from the Canary Islands. The compartment of the new species is morphologically very similar to T. dumortieri (Fischer, 1866) from the Miocene of the western Teth...
Metatetrapous valdensis Nopcsa, 1923 from the late Berriasian of northwestern Germany was the first dinosaur ichnotaxon ever attributed to a thyreophoran trackmaker. However, the subsequent lost of the original material made this identification and the status of the ichnotaxon questionable for many subsequent authors. This situation was aggravated...
A hypichnium of a manus imprint (preserved as plaster cast) indicates for the first time the presence of the large pterosaur ichnotaxon Purbeckopus cf. pentadactylus Delair, 1963 in the late Berriasian of northwest Germany. It is only the second record of Purbeckopus globally and the first pterosaur track from Germany.
It provides evidence of a ver...
The archosaur fauna of the Berriasian to earliest Valanginian Bückeberg Formation (a.k.a. northwestern „German Wealden“) of northwestern Germany is represented by abundant (dinosaur) tracks, as well as by skeletal material. Faunal components include crocodilians (goniopholidids, pholidosaurids, atoposaurids), dinosaurs (theropods, sauropods, ankylo...
The Bückeberg Formation (Lower Saxony Basin, northern Germany and eastern Netherlands) represents a siliciclastic succession, deposited during the mid-Berriasian through to the earliest Valanginian. The unit is predominantly lacustrine with fluvial inflow and episodic marine connections to the Boreal Sea. Its fossil faunas include sauropterygian re...
A well-preserved isolated manus impression evidences the presence of derived aquatic adaptations in the forelimb morphology of Berriasian turtles. Size and the abundant co-occurring turtle fauna indicate that the track was left by a large-sized, bottom-walking basal pancryptodiran. The footprint shows an interesting mosaic of primitive and derived...
Fig. 3a-e) reported by Zázvorka (1965) from Dolní Újezd bears teeth with expanded bony bases of attachment and posterolingual resorbtion pits (Fig. 3c), features indicative of mosasauroids (Bell 1997; Caldwell & Palci 2007). The premaxilla suture is delimited anteriorly by the fourth tooth position (Fig. 3d, e) as in mosasaurids (Caldwell 1999, 200...
A fragmentary cervico-pectoral lateral spine and partial humerus of an ankylosaur from the Early Cretaceous (early Valanginian) of Gronau in Westfalen, northwestern Germany, are described. The spine shows closest morphological similarities to the characteristic cervical and pectoral spines of Hylaeosaurus armatus from the late Valanginian of Englan...
Character distribution for distal condyli morphology in thyreophoran dinosaurs. Taxonomy follows Maidment et al. [S10], Carpenter [S11] (Stegosauria), and Thompson et al. [S12] (Ankylosauria), respectively. Only taxa where the humerus is known are included.
(PDF)
Assessment of anterodistal protrusion of distal condyli in thyreophoran humeri. Examples partially reversed to show the same aspect, no scale intended. A, Condylus radialis and condylus ulnaris protrude to the same plane, (Ankylosauria: Niobrarasaurus coleii, after Carpenter et al. [S51], modified). B, Condylus radialis protrudes farther anterodist...
The northern German Lower Cretaceous Bückeberg Formation yields numerous dinosaur tracksites, some of which have produced material of impressive quality. Stratigraphically, the localities are concentrated in the Obernkirchen Sandstone, a thin subunit within this formation. The Obernkirchen Sandstone represents mainly a sandy barrier to back-barrier...
Data matrix for the revised analysis of the Brusatte et al.
[39]
dataset.
(TXT)
Data matrix for the revised analysis of the Nesbitt
[6]
dataset.
(NEX)
Additional information on the phylogenetic analysis. Includes new characters and taxon scores.
(DOC)
Archosaurs (birds, crocodilians and their extinct relatives including dinosaurs) dominated Mesozoic continental ecosystems from the Late Triassic onwards, and still form a major component of modern ecosystems (>10,000 species). The earliest diverse archosaur faunal assemblages are known from the Middle Triassic (c. 244 Ma), implying that the archos...
The periorbital morphology of goniopholidids is discussed, exploring the diversity of patterns and the relevance of the data for phylogenetic studies. Revision of material is focused on Goniopholis spp. and aff. Goniopholis spp., from England, Germany, and Belgium, providing a comparative description of their interorbital morphology. Traditional in...
The Geoscience Collections of the University of Göttingen, comprising over 4,5 million objects and series, can be traced back almost 300 years. The Deorgia augusta houses the fourth largest geoscientific collection in Germany; which is also the largest German geoscientific university collection.
This paper presents a detailed analysis of the high-resolution facies architecture of the Middle Pleistocene Porta subaqueous ice-contact fan and delta complex, deposited on the northern margin of glacial Lake Weser (North-west Germany). A total of 10 sand and gravel pits and more than 100 wells were examined to document the complex facies architec...
The coarse-grained, ice-contact, Porta Subaqueous Fan/Delta Complex was deposited in glacial Lake Rinteln at the margin of the Saalian ice sheet that advanced south of the Weser Chains, NW Germany. The ice-proximal depositional system was up to 15 km long and 10 km wide. The present study deals with ice-proximal subaqueous fan deposits, which are i...
The fragmentary remains of a juvenile rhabdodontid ornithopod from the Coal-bearing Complex of the Gosau Group (Lower Campanian, Grünbach syncline) at Muthmannsdorf near Wiener Neustadt, Lower Austria are revised. The material, probably belonging to a single individual, includes a right dentary (lectotype of Iguanodon suessi Bunzel, 1871, designate...
Der berühmte Paläontologe Hermann von MEYER (Abb.1), ein Pionier der Erforschung fossiler Wirbeltiere, der im Jahr 2001 seinen 200sten Geburtstag hatte, hinterließ Spuren seiner weitgefächerten Forschungsarbeiten auch in der Pfalz.
Bereits 1844 berichtete er in einer brieflichen Mitteilung an Prof. Heinrich Georg BRONN über einen Skelettrest aus de...
