The systematics and paleobiogeographic significance of Sub-Boreal and Boreal ammonites (Aulacostephanidae and Cardioceratidae) from the Upper Jurassic of the Bohemian Massif

Abstract

Upper Jurassic marine deposits are either rarely preserved due to erosion or buried under younger sediments in the Bohemian Massif. However, fossil assemblages from a few successions exposed in northern Bohemia and Saxony and preserved in museum collections document the regional composition of macro-invertebrate assemblages and thus provide unique insights into broad-scale distribution and migration pathways of ammonites during the Late Jurassic. In this paper, we focus on the systematic revision of ammonites from the Upper Oxfordian and Lower Kimmeridgian deposits of northern Bohemia and Saxony. The ammonites belong to two families (Aulacostephanidae and Cardioceratidae) of high paleobiogeographic and stratigraphic significance. Six genera belong to the family Aulacostephanidae (Prorasenia, Rasenia, Eurasenia, Rasenioides, Aulacostephanus, Aulacostephanoides) and one genus belongs to the family Cardioceratidae (Amoeboceras). They show that the Upper Jurassic deposits of the northern Bohemian Massif belong to the Upper Oxfordian and Lower Kimmeridgian and paleobiogeographically correspond to the German-Polish ammonite branch with the geographical extent from the Polish Jura Chain to the Swabian and Franconian Alb. Therefore, the occurrences of ammonites described here imply that migration pathway connecting the Polish Jura Chain with habitats in southern Germany was located during the Late Oxfordian and Early Kimmeridgian in the Bohemian Massif.

Keywords

• Oxfordian
• Kimmeridgian
• Czech Republic
• biostratigraphy
• paleobiogeography
• ammonites
• Aulacostephanidae
• Cardioceratidae