The Jagua Formation is a Late Jurassic (middle to late Oxfordian) geologic formation in the Sierra de los Órganos and Sierra del Rosario mountain ranges in Pinar del Río Province, western Cuba.Jagua Formation at Fossilworks.org Plesiosaur, pliosaur, pterosaur,Barrett et al., 2008 metriorhynchid, turtle and dinosaur remains are among the fossils that have been recovered from its strata.

Description The formation comprises marine shales and limestones. The thick Jagua Vieja Member consists of black shales and horizontally laminated marly micritic to biomicritic limestones. The latter contains calcareous concretions which the fossils are found in.Iturralde Vinent & Norell, 1996 The formation overlies the San Cayetano Formation and is overlain by the Guasasa Formation. The bedding direction is steeply dipping towards the northwest.

Fossil content

Vertebrate paleofauna Based on Iturralde-Vinent & Izquierdo (2015):

Bony fishes Bony fish of the Jagua Formation Genus Species Location Stratigraphic position Description Notes Image Aspidorhynchus A. arawaki Jagua Vieja Mb. A aspidorhynchid fish Caturus C. deani Valle los Jazmines, Jagua Vieja Jagua Vieja Mb. A caturid halecomorph. In need of taxonomic revision. Eugnathides E. browni Mogote La Mina Jagua Vieja Mb. A pachycormiform fish. In need of taxonomic revision. Gyrodus G. macropthalmus cubensis Mogote La Mina Jagua Vieja Mb. A pycnodont. Hypsocormus H. leedsi Laguna de Piedra Jagua Vieja Mb. A pachycormiform fish. In need of taxonomic revision. Lepidotes L. gloriae Jagua Vieja Jagua Vieja Mb. A lepidotid lepisosteiform. ?Leptolepis L. euspondylus Mogote La Mina Jagua Vieja Mb. A leptolepid fish. In need of taxonomic revision. Luisichthys L. vinalesensis Jagua Vieja Jagua Vieja Mb. A varasichthyid fish Pholidophorus P. sp. A pholidophorid fish Sauropsis S. woodwardi Viñales A pachycormiform fish. In need of taxonomic revision.

Reptiles

Dinosaurs Genus Species Location Stratigraphic position Description Notes Image Somphospondyli indet. Jagua Vieja Jagua Vieja Mb. A somphospondylan sauropod, the only dinosaur known from the formation. Previously identified as a camarasaurid. If it is a somphospondylan, it is the only record of this group from the early Late Jurassic of the Americas. Material consists of a first or second metacarpal, now lost.

Pterosaurs Genus Species Location Stratigraphic position Description Notes Image Cacibupteryx C. caribensis Mogote Jagua Vieja Jagua Vieja Mb. A rhamphorhynchid pterosaur Gasparini et al., 2004 Nesodactylus N. hesperius Hoyo del Palmar northeast of Viñales Jagua Vieja Mb. A rhamphorhynchid pterosaur

Crocodylomorphs Genus Species Location Stratigraphic position Description Notes Image Cricosaurus C. suevicus Puerta de AncónSierra de Guasasa Jagua Vieja Mb. A metriorhynchid thalattosuchian Gasparini & Iturralde Vinent, 2001, p.538 Geosaurus G. sp. A geosaurine metriorhynchid Thalattosuchia indet. Hoyo de la Sierra A thalattosuchian of uncertain affinities.

Plesiosaurs Genus Species Location Stratigraphic position Description Notes Image ?"Cryptocleidus" "C." vignalensis Laguna de Piedra Jagua Vieja Mb. A sauropterygian, nomen dubium. Laguna de Piedra at Fossilworks.org Gallardosaurus G. iturraldei Sierra de Caiguanabo~ east of Viñales Jagua Vieja Mb. A pliosaurid plesiosaur Gasparini, 2009 Vinialesaurus V. caroli Viñales A cryptoclidid plesiosaur Gasparini et al., 2002

Ichthyosaurs Genus Species Location Stratigraphic position Description Notes Image Ichthyosauria indet. Laguna de Piedra Jagua Vieja Mb. An indeterminate ichthyosaur, initially described as "Ichthyosaurus torrey" Ophthalmosauridae Indet. Indeterminate Viñales Gasparini & Iturralde Vinent, 2001, p.542

Turtles Genus Species Location Stratigraphic position Description Notes Image Notoemys N. oxfordensis Valle de Viñales A platychelyid pan-pleurodiran turtle, originally described under the separate genus of Caribemys

Other fossils

Favreina Globochaete Gryphaea mexicana - Pan de Azúcar Mb.Sierra Ancón at Fossilworks.org Liostrea maireiHoyo de la Sierra at Fossilworks.org L. sandalina - Zacarías Mb. Nanogyra (Nanogyra) nana - Zacarías Mb. Ostrea broughtoni - Zacarías Mb.Mogote La Mina at Fossilworks.org Plicatula cf. weymouthiana - Zacarías Mb. Voltzia palmeriJagua Vieja at Fossilworks.org Perisphinctes sp.Viñales at Fossilworks.org

See also Plesiosaur stratigraphic distribution List of pterosaur-bearing stratigraphic units

References

Bibliography

Further reading