Jagua Formation

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.[1] Plesiosaur, pliosaur, pterosaur,[2] metriorhynchid, turtle and dinosaur remains are among the fossils that have been recovered from its strata.

Jagua Formation Stratigraphic range: Mid-Late Oxfordian ~158–156 Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N ↓
Type	Geological formation
Sub-units	Pan de Azúcar, Zacarías, Pimienta & Jagua Vieja Members
Underlies	Guasasa Formation
Overlies	San Cayetano Formation
Thickness	160 m (520 ft)
Lithology
Primary	Shale, limestone
Location
Coordinates	22.7°N 83.6°W / 22.7; -83.6
Region	Pinar del Río Province
Country	Cuba
Extent	Sierra de los Órganos, Sierra del Rosario
Type section
Named for	Jagua
Jagua Formation (Cuba)

Description

The formation comprises marine shales and limestones. The 60 metres (200 ft) 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.[3] 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

Paleofauna of the Jagua Formation
Genus	Species	Location	Stratigraphic position	Description	Notes	Image
Cacibupteryx	C. caribensis	Mogote Jagua Vieja	Jagua Vieja Mb.	A rhamphorhynchid pterosaur	[4]
Caribemys	C. oxfordiensis	Viñales Valley		A pleurodiran turtle	[5]
Cryptoclidus	C. vignalensis	Laguna de Piedra	Jagua Vieja Mb.	A sauropterygian	[6]
Gallardosaurus	G. iturraldei	Sierra de Caiguanabo ~8 km (5.0 mi) east of Viñales	Jagua Vieja Mb.	A pliosaurid	[7]
Nesodactylus	N. hesperius	Hoyo del Palmar 10 km (6.2 mi) northeast of Viñales	Jagua Vieja Mb.	A rhamphorhynchid pterosaur	[4]
Notoemys	N. oxfordensis	Valle de Viñales		A pleurodiran turtle
Sphaerodontes	S. caroli	Laguna de Piedra	Jagua Vieja Mb.	An ichthyosaur	[6]
Vinialesaurus	V. caroli	Viñales		A cryptoclidid plesiosaur	[8]
Geosaurus		Puerta de Ancón Sierra de Guasasa	Jagua Vieja Mb.	A Metriorhynchid	[9]
Ophthalmosauridae	Ophthalmosauridae indet.				[10]
Somphospondyli	Somphospondyli indet.			Material consists of a first or second metacarpal, now lost.[11]

Other fossils

• Favreina
• Globochaete
• Gryphaea mexicana - Pan de Azúcar Mb.[12]
• Lepidotes gloriae[13]
• Liostrea mairei[14]
• L. sandalina - Zacarías Mb.[15]
• Nanogyra (Nanogyra) nana - Zacarías Mb.[15]
• Ostrea broughtoni - Zacarías Mb.[15]
• Plicatula cf. weymouthiana - Zacarías Mb.[15]
• Voltzia palmeri[16]
• Perisphinctes sp.[17]

See also

• Plesiosaur stratigraphic distribution
• List of pterosaur-bearing stratigraphic units

References

1. Jagua Formation at Fossilworks.org
2. Barrett et al., 2008
3. Iturralde Vinent & Norell, 1996
4. Gasparini et al., 2004
5. De la Fuente & Iturralde Vinent, 2001
6. Laguna de Piedra at Fossilworks.org
7. Gasparini, 2009
8. Gasparini et al., 2002
9. Gasparini & Iturralde Vinent, 2001, p.538
10. Gasparini & Iturralde Vinent, 2001, p.542
11. Apesteguía, S.; Ceballos Izquierdo, Y.; Iturralde-VINENT, M. (2019-09-02). "New taxonomic assignment for a dinosaur sauropod bone from Cuba". Historical Biology: 1–6. doi:10.1080/08912963.2019.1661406. ISSN 0891-2963.
12. Sierra Ancón at Fossilworks.org
13. Hoyo de San Antonio at Fossilworks.org
14. Hoyo de la Sierra at Fossilworks.org
15. Mogote La Mina at Fossilworks.org
16. Jagua Vieja at Fossilworks.org
17. Viñales at Fossilworks.org

Bibliography

• Barrett, P.M.; R.J. Butler; N.P. Edwards, and A.R. Milner. 2008. Pterosaur distribution in time and space: an atlas - pp. 61–107, 1–264. Flugsaurier: Pterosaur papers in honour of Peter Wellnhofer - Hone, D.W.E., and Buffetaut, É. (eds). Zitteliana B, 28.. Accessed 2019-02-07.
• De la Fuente, M.S., and M. Iturralde Vinent. 2001. A new pleurodiran turtle from the Jagua Formation (Oxfordian) of western Cuba. Journal Information 75. 860–869. Accessed 2019-02-07.
• Gasparini, Zulma. 2009. A New Oxfordian Pliosaurid (Plesiosauria, Pliosauridae) in the Caribbean Seaway. Palaeontology 52. 661–669. Accessed 2019-02-07.
• Gasparini, Z.; M. Fernández, and M. De La Fuente. 2004. A new pterosaur from the Jurassic of Cuba. Palaeontology 47. 919–927. Accessed 2019-02-07.
• Gasparini, Z.; N. Bardet, and M. Iturralde Vinent. 2002. A new cryptoclidid plesiosaur from the Oxfordian (Late Jurassic) of Cuba. Geobios 35. 201–211. Accessed 2019-02-07.
• Gasparini, Z., and M. Iturralde Vinent. 2001. Metriorhynchid crocodiles (Crocodyliformes) from the Oxfordian of Western Cuba. Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie Monatshefte 9. 534–542. Accessed 2019-02-07.
• Iturralde Vinent, Manuel, and Mark A. Norell. 1996. Synopsis of Late Jurassic Marine Reptiles from Cuba. American Museum Novitates . 1–17. Accessed 2019-02-07.

Further reading

• Bermúdez, Pedro J. 1961. Las formaciones geológicas de Cuba. Geología Cubana 1. 1–180. Accessed 2019-02-06.
• Colbert, Edwin H. 1969. A Jurassic pterosaur from Cuba. American Museum Novitates 2370. 1–26. Accessed 2019-02-07.
• Fernández, M., and M. Iturralde Vinent. 2000. An Oxfordian Ichthyosauria (Reptilia) from Vinales, western Cuba: paleobiogeographic significance. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 20. 191–193. Accessed 2019-02-07.
• Pugaczewska, H. 1978. Jurassic pelecypods from Cuba. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 23. 163–186.
• Schevill, W.E. 1950. An Upper Jurassic sepioid from Cuba. Journal of Paleontology 24. 99–101.
• Thies, D. 1989. Lepidotes gloriae, sp. nov. (Actinopterygii: Semionotiformes) from the Late Jurassic of Cuba. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 9. 18–40. Accessed 2019-02-07.