[N] 2011 The vertebrate fauna of the Erfurt Formation
Hagdorn, H. & Mutter, R.J. (2011) The vertebrate fauna of the Lower Keuper Albertibank (Erfurt Formation, Middle Triassic) in the vicinity of Schwäbisch Hall (Baden-Württemberg, Germany) Palaeodiversity 4: 223–243; Stuttgart 30 December 2011. 223
Abstract
In the vicinity of Schwäbisch Hall, the Lower Keuper (Ladinian) Albertibank is characterized by a small-scale lateral facies change and a distinctive fauna composed of ostracods, fishes, and lower tetrapods, comprising the remarkably abundant polzbergiid actinopterygian Serrolepis suevicus, small unidentified species of ?Redfieldiiformes and Saurichthyidae, the small brackish water shark Lonchidion, two dipnoans, a large coelacanthiform, the temnospondyl amphibians Mastodonsaurus and Gerrothorax, a small nothosaur, and the “rauisuchian” Batrachotomus.
Facies and fauna give evidence of an occasionally dry falling lacustrine environment. The dentition of Serrolepis is indicative of a specialized durophagous diet, presumably on ostracods.