Toolebuc Formation

The Toolebuc Formation is a geological formation that extends from Queensland across South Australia and the Northern Territory in Australia, whose strata date back to the Albian stage of the Early Cretaceous. Dinosaurs,[1] pterosaurs, plesiosaurs, ichthyosaurs, protostegid turtles, sharks, chimaeroids and bony fish remains are among the fossils that have been recovered from the formation.

Toolebuc Formation Stratigraphic range: Albian ~109–103 Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
Type	Geological formation
Unit of	Rolling Downs Group
Underlies	Allaru Formation
Overlies	Wallumbilla Formation
Thickness	Up to 65 m (213 ft)
Lithology
Primary	Limestone, mudstone
Other	Shale
Location
Coordinates	20.4°S 144.4°E
Approximate paleocoordinates	52.7°S 132.5°E
Region	Queensland
Country	Australia
Extent	Eromanga Basin
Toolebuc Formation (Australia)

Description

Deposition occurred in a cool to temperate inland sea setting and the present lithology is dominantly made up of limey shales with abundant Inoceramus bivalve shells. Ichthyosaurs and protostegid turtles were the most common marine reptiles at this time in the Eromanga Sea, in contrast to older Aptian deposits such as the Bulldog Shale of South Australia, which show that plesiosaurs were previously more abundant and also more diverse. The Toolebuc Formation is one of the richest known sources of Mesozoic vertebrate fossils in Australia, with notable collecting areas situated around the towns of Richmond, Julia Creek, Hughenden and Boulia.

Fossil content

Possible indeterminate ankylosaurid remains are present in Queensland, Australia.[1] Indeterminate ornithopod remains have also been found in Queensland, Australia.[1]

Animals

Dinosaurs (including birds)
Genus	Species	Presence	Notes	Images
Kunbarrasaurus	K. ieversi	Queensland	[1]
Muttaburrasaurus	Indeterminate	Queensland	[1]
Nanantius	N. eos	Queensland	"Tibiotarsi and vertebra"[1][2]

Pterosaurs
Genus	Species	Presence	Notes	Images
Aussiedraco	A. molnari	Queensland
Mythunga	M. camara	Queensland

Plesiosaurs
Genus	Species	Presence	Notes	Images
Kronosaurus	K. queenslandicus	Queensland		Kronosaurus preying on Eromangasaurus
Eromangasaurus	E. australis	Queensland
Polycotylidae indet.	Undescribed polycotylid (specimen QM F18041, nicknamed Penny)	Queensland

Ichthyosaurs
Genus	Species	Presence	Notes	Images
Platypterygius	P. australis	Queensland

Turtles
Genus	Species	Presence	Notes	Images
Bouliachelys	B. suteri	Queensland
Cratochelone	C. berneyi	Queensland
Notochelone	N. costata	Queensland

See also

• List of dinosaur-bearing rock formations
• Paja Formation, Kronosaurus and Platypterygius Lagerstätte in Colombia
• Sierra Madre Formation, contemporaneous fossiliferous formation of Mexico
• Santana Group, contemporaneous Lagerstätte in northeastern Brazil
  • Crato Formation
  • Romualdo Formation

References

1. Weishampel et al., 2004, pp.573-574
2. "Table 11.1," in Weishampel et al., 2004, p.213

Bibliography

• Leahey, Lucy G.; Ralph E. Molnar; Kenneth Carpenter; Lawrence M. Witmer, and Steven W. Salisbury. 2015. Cranial osteology of the ankylosaurian dinosaur formerly known as Minmi sp. (Ornithischia: Thyreophora) from the Lower Cretaceous Allaru Mudstone of Richmond, Queensland, Australia. PeerJ 3. e1475. Accessed 2020-03-16. doi:10.7717/peerj.1475 PMID 26664806
• Weishampel, David B.; Peter Dodson, and Halszka Osmólska (eds.). 2004. The Dinosauria, 2nd edition, 1–880. Berkeley: University of California Press. Accessed 2019-02-21. ISBN 0-520-24209-2