Argiles et Grès à Reptiles Formation

Argiles et Grès à Reptiles Formation
Argiles et Grès à Reptiles Formation
Stratigraphic range: Campanian-Early Maastrichtian, 74–70 Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N ↓
Type	Geological formation
Underlies	Calcaire de Rognac
Thickness	Over 40 m (130 ft)
Lithology
Primary	Clay, shale
Other	Sandstone
Location
Coordinates	43°30′N 5°30′E / 43.5°N 5.5°E
Approximate paleocoordinates	36°06′N 4°00′E / 36.1°N 4.0°E
Region	Provence-Alpes-Cote d'Azur, Bouches-du-Rhône
Country	France
Extent	Aix-en-Provence Basin
	Argiles et Grès à Reptiles Formation (France)

Argiles et Grès à Reptiles Formation (meaning Reptile Clay and Sandstone) also known as the Argiles Rutilantes Formation^[1] is an early Maastrichtian^[2] French geologic formation in the département of Var preserving the remains of several types of dinosaurs and other extinct organisms.^[3]

Fossil content

An abelisaurid similar to Arcovenator is known from Département des Bouches-du-Rhone, while enantiornithean and indeterminate avialan remains are known from Département du Var.^[2]

Color key

Taxon	Reclassified taxon	Taxon falsely reported as present	Dubious taxon or junior synonym	Ichnotaxon	Ootaxon	Morphotaxon

Notes
Uncertain or tentative taxa are in small text; ~~crossed out~~ taxa are discredited.

Dinosaurs

Ankylosaurs

Ankylosaurs of the Argiles et Grès à Reptiles Formation
Genus	Species	Location	Stratigraphic position	Material	Notes	Images
Struthiosaurus	S. languedocensis		Upper		A struthiosaurin nodosaurine

Ornithopods

Ornithopods of the Argiles et Grès à Reptiles Formation
Genus	Species	Location	Stratigraphic position	Material	Notes	Images
Matheronodon^[4]	M. provincialis	Velaux-La Bastide Neuve	Lower	A single maxilla and associated teeth	A rhabdodontid ornithopod
Obelignathus^[5]	O. septimanicus	Montouliers, Saint-Chinian commune	Lower	An isolated right dentary, missing the anterior (front) part.	A rhabdodontomorph iguanodontian
Rhabdodon	R. priscus				A rhabdodontid ornithopod

Sauropods

Sauropods of the Argiles et Grès à Reptiles Formation
Genus	Species	Location	Stratigraphic position	Material	Notes	Images
Ampelosaurus	A. atacis	Bellevue locality	Upper	Three dorsal vertebrae	A lirainosaurine lithostrotian.
Atsinganosaurus^[6]	A. meridionalis	La Bastide Neuve, Velaux	Lower/Upper	A partial skeleton consists of vertebrae, teeth, and sacrum.	A lirainosaurine lithostrotian
Garrigatitan^[7]	G. meridionalis	Velaux-La-Bastide Neuve	Upper	A holotype consists of a cervical rib, a right humerus, a right ulna, and a left femur.	A lirainosaurine lithostrotian
Hypselosaurus	H. priscus		Lower	A partial femur, fibula and possible tibia and a pair of associated caudal vertebrae.	A titanosaurian sauropod

Theropods

Theropods of the Argiles et Grès à Reptiles Formation
Genus	Species	Location	Stratigraphic position	Material	Notes	Images
Abelisauridae Indet.	Indeterminate				A large abelisaurid that was similar to Arcovenator.	Arcovenator Gargantuavis Pyroraptor Variraptor
Arcovenator^[8]	A. escotae	Jas Neuf Sud	Lower	A complete basicranium articulated with its right postorbital, a tooth, a left squamosal, an anterior caudal vertebra and a right tibia.	A large majungasaurine abelisaurid
Castignovolucris^[9]	C. sebei	Castigno valley	Lower	A right coracoid	A enanthiornithe bird
Gargantuavis	G. philoinos		Lower	A fragmentary sets of a pelvic vertebrae (synsacrum).	A gargantuaviid avialan
Martinavis^[10]	M. cruzyensis	Massecaps locality	Lower	A complete uncrushed right humerus.	An enantiornithe bird
Pyroraptor^[11]	P. olympius	La Boucharde locality	Lower/Upper	Paratypes consists of the equivalent claw of the right foot, the left second metatarsal, a complete second toe claw, a right ulna (long forearm bone), two teeth, five pedal digits, one manual digit, a piece of a metacarpal, a right radius, a dorsal vertebra, and a tail vertebra.	A dromaosaurid theropod
Theropoda Indet.	Indeterminate				Previously referred to "Megalosaurus" pannoniensis.
Variraptor	V. mechinorum	La Bastide Neuve	Lower	A posterior dorsal vertebra, a sacrum with five fused vertebrae, and an ilium	A dromaeosaurid theropod

Pterosaurs

Pterosaurs of the Argiles et Grès à Reptiles Formation
Genus	Species	Location	Stratigraphic position	Material	Notes	Images
Mistralazhdarcho^[12]	M. maggii	Velaux–La Bastide Neuve	Lower	A specimen consists of a partial skeleton with the skull.	A azhdarchid pterosaur

Crocodilians

Crocodilians of the Argiles et Grès à Reptiles Formation
Genus	Species	Location	Stratigraphic position	Material	Notes	Images
Acynodon	A. iberoccitanus				A eusuchian crocodylomorph
Alligatoridae Indet.	Indeterminate
Allodaposuchus^[13]	A. iberoarmoricanus	Velaux-La Bastide Neuve	Lower	A partial skull	A allodaposuchid eusuchian
Crocodylidae Indet.	Indeterminate

Turtles

Turtles of the Argiles et Grès à Reptiles Formation
Genus	Species	Location	Stratigraphic position	Material	Notes	Images
Foxemys	F. mechinorum				A bothremydid side-necked turtles

Fish

Fishes of the Argiles et Grès à Reptiles Formation
Genus	Species	Location	Stratigraphic position	Material	Notes	Images
Hybodontiformes Indet.	Indeterminate
Lepisosteidae Indet.	Indeterminate

Mammals

Mammals of the Argiles et Grès à Reptiles Formation
Genus	Species	Location	Stratigraphic position	Material	Notes	Images
Mistralestes	M. arcensis	La Cairanne-Highway	Lower	A mandible (Right dentary fragment with p5 to m3 and roots of p4).	A zhelestid eutherian
Valentinella	V. vitrollense	Vitrolles-La Plaine		Damaged upper and lower jaw fragments.	A zhelestid eutherian

Fossil Eggs

Eggs of the Argiles et Grès à Reptiles Formation
Genus	Species	Location	Stratigraphic position	Material	Notes	Images
Megaloolithus	M. aureliensis
	M. petralta
	M. sp.

Arthropods

Arthropods of the Argiles et Grès à Reptiles Formation
Genus	Species	Location	Stratigraphic position	Material	Notes	Images
Dinocarcinus^[14]	D. velauciensis	Velaux-La Bastide Neuve		Isolated claws	A large-sized portunoid crab

Plants

Plants of the Alcântara Formation
Genus	Species	Location	Stratigraphic position	Material	Notes	Images
Amblyochara	A. begudiana
Peckichara	P. cancellata
Peckichara	P. pectinata
Platychara	P. caudata
Saportanella	S. maslovi

References

^ Tabuce et al., 2013
^ ^a ^b Weishampel et al., 2004, pp.588-593
^ Argiles et Grès à Reptiles Formation at Fossilworks.org
^ Pascal Godefroit; Géraldine Garcia; Bernard Gomez; Koen Stein; Aude Cincotta; Ulysse Lefèvre; Xavier Valentin (2017). "Extreme tooth enlargement in a new Late Cretaceous rhabdodontid dinosaur from Southern France". Scientific Reports. 7 (1): Article number 13098. Bibcode:2017NatSR...713098G. doi:10.1038/s41598-017-13160-2. PMC 5658417. PMID 29074952.
^ Czepiński, Ł.; Madzia, D. (2025). "Exploring the diversity and disparity of rhabdodontomorph ornithopods from the Late Cretaceous European archipelago". Scientific Reports. 15. 15209. doi:10.1038/s41598-025-98083-z. PMC 12044058.
^ Garcia, G.; Amico, S.; Fournier, F.; Thouand, E.; Valentin, X. (2010). "A new Titanosaur genus (Dinosauria, Sauropoda) from the Late Cretaceous of southern France and its paleobiogeographic implications". Bulletin de la Société Géologique de France. 181 (3): 269–277. doi:10.2113/gssgfbull.181.3.269.
^ Verónica Díez Díaz; Géraldine Garcia; Xabier Pereda Suberbiola; Benjamin Jentgen-Ceschino; Koen Stein; Pascal Godefroit; Xavier Valentin (2020). "A new titanosaur (Dinosauria: Sauropoda) from the Upper Cretaceous of Velaux-La-Bastide Neuve (southern France)". Historical Biology. 33 (11): 2998–3017. doi:10.1080/08912963.2020.1841184. S2CID 234404741.
^ Thierry Tortosa; Eric Buffetaut; Nicolas Vialle; Yves Dutour; Eric Turini; Gilles Cheylan (2014). "A new abelisaurid dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous of southern France: Palaeobiogeographical implications". Annales de Paléontologie. 100 (1): 63–86. Bibcode:2014AnPal.100...63T. doi:10.1016/j.annpal.2013.10.003.
^ Buffetaut, E.; Angst, D.; Tong, H. (2023). "A new enantiornithine bird from Upper Cretaceous non-marine deposits at Villespassans (Hérault, southern France)". Annales de Paléontologie. 109 (1). 102585. Bibcode:2023AnPal.10902585B. doi:10.1016/j.annpal.2022.102585. S2CID 257863645.
^ Cyril A. Walker; Eric Buffetaut; Gareth J. Dyke (2007). "Large euenantiornithine birds from the Cretaceous of southern France, North America and Argentina". Geological Magazine. 144 (6): 977–986. Bibcode:2007GeoM..144..977W. doi:10.1017/S0016756807003871. S2CID 129483776.
^ Allain R.; Taquet P. (2000). "A new genus of Dromaeosauridae (Dinosauria, Theropoda) from the Upper Cretaceous of France". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 20 (2): 404–407. doi:10.1671/0272-4634(2000)020[0404:angodd]2.0.co;2. S2CID 85651716.
^ Romain Vullo; Géraldine Garcia; Pascal Godefroit; Aude Cincotta; Xavier Valentin (2018). "Mistralazhdarcho maggii, gen. et sp. nov., a new azhdarchid pterosaur from the Upper Cretaceous of southeastern France". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 38 (4): (1)–(16). doi:10.1080/02724634.2018.1502670. S2CID 91265861.
^ Blanco A (2021). "Importance of the postcranial skeleton in eusuchian phylogeny: Reassessing the systematics of allodaposuchid crocodylians". PLOS ONE. 16 (6): e0251900. Bibcode:2021PLoSO..1651900B. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0251900. PMC 8189472. PMID 34106925.
^ Robin, Ninon; van Bakel, Barry W. M.; Hyžný, Matúš; Cincotta, Aude; Garcia, Géraldine; Charbonnier, Sylvain; Godefroit, Pascal; Valentin, Xavier (2019-12-27). "The oldest freshwater crabs: claws on dinosaur bones". Scientific Reports. 9 (1): 20220. doi:10.1038/s41598-019-56180-w. ISSN 2045-2322. PMC 6934782. PMID 31882600.

Bibliography

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Blanco, A.; Brochu, C. A. (2016), "Intra- and interspecific variability in allodaposuchid crocodylomorphs and the status of western European taxa", Historical Biology, 29: 395–408
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