Pliensbachian

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The Pliensbachian (also known as Charmouthian) is a stage of the Early Jurassic Epoch. It spans the time between 189.6 ± 1.5 Ma and 183 ± 1.5 Ma (million years ago).

The stage takes its name from the town of Pliensbach, some 30 km east of Stuttgart in Germany. Minerals and fossils from the region are displayed in a museum in Göppingen. The Pliensbachian ended with the extinction event called the Toarcian turnover.

In Europe this period is also known as the Middle Lias Stage.

The Wine Haven-Profil near Robin Hood's Bay is Global Stratotype Section and Point (GSSP).^[1]

Contents 1 Vertebrate Fauna 1.1 Ornithischians 1.2 Theropoda 2 Literature 3 References

[edit] Vertebrate Fauna

[edit] Ornithischians

Ornithischians of the Pliensbachian
Taxa	Presence	Location	Description	Images
Bienosaurus		Lower Lufeng Formation, Yunnan, China	A dubious basal thyreophoran
Tatisaurus		Lower Lufeng Formation, Yunnan, China	Description based on only a partial left mandible with teeth, a dubious basal thyreophoran

[edit] Theropoda

Theropods of the Pliensbachian
Taxa	Presence	Location	Description	Images
Cryolophosaurus		Hanson Formation, Antarctica	The earliest known tetanuran. About 6 to 8 meters (20 to 26 feet) long with a high, narrow skull and a peculiar nasal crest just over the eyes	Cryolophosaurus Dilophosaurus
Dilophosaurus	Sinemurian to Pliensbachian	Arizona, USA; Yunnan, China	Measured around six meters (20 ft) long and may have weighed half a ton. The most distinctive characteristic of Dilophosaurus is the pair of rounded crests on its skull, possibly used for display.

[edit] Literature

• M.K. Howart: The Lower Lias of Robin Hood's Bay, Yorkshire, and the work of Leslie Bairstow. In: Bulletin of The Natural History Museum. Geology Series 58/2002, S. 81–152 Cambridge University Press, The Natural History Museum, 2002, doi: 10.1017/S0968046202000037 (abstract)

[edit] References

• GeoWhen Database - Pliensbachian

1. ^ GSSP for the Sinemurian-Pliensbachian Boundary, www.stratigraphy.org

Jurassic period
Lower/Early Jurassic	Middle Jurassic	Upper/Late Jurassic
Hettangian | Sinemurian Pliensbachian | Toarcian	Aalenian | Bajocian Bathonian | Callovian	Oxfordian | Kimmeridgian Tithonian