In 2000 and 2001, a joint team from Universitatea Babeş-Bolyai (Cluj-Napoca, Romania) and the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences (Brussels, Belgium) screen-washed 2500 kg of sediments from a new large lens found in the south of the Pui village along the Bărbat river. The sediments are attributed to the Maastrichtian Sânpetru Formation that yielded one of the richest and most diversified Late Cretaceous continental faunas in Europe. The red colored silty layer found at Pui, probably deposited in a northerly flowing braided river system under a warm and humid climate with seasonal fluctuations. Numerous fragments of lacertilian and amphibian microfossils were found in this site. The amphibians are represented by a Discoglossidae ind. and a Lissamphibia (Albanerpeton cf. inexpectatum). It suggests that the genus Albanerpeton came into Europe during the Late Cretaceous, instead of the Tertiary as previously thought. The lacertilians are represented by a Squamata ind., a new Teiidae (Paraglyphanodon nov. sp.) and two Paramacellodidae (Becklesius nov. sp. and aff. hoffstetteri). The stratigraphical range of the latter family is thus extended for a 70 Ma period, as this genus was previously described from Kimmeridgian deposits. The presence of Albanerpeton and Paraglyphanodon at Pui indicates a North American influence on the East European amphibian and lacertilian faunas by Maastrichtian times.

Abstract of an Oral Presentation or a Poster

Paleontology