Escucha Formation

Escucha Formation
Stratigraphic range: Late Aptian-mid Albian ~117–103 Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
View of Escucha and surrounding rocks
Type	Geological formation
Sub-units	E1 to E3
Underlies	Utrillas Formation
Overlies	Castrillo de la Reina, Benassal & Oliete Formations
Thickness	~70 m (230 ft)
Lithology
Primary	Siltstone, mudstone (E1, E3) sandstone (E2)
Other	Coal (E1) siltstone (E2), amber
Location
Coordinates	42.6°N 2.7°W / 42.6; -2.7
Approximate paleocoordinates	30.4°N 1.4°E / 30.4; 1.4
Region	Teruel, Aragón La Rioja
Country	Spain
Extent	Cameros, Maestrazgo & Oliete Basins
Type section
Named for	Escucha, Teruel
Escucha Formation (Spain)

The Escucha Formation is a geological formation in La Rioja and Teruel provinces of northeastern Spain whose strata date back to the late Aptian to middle Albian stages of the Early Cretaceous. Dinosaur remains are among the fossils that have been recovered from the formation.[1]

The approximately 70 m (230 ft) thick formation underlies the Utrillas Formation and overlies Castrillo de la Reina, Benassal & Oliete Formations. The Escucha Formation comprises siltstones, mudstones, sandstones, coal, siltstones and amber, in which several fossil insects were found. The formation was deposited in a variety of continental to paralic (deltaic) environments.[2]

Fossil content

The Escucha Formation has provided the following fossils, among others:[3]

Dinosaurs

Dinosaurs
Taxa	Location	Notes	Images
Europelta carbonensis	La Rioja	[4]
Proa valdearinnoensis	La Rioja	[5]

Other dinosaurs

• Allosauroidea indet.
• Iguanodontia indet.
• Titanosauriformes indet.

Reptiles

• Aragochersis lignitesta[6]
• Toremys cassiopeia
• Trachydermochelys sp.
• Testudines indet.
• Anteophthalmosuchus escuchae
• Goniopholididae indet.
• Hulkepholis plotos

Fish

• Chondrichthyes indet.
• Osteichthyes indet.

Crustaceans

• Cretagourretia salasi[7]
• Joeranina tausi[7]

Insects

Insects
Taxa	Location/site	Notes	Images
Alavaraphidia	Peñacerrada I amber	[8]
Amarantoraphidia	Peñacerrada I amber	[8]
Microcostaphron parvus	Peñacerrada I amber	[9]
Radiophron ibericus	Peñacerrada I amber	[10]
Styporaphidia? hispanica	Peñacerrada I amber	[8]

Other arthropods

• Alavia neli
• Archaelagonops alavensis
• Mesozygiella dunlopi
• Cretogarypinus zaragozai[11]
• Ithioreolpium alavensis[11]
• Alavesiaphis margaritae
• Hispanocader lisae
• Alavametra popovi
• Iberovelia quisquilia
• Glaesivelia pulcherrima
• Gymnopollisthrips maior
• G. minor
• Manicapsocidus enigmaticus
• Archaeatropos alavensis
• Preempheria antiqua
• Empheropsocus arilloi
• E. margineglabrus
• Morazatermes krishnai
• Cantabritermes simplex
• Autrigonoforceps iberica
• Hispanelcana alavensis
• H. arilloi
• H. lopezvallei
• Libanophron sugaar
• Hippocoon basajauni
• Burmaphron iratxoak
• B. jentilak
• B. sorginak
• Tagsmiphron olentzero
• Elasmophron mari
• Ectenobythus iberiensis
• Liztor pilosus
• Cretepyris martini
• Zophepyris alavaensis
• Ampulicomorpha perialla
• Microcostaphron parvus
• Archephedrus stolamissus
• Protorhyssalopsis perrichoti
• Spathiopteryx alavarommopsis
• Serphites lamiak
• Aposerphites angustus
• Archaeromma hispanicum
• Galloromma alavaensis
• Alavaromma orchamum
• Tithonoscelio resinalis
• Bruescelio platycephalus
• Electroteleiopsis hebdomas
• Alavascelio delvallei
• Amissascelio temporarius
• Perimoscelio tyrbastes
• Perimoscelio confector
• Proterosceliopsis masneri
• Juxtascelio interitus
• Iberopria perialla
• Iberoevania roblesi
• Cretevania alonsoi
• Iberomaimetsha nihtmara
• Iberomaimetsha rasnitsyni
• Valaa delclosi
• Megalava truncata
• Eosyntexis parva
• Cretasonoma corinformibus
• Penarhytus tenebris
• Prosolierius parvus
• Cretakarenni hispanicus
• Rhizophtoma longus
• Darwinylus marcosi
• Mediumiuga sinespinis
• Archiaustroconops alavensis
• Leptoconops (Leptoconops) zherikhini
• Gerontodacus skalskii
• Chimeromyia alava
• Chimeromyina concilia
• Euliphora grimaldii
• Alavesia subiasi
• Tethepomima holomma
• Tethepomyia buruhandi
• Lysistrata emerita
• Hegalari minor
• Hegalari antzinako
• Alavamanota hispanica
• Allocotocera xavieri
• Cretohaplusia ortunoi
• Eltxo cretaceus
• Helius (Helius) alavensis
• Helius (Helius) spiralis
• Espanoderus barbarae
• Alavaraphidia imperterrita
• Baissoptera cretaceoelectra
• Cretokatianna bucculenta
• Sphyrotheciscus senectus
• Archeallacma dolichopoda
• Katiannasminthurus xenopygus
• Pseudosminthurides stoechus
• Burmisotoma spinulifera
• Protoisotoma autrigoniensis
• Proisotoma communis
• Proleptochelia tenuissima
• Electrotanais monolithus
• Alavatanais carabe
• Alavatanais margulisae
• Eurotanais terminator
• Spinomegops arcanus
• Strieremaeus minguezae
• Iberofoveopsis miguelesi
• Hispanothrips utrillensis
• Aragonitermes teruelensis
• Aragonimantis aenigma
• Mymaropsis turolensis
• Serphites silban
• Galloromma turolensis
• Alavaromma orchamum
• Cretevania rubusensis
• Cretevania alcalai
• Cretevania montoyai
• Actenobius magneoculus
• Arra legalovi
• Leptoconops (Leptoconops) zherikhini
• Atriculicoides sanjusti
• Atriculicoides hispanicus
• Gerontodacus skalskii
• Microphorites utrillensis
• Litoleptis fossilis
• Burmazelmira grimaldii
• Aragomantispa lacerata
• Spinomegops aragonensis
• Ametroproctus valeriae
• Cretaceobodes martinezae
• Trhypochthonius lopezvallei

Invertebrates

• Ostracoda indet.
• Bivalvia indet.
• Gastropoda indet.

Flora

• Pinophyta
• Angiospermae indet.

Correlation

Early Cretaceous stratigraphy of Iberia

Ma	Age	Paleomap \ Basins	Cantabrian	Olanyà	Cameros	Maestrazgo	Oliete	Galve	Morella	South Iberian	Pre-betic	Lusitanian
100	Cenomanian		La Cabana	Sopeira	Utrillas		Mosquerela					Caranguejeira
			Altamira		Utrillas
			Eguino
125	Albian		Ullaga - Balmaseda	Lluçà						Traiguera
			Monte Grande		Escucha		Escucha			Jijona
			Itxina - Miono
	Aptian		Valmaseda - Tellamendi		Ol Gp. - Castrillo	Benassal		Benassal				Olhos
				Font	En Gp. - Leza	Morella/Oliete	Oliete	Villaroya	Morella	Capas Rojas		Almargem
			Patrocinio - Ernaga	Senyús	En Gp. - Jubela	Forcall				Villaroya	Upper Bedoulian	Figueira
	Barremian		Vega de Pas	Cabó	Abejar	Xert	Alacón	Xert		Huérguina		Assises
				Prada		Artoles				Collado	Moutonianum	Papo Seco
				Rúbies	Tera Gp. - Golmayo	Alacón/Blesa	Blesa	Camarillas	Mirambel
150	Hauterivian				Ur Gp. - Pinilla	Llacova		Castellar	Tera Gp. - Pinilla	Villares		Porto da Calada
							hiatus
						Huerva			Gaita
	Valanginian		Villaro		Ur Gp. - Larriba				Ped Gp. - Hortigüela
					Ped Gp. - Hortigüela				Ped Gp. - Piedrahita
					Peñacoba			Galve		Miravetes
	Berriasian		Cab Gp. - Arcera		Valdeprado	hiatus		Alfambra
					TdL Gp. - Rupelo			Arzobispo	hiatus	Tollo
					On Gp. - Huérteles Sierra Matute
	Tithonian		Lastres		Tera Gp. - Magaña		Higuereles			Tera Gp. - Magaña		Lourinhã
									Arzobispo
					Ágreda
Legend		Major fossiliferous, oofossiliferous, ichnofossiliferous, coproliferous, minor formation
Sources

See also

• List of dinosaur-bearing rock formations
• Monte Grande Formation, Albian formation of the Cantabrian Basin
• Caranguejeira Conglomerate, Aptian to Cenomanian formation of the Lusitanian Basin
• Baltic, Burmese, Dominican and Mexican amber

References

1. Weishampel, et al., 2004
2. Peyrot et al., 2007
3. Escucha Formation at Fossilworks.org
4. Kirkland et al., 2013
5. McDonald et al., 2012
6. Pérez García et al., 2020
7. Ossó, À.; Charbonnier, S.; Hyžný, M.; van Bakel, B. W. M.; Devillez, J.; Bover-Arnal, T.; Moreno-Bedmar, J. A. (2024). "Decapod assemblages from the Aptian-Albian transition of the eastern Maestrat Basin (Iberian Chain)". Geologica Acta. 22: 1–35. doi:10.1344/GeologicaActa2024.22.7.
8. Pérez de la Fuente et al., 2012
9. Ortega Blanco et al., 2010, p.272
10. Ortega Blanco et al., 2010, p.267
11. Sánchez-García, A.; Palencia, L.; Delclòs, X.; Peñalver, E. (2024). "False scorpions (Arachnida, Pseudoscorpiones) from Lower Cretaceous Spanish amber". Papers in Palaeontology. 10 (6). e1608. doi:10.1002/spp2.1608.

Bibliography

• Kirkland, J.I.; Alcalá, L.; Loewen, M.A.; Espílez, E.; Mampel, L.; Wiersma, J.P. (2013). "The Basal Nodosaurid Ankylosaur Europelta carbonensis n. gen., n. sp. From the Lower Cretaceous (Lower Albian) Escucha Formation of Northeastern Spain". PLoS ONE. 8 (12): e80405. Bibcode:2013PLoSO...880405K. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0080405. PMC 3847141. PMID 24312471.
• Ortega Blanco, J.; Rasnitsyn, A.P.; Delclòs, X. (2010). "A new family of ceraphronoid wasps from Early Cretaceous Álava Amber, Spain". Acta Palaeontologica Polonica. 55 (2): 265–276. doi:10.4202/app.2009.0014. S2CID 58934033. Retrieved 2019-10-09.
• Pérez de la Fuente, R.; Peñalver, E.; Delclòs, X.; Engel, M.S. (2012). "Snakefly diversity in Early Cretaceous amber from Spain (Neuropterida, Raphidioptera)". ZooKeys (204): 1–40. Bibcode:2012ZooK..204....1P. doi:10.3897/zookeys.204.2740. PMC 3391719. PMID 22787417.
• Pérez García, A.; Espílez, E.; Mampel, L.; Alcalá, L. (2020). "A new basal turtle represented by the two most complete skeletons of Helochelydridae in Europe". Cretaceous Research. 107: Article 104291. Bibcode:2020CrRes.10704291P. doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2019.104291. S2CID 210279023.
• Peyrot, Daniel; Rodríguez López, Juan Pedro; Lassaletta, Luis; Meléndez, Nieves; Barrón, Eduardo (2007). "Contributions to the palaeoenvironmental knowledge of the Escucha Formation in the Lower Cretaceous Oliete Sub-basin, Teruel, Spain". Comptes Rendus Palevol. 6 (6–7): 469–481. Bibcode:2007CRPal...6..469P. doi:10.1016/j.crpv.2007.09.014.
• Weishampel, David B.; Dodson, Peter; Osmólska, Halszka, eds. (2004). The Dinosauria, 2nd edition. Berkeley: University of California Press. pp. 1–880. ISBN 9780520941434. Retrieved 2019-02-21.

Further reading

• L. Alcalá, E. Espílez, L. Mampel, J. I. Kirkland, M. Ortiga, D. Rubio, A. González, D. Ayala, A. Cobos, R. Royo-Torres, F. Gascó and M. D. Pesquero. 2012. A new Lower Cretaceous vertebrate bonebed near Arino (Tereul, Aragon, Spain); found and managed in a joint collaboration between a mining company and a palaeontological park. Geoheritage 4:275-286
• J. I. Canudo, A. Cobos, C. Martín-Closas, X. Murelaga, X. Pereda-Suberbiola, R. Royo-Torres, J. I. Ruiz-Omeñaca and L. M. Sender. 2005. Sobre la presencia de dinosaurios ornitópodos en la Formación Escucha (Cretácico Inferior, Albiense): redescubierto “Iguanodon” en Utrillas (Teruel) [On the presence of ornithopod dinosaurs in the Escucha Formation (Lower Cretaceous, Albian): redescribing “Iguanodon” in Utrillas (Teruel)]. Fundamental 6:51-56
• E. Peñalver, D. A. Grimaldi, and X. Delclos. 2006. Early Cretaceous spider web with its prey. Science 312:1761