Norman D B
Proc R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 1987 Mar 23;230(1259):215-55. doi: 10.1098/rspb.1987.0017.
A 'fauna' of vertebrates recovered from a cavern-like deposit at a quarry near the village of Nehden in Sauerland is described and reviewed in some detail. Anatomical descriptions of some skeletal elements are given, where they provide new information or supplement previous descriptions. The clays in which the fossils were buried have been dated comparatively as Aptian (late Lower Cretaceous) and approximately contemporary with the Weald Clay unit of the Wealden Formation of southeast England and the Bernissartian of southwest Belgium. Both these latter formations have yielded faunal and floral assemblages that are very similar to those found at Nehden. The vertebrates collected at Nehden include adult and numerous juvenile remains of two species of the ornithischian dinosaur Iguanodon: I. atherfieldensis and I. bernissartensis. (I. atherfieldensis is the more abundantly represented.) These can be contrasted with the mass-accumulation of Iguanodon recovered from Bernissart, where these dinosaurs are represented by predominantly adult skeletons. There is circumstantial evidence from a documented association of bones (revealed by examination of excavation plans) to support a reconstruction of a juvenile Iguanodon bernissartensis with a body length ca. 2-3 m (fully grown individuals reach a body length of ca. 11 m); this is the smallest individual of this species recovered to date. The remainder of the vertebrate assemblage consists of very fragmentary remains of crocodilians, chelonians and extremely rare fish. The presence of both a hypsilophodontid ornithischian dinosaur and a theropod saurischian dinosaur must be viewed as extremely conjectural, based as they are on two very poor specimens. Remains referred to as Vectisaurus sp. in previous accounts of this site are juvenile individuals of Iguanodon. The circumstances surrounding three mass-accumulations of fossils, Trossingen, Bernissart and Nehden, are reviewed, and evidence of mass deaths among recent vertebrates is considered. Archive records at Trossingen suggest that periodic events, such as mud-slides, may have been partly responsible for the concentration of remains. Similar events may also have been responsible for the assemblages at Bernissart and Nehden; the assemblage at Nehden may represent an accumulation caused by a flash flood or by a herd crossing a river. It is suggested that awareness of such common phenomena should be emphasized when data such as these are used in estimations of numerical abundance and diversity of species in the fossil record.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)
本文详细描述并回顾了从绍尔兰地区内登村附近一个采石场类似洞穴的沉积物中发现的脊椎动物“动物群”。文中给出了一些骨骼元素的解剖学描述，这些描述提供了新信息或补充了以往的描述。埋藏化石的黏土经对比测定为阿普特阶（下白垩统晚期），大致与英格兰东南部威尔德组的威尔德黏土单元以及比利时西南部的贝尼萨尔阶同时期。后两个地层产出的动植物组合与在内登发现的非常相似。在内登采集到的脊椎动物包括两种鸟脚亚目恐龙——阿瑟菲尔德禽龙和贝尼萨尔禽龙的成年及大量幼年遗骸（阿瑟菲尔德禽龙的数量更多）。这与从贝尼萨尔发现的大量禽龙堆积形成对比，那里的恐龙主要是成年骨骼。有间接证据（通过查看挖掘平面图发现的骨骼关联记录）支持对一具体长约2 - 3米的幼年贝尼萨尔禽龙进行复原（成年个体体长约11米）；这是该物种迄今发现的最小个体。脊椎动物组合的其余部分由鳄鱼、龟类的非常破碎的遗骸以及极其罕见的鱼类组成。基于两个非常差的标本推测存在棱齿龙科鸟脚亚目恐龙和兽脚亚目蜥臀目恐龙，这一推测极具不确定性。在该地点以往记录中被称为韦克蒂龙属的遗骸是禽龙的幼年个体。文中回顾了特罗辛根、贝尼萨尔和内登三个化石大量堆积的情况，并考虑了近期脊椎动物大规模死亡的证据。特罗辛根的档案记录表明，诸如泥石流等周期性事件可能是遗骸集中的部分原因。类似事件也可能导致了贝尼萨尔和内登的动物组合形成；内登的动物组合可能代表了由山洪暴发或兽群过河造成的堆积。建议在利用此类数据估算化石记录中物种的数量丰度和多样性时，应强调对这些常见现象的认识。（摘要截选至400字）
