Acta Musei Moraviae

The Upper Jurassic fauna of the Hády Hill at Brno, Czech Republic

New Upper Jurassic (Oxfordian) fossils from the Hády quarry in Brno (Czech Republic, Moravia) are reported herein. The studied material was acquired mainly from private collections of local fossil collectors and comprised hundreds of fossils in 11 clades: Porifera, Serpulidae, Brachiopoda, Bivalvia, Gastropoda, Ammonoidea, Belemnitida, Echinoidea, Holothuroidea, Selachii and Plesiosauria. Most of the identified invertebrate fauna agrees with lists of taxa published by previous authors. The most common fossils were terebratulid brachiopods, accompanied by less common rhynchonellid brachiopods. Terebratulid brachiopod Dictyothyris kurri Oppel, 1857, known from the Middle and Upper Oxfordian of Western Europe, was documented for the first time from this site. Further new invertebrate taxa from the Hády quarry include porifera Cnemidiastrum cf. rimulosum Goldfuss, 1826, sea urchin spines of Rhabdocidaris cf. copeoides Agassiz in Agassiz and Desor, 1847, Rhabdocidaris sp., Romanocidaris filograna Agassiz, 1840 and Paracidaris sp. as well as holothurian sclerites of Hemisphaeranthos cf. malmensis Frizzell and Exline, 1955 and Theelia sp. Relatively common were ammonites, especially perisphinctid faunas representing Tethyan Realm and cardioceratid faunas from Boreal Realm. Of all ammonite taxa we highlight the presence of stratigraphically important Lower Oxfordian ammonite Peltoceratoides (Parawedekindia) arduennensis d’Orbigny, 1848 characteristic for cordatum zone, as well as new local taxon Cardioceras (Vertebriceras) densiplicatum (Boden, 1911) whose occurrence is characteristic for the lowermost Middle Oxfordian (Boreal ammonite subzones vertebrale and maltonense) and which becomes rare in upper Middle Oxfordian (subzone tenuiserratum).

We focused our attention on shark teeth, which are relatively common. In studied material, three relatively high, isolated teeth of S. longidens Agassiz, 1843, were recognised (height 37 and 27 mm). Lower teeth of similar shape were assigned to Sphenodus sp. Further shark taxa include an isolated placoid scale Sphenodus aff. macer Quenstedt, 1852, four multi-cusped teeth of Notidanoides muensteri Agassiz, 1843 and a cushion shaped Asteracanthus sp. tooth. None of herein mentioned species of sharks, except S. longidens Agassiz, 1843, were reported from the Hády quarry before. Vertebrate fossils also include one tooth of marine reptile Plesiosauria indet.