Szabó János szerk.: Fragmenta Mineralogica Et Palaentologica 19. 2001. (Budapest, 2001)

Cretaceous nautiloids of Hungary were listed and figured by NAGY (1963). From the Upper Cretaceous of Sümeg, NAGY published a specimen close to the nautiloid illustrated on Plate 5, under the name Eutrephoceras boissieri (PlCTET, 1866). The genus Angulithes (including Angulithes sp. aff. triangularis, Angulithes sp., and Angulithes (Cimomià) sp.) was reported from the Barremian, Apdan, and Albian limestones of the Transdanubian Central Range by NAGY. Distribution — Angulithes westphalicus (SCHLUTTER) was reported from Spain, Poland and N Germany. It is a Campanian fossil, with a probable peak in the Late Campanian (WlLMSEN 2000), however there are data also on the possible Santonian occurrence (WITTLER et al. 1999). The age of the fauna The lack of continuos Campanian ammonitiferous successions in most areas of the world outside the Gulf Region of the States, and the scarcity of Campanian cephalopods in Europe, do not allow putdng the Sümeg ammonites into a precise zonation context. The relatively poor understanding of the Campanian stage is reflected by the fact that even the beginning of the stage is often interpreted as the extinction level of the crinoid Marsupites. Further subdivision of the stage is mainly based on belemnites, echinoids and microfossils (HANCOCK & GALE 1996) and the cephalopod zonation is not as widely accepted as in the case of the most stages of the Mesozoic. Even in Germany, in the thickest, most continuous Campanian section of Europe, ammonites are scarce and show a low diversity (SCHULZ et al. 1984). The European Campanian ammonite zonations contain 5 cephalopod zones (ammonite, or belemnite zones) only (WRIGHT et al. 1996). In contrast, the Campanian of the Western Interior contains 21 ammonite zones. As far as the age determination and subdivision of the ammonitiferous lower part of the Polány Marl is considered, earlier attempts were based on microfossil studies. There is a detailed palynozonation on the Upper Cretaceous of the Transdanubian Central Range (GÓCZÁN & SlEGL-FARKAS 1990), and another subdivision is based on dinoflagellates (SlEGL-FARKAS 1997). At the beginning the succession of the dominance and assemblage zones was calibrated with the misidentified ammonite, P. neubergicus. Thus the age of the Polány Marl turned out to be younger than in reality it is. Revision of P. neubergicus (SlEGL-FARKAS & SUMMESBERGER 1998) solved the biostratigraphic confusion. In conclusion, the described fauna represents the youngest known Hungarian cephalopod assemblage, containing cosmopolitan forms (Hypohylloceras, Pachydiscus) and a texanitid (Menabites (Delawarella) suemegensis), which is close to a form known hitherto from the US Western Interior only. Although details of the collecting and the precise stratigraphie position of the ammonites remained unknown, it is very likely that the fossils are of early Late Campanian age — they probably represent the Delawarella delawarensis Zone. Using tripartite subdivision of the stage, the Sümeg assemblage is Middle Campanian. These conclusions are in accordance with the latest results based on nannofossil studies of the Sümeg region. (FOGARASI in BODROGI et al. 1998). Nannofossil samples were taken direcdy from the museum ammonites also. These investigations yielded a relatively rich, calcareous nannoplankton assemblage, of 33 taxa. These taxa, including Aspidolithus sp. aff. parcus constrictus suggest the late Early Campanian CCI

8 — (19) nannoplancton zones (FOGARASI pers. com.). *** ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS — Dr. István Zoltán NAGY is thanked for focusing the author's attention to the interesting, unpublished Late Cretaceous ammonite fauna deposited in the palaeontological collection of the Hungarian Natural History Museum. AttilaFOGARASI is thanked for providing his unpublished nannofossil data. Markus WlLMSEN is thanked for exchanging information on the Campanian nautiloids. The study was financially supported by the Hungarian Scientific Research Fund (OTKA F 014899) and by the Bolyai János Research Fellowship of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. References BLASZKIEWICZ, A. (1980): Campanian and Maastrichtian ammonites of the middle Vistula river valley, Poland: A stratigraphicpalaeontological study. — Prace Instytuto Geologic^nego, 92: 1—63, pis. 56. BODROGI, L, YAZYKOVA, E. A. & FOGARASI A. (1997): Revision of an Upper Cretaceous Ammonites fauna of the Bakony Mts. (Hungary) (Abstract). — Abstracts Volume of European Union of Geosciences, 23—27 March 1997, Strasbourg BODROGI, L, FOGARASI, A., YAZYKOVA, E. A., SZTANÓ, A. & BÁLDI-BEKE, M. (1998): Upper Cretaceous of the Bakony Mts. (Hungary): sedimentology, biostratigraphy, correlation. — Zentralblatt für Geologie und Paläontologie, [1], 11/12: 1179-1194. COBBAN, W. A. & KENNEDY, W. J. (1992/a): Campanian Trachyscaphites spiniger ammonite fauna in north-east Texas. — Palaeontolgy, 35(1): 63-93. COBBAN, W. A. & KENNEDY, W. J. (1992/b): Campanian ammonites from the Upper Cretaceous Gober Chalk of Lamar County, Texas — Journal of Paleontology, 66(3): 440-454. COLLIGNON, M. (1932): Paléontologie de Madagascar XVII. Fossiles du Crétacé supérieur du Menabe. — Annales de Paléontologie, 21: 35-87, pis. 1-9