Cenomanian-Turonian marine amniote remains from the Saxonian Cretaceous Basin of Germany

The Saxonian Cretaceous Basin constitutes an important source of rare Late Cretaceous marine amniote fossils from Germany. It is also historically famous, having been documented in a series of monographic works published by the distinguished German paleontologist Hanns Bruno Geinitz in the nineteenth century. The most productive rock units include the upper Cenomanian Doelzschen Formation and upper Turonian Strehlen and Weinboehla limestones (lower Strehlen Formation). A survey of curated specimens recovered from these deposits has now identified isolated teeth of probable polycotylid and elasmosaurid plesiosaurians, as well as several humeri that are referred to protostegid marine turtles. The Saxonian Cretaceous Basin formed a continuous epeiric seaway with the Bohemian Cretaceous Basin during late Cenomanian-Turonian time. A western connection to the North Sea basin also existed via the North German and Muensterland Cretaceous basins. The Mesozoic marine amniote remains from these regions therefore record a coeval northern European fauna that was probably homogeneous across the northern peri-Tethyan margin during Late Cretaceous time.