Cretaceous treasures from Lviv

The lower Maastrichtian (Upper Cretaceous) shallow-marine deposits exposed at Nahoryany, south of Lviv (western Ukraine), have been known as a rich source of fossils since 1843. Today, the quarries do not exist but the fossils may be studied based on museum collections. The paper deals with scaphitid ammonites from Nahoryany on the basis of specimens housed in Lviv and Vienna palaeontological collections. The evolution, possible sexual dimorphism, and life habits of these common Late Cretaceous cephalopods have been discussed.

Figure:Evolutionary succession of scaphitid ammonites against the upper Campanian and Maastrichtian stratigraphy with geographical and stratigraphical position of the Nahoryany site. M – macroconchs (females?), m – microconchs (males?).