A diverse micro- and macrovertebrate assemblage in the Late Campanian (Late Cretaceous) at Cerro de Angostura near Porvenir de Jalpa, Coahuila, northeast Mexico and its palaeoecological implications

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The Las Águilas site near Porvenir de Jalpa, Coahuila, Mexico, is extremely rich in vertebrate remains comprising both bones and trackways of several dinosaur taxa of late Campanian age, but also remnants of numerous other taxa, such as crocodilians, five turtle species, plesiosaurs, mosasaurids, pterosaurs, tyrannosaurids, dromaeosaurids, post-hatchling, juvenile and subadult hadrosaurs, lambeosaurines hadrosaurids, ceratopsids, and ankylosaurs, which are associated with abundant coprolites of turtles, crocodilians and likely theropods. The locality thus provides unique evidence for the wealth of animal life in the area and allows for a detailed reconstruction of the palaeoecology. We plan to thoroughly survey the area especially for microvertebrates and palynomorphs, in order to increase the list of taxa for a high resolution analysis of the palaeosynecology of the area, during a time when the decline of dinosaurs began. Our investigation methods in the field comprise surface survey and shallow scratch excavations and screen scanning. Within this project we also plan to investigate two new sites in the vicinity of Saltillo for their potential for larger-scale investigation in the near future.