Meng-Yin Formation
The Meng-Yin or Mengyin Formation (simplified Chinese: 蒙阴组; traditional Chinese: 蒙陰組; pinyin: Méngyīn Zǔ) is a geological formation in Shandong, China, whose strata date back to the Berriasian and Valanginian stages of the Early Cretaceous.[1][2]
| Meng-Yin Formation | |
|---|---|
| Stratigraphic range: Berriasian-Valanginian ~ | |
| Type | Geological formation |
| Lithology | |
| Primary | Sandstone |
| Other | Siltstone |
| Location | |
| Coordinates | 35.9°N 118.0°E |
| Approximate paleocoordinates | 36.9°N 120.2°E |
| Region | Shandong |
| Country | |
![]() Meng-Yin Formation (China) ![]() Meng-Yin Formation (Shandong) | |
Dinosaur remains are among the fossils that have been recovered from the formation.[3] The type material for the titanosauriform dinosaur Euhelopus was excavated at this formation by Otto Zdansky in 1923, in green/yellow sandstone and green/yellow siltstone that were deposited during the Barremian or Aptian stages of the Cretaceous period, approximately 129 to 113 million years ago.[4]
Both the genus and species of Mengyinaia mengyinensis were named after the formation.
Vertebrate paleofauna
Indeterminate stegosaurid remains have been found in Shandong, China.[3]
| Vertebrates from the Meng-Yin Formation | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Genus | Species | Location | Stratigraphic position | Material | Notes | Images |
| Euhelopus[3] | E. zdanskyi[3] | Shandong[3] | "Skull and partial postcranial skeleton, additional fragmentary skeleton."[5] | ![]() | ||
| Mengshanosaurus | M. minimus | A choristodere belonging to Neochoristodera | ||||
References
- Mengyin Formation at Fossilworks.org
- Wilson & Upchurch, 2009
- Weishampel et al., 2004, "Dinosaur distribution (Late Jurassic, Asia).", pp.550–552
- T'an, 1923
- "Table 13.1," in Weishampel et al., 2004, p.262
- Fang et al., 2009
- Young, 1961
Bibliography
- ; ; ; ; , and . 2009. Supraspecific taxa of the Bivalvia first named, described, and published in China (1927-2007). The University of Kansas Paleontological Contributions 17. 1–157.
- , and . 2009. Redescription and reassessment of the phylogenetic affinities of Euhelopus zdanskyi (Dinosauria:Sauropoda) from the Early Cretaceous of China. Journal of Systematic Palaeontology 7. 199–239. doi:10.1017/S1477201908002691
- . 1961. On a new crocodile from Chuhsien, E. Shantung. Vertebrata PalAsiatica 5. 6–10.
- . 1929. Die Kreide-Dinosaurier aus Shantung - The Cretaceous dinosaurs of Shantung. Palaeontologia Sinica, Series C 6. 1–67.
- . 1923. New research on the Mesozoic and early Tertiary geology in Shantung. Geological Survey of China Bulletin 5. 95–135.


