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El Castellar Formation

Geological formation in Spain

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Source updated September 15, 2026

The El Castellar Formation is a geological formation in La Rioja and Teruel, Spain whose strata date back to the possibly the Valanginian to the Barremian stages of the Early Cretaceous. Dinosaur remains are among the fossils that have been recovered from the formation.

01Vertebrate paleofauna

Ornithopod tracks and dinosaur eggs are known from the formation.

Amphibians

Amphibians
Genus	Species	Location	Stratigraphic position	Abundance	Notes	Images
Eodiscoglossus	E. santonjae				Frog
Galverpeton	G. ibericum				A member of Caudata.

Dinosaurs

Dinosaurs
Genus	Species	Location	Stratigraphic position	Abundance	Notes	Images
cf. Owenodon	Indeterminate
cf. Paronychodon	Indeterminate				Possible indeterminate troodont remains.
Styracosterna	Indeterminate				Previously assigned to Mantellisaurus.

Turtles

Turtles
Genus	Species	Location	Stratigraphic position	Abundance	Notes	Images
Dortokidae	Indeterminate

Mammals

Mammals
Genus	Species	Location	Stratigraphic position	Abundance	Notes	Images
Crusafontia	C. cuencana				Dryolestid
Iberica	I. hahni				Multituberculate
Spalacotherium	S. henkeli				Spalacotheriidae

Color key

Taxon

Reclassified taxon

Taxon falsely reported as present

Dubious taxon or junior synonym

Ichnotaxon

Ootaxon

Morphotaxon

Notes
Uncertain or tentative taxa are in small text; crossed out taxa are discredited.

02Correlation

Early Cretaceous stratigraphy of Iberia
Ma	Age	Paleomap \ Basins	Cantabrian	Olanyà	Cameros	Maestrazgo	Oliete	Galve	Morella	South Iberian	Pre-betic	Lusitanian
100	Cenomanian		La Cabana	Sopeira	Utrillas		Mosquerela					Caranguejeira
			Altamira		Utrillas
			Eguino
125	Albian		Ullaga - Balmaseda	Lluçà						Traiguera
			Monte Grande		Escucha		Escucha			Jijona
			Itxina - Miono		Escucha
	Aptian		Valmaseda - Tellamendi		Ol Gp. - Castrillo	Benassal		Benassal				Olhos
			Valmaseda - Tellamendi	Font	En Gp. - Leza	Morella/Oliete	Oliete	Villaroya	Morella	Capas Rojas		Almargem
			Patrocinio - Ernaga	Senyús	En Gp. - Jubela	Forcall				Villaroya	Upper Bedoulian	Figueira
	Barremian		Vega de Pas	Cabó	Abejar	Xert	Alacón	Xert		Huérguina	Upper Bedoulian	Assises
				Prada	Abejar	Artoles				Collado	Moutonianum	Papo Seco
				Rúbies	Tera Gp. - Golmayo	Alacón/Blesa	Blesa	Camarillas	Mirambel	Collado	Moutonianum	Papo Seco
150	Hauterivian				Ur Gp. - Pinilla	Llacova	Blesa	Castellar	Tera Gp. - Pinilla	Villares		Porto da Calada
						Llacova	hiatus			Villares
						Huerva			Gaita
	Valanginian		Villaro		Ur Gp. - Larriba				Ped Gp. - Hortigüela
					Ped Gp. - Hortigüela				Ped Gp. - Piedrahita
					Peñacoba			Galve		Miravetes
	Berriasian		Cab Gp. - Arcera		Valdeprado	hiatus		Alfambra		Miravetes
					TdL Gp. - Rupelo			Arzobispo	hiatus	Tollo
					On Gp. - Huérteles Sierra Matute			Arzobispo		Tollo
	Tithonian		Lastres		Tera Gp. - Magaña		Higuereles			Tera Gp. - Magaña		Lourinhã
					Tera Gp. - Magaña				Arzobispo
					Ágreda				Arzobispo
Legend		Major fossiliferous, oofossiliferous, ichnofossiliferous, coproliferous, minor formation
Sources

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Sources and credits

This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “El Castellar Formation”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.

Images, from Wikimedia Commons:

Eodiscoglossus.png by Báez, Ana Maria & Gómez, Raúl O., CC BY 4.0
Cenomanian-Coniacian Iberia.jpg by Zoltan Csiki-Sava, Eric Buffetaut, Attila Ősi, Xabier Pereda-Suberbiola, Stephen L. Brusatte, CC BY 4.0

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