Importance of the Lower Permian Fossillagerstätte Bromacker near Tambach-Dietharz in the Thuringian Forest (Germany, Tambach Formation) – Results of the first international research project (1992 – 2010)

Our understanding of the evolution of the earliest amniotes during the time span 320 to 270 million years ago on the Pangaea supercontinent is known from only very rare fossil localities, most of which are in North America. The fossil locality Bromacker (Bromacker Quarry) in the Lower Permian Tambach Formation near Tambach-Dietharz, central Germany, has developed after discovering of first bone 1974 until 2010 to be the most important and productive fossil locality for Lower Permian, terrestrially adapted tetrapods outside USA.

Scientific results emerged in 20 years of international collaboration between Dr. Thomas Martens (MNG, Gotha); Dr. David Berman und Amy Henrici (Pittsburgh, USA); Prof. Stuart Sumida (San Bernardino, USA); Prof. Jozef Klembara (Bratislava, Slovakia); Dr. David Eberth (Royal Tyrrell Museum, Drumheller, Kanada) and Prof. Robert Reisz (University of Toronto, Kanada).

We discovered first examples of Seymouridae (Seymouria sanjuanensis), Diadectidae (Diadectes absitus and Orobates pabsti), Protorothyrididae (Thuringothyris mahlendorffae), Bolosauridae (Eudibamus cursoris), Sphenacodontidae (Dimetrodon teutonis) and Varanopidae (Tambacarnifex unguifalcatus) in the Lower Permian of Europe or outside of USA and some new species/genera of Mikrosauria (Tambaroter corrolli), Trematopidae (Tambachia trogallas and Rotaryus gothae), Amphibamidae (Georgenthalia clavinasica) and Caseidae (Martensius bromackerensis).

The Bromacker produces the best preserved terrestrial vertebrate fossils from the Lower Permian time period (about 290 million years ago). Significantly, the locality provides the example of strictly terrestrial amniote ecosystem. Thus, the herbivores and carnivores coexisted in a natural community as early as the Lower Permian.