Mifune Group

{{short description|Geologic formation in Japan}} {{Infobox rockunit | name = Mifune Group | image = | caption = | type = Geological formation | age = Late Cretaceous, {{fossilrange|Cenomanian}} | period = Late Cretaceous | prilithology = | otherlithology = | namedfor = | namedby = | region = | country = Japan | coordinates = | unitof = | subunits = Jobu Formation, Kabu Formation, Mihune Formation | underlies = | overlies = Unconformity with metamorphic rocks and Permian Mizukoshi Formation | thickness = Over 1500 metres | extent = | area = | map = | map_caption = }}The '''Mifune Group''' or '''Mihune Formation''' is a Mesozoic geologic formation in Japan. It contains dinosaur fossils.<ref name="dinosaurdistribution">Weishampel, David B.; Dodson, Peter; and Osmólska, Halszka (eds.): The Dinosauria, 2nd, Berkeley: University of California Press pp.517-607 {{ISBN|0-520-24209-2}}. </ref>

==Fossils== Fossils found in the unit include indeterminate dinosaur remains, the turtles ''Adocus'', ''Shachemys'', and ''Tienfucheloides'', and the pterosaur ''Nipponopterus''.<ref>{{cite thesis |last=Hirayama |first=Ren |date=1998 |title=Fossil turtles from the Mifune Group (Late Cretaceous) of Kumamoto Prefecture, Western Japan |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/267943279}}</ref><ref name="dinosaurdistribution"/><ref name="Nipponopterus">{{Cite journal |last1=Zhou |first1=Xuanyu |last2=Ikegami |first2=Naoki |last3=Pêgas |first3=Rodrigo V. |last4=Yoshinaga |first4=Toru |last5=Sato |first5=Takahiro |last6=Mukunoki |first6=Toshifumi |last7=Otani |first7=Jun |last8=Kobayashi |first8=Yoshitsugu |date=2024-11-16 |title=Reassessment of an azhdarchid pterosaur specimen from the Mifune Group, Upper Cretaceous of Japan |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0195667124002192 |journal=Cretaceous Research |article-number=106046 |doi=10.1016/j.cretres.2024.106046 |issn=0195-6671|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

==See also== {{Portal|Earth sciences|Paleontology|Dinosaurs||}} * List of dinosaur-bearing rock formations ** List of stratigraphic units with indeterminate dinosaur fossils

==Footnotes== {{Reflist}}

Category:Geologic groups of Asia Category:Geologic formations of Japan Category:Cenomanian Stage Category:Upper Cretaceous Series of Asia Category:Mesozoic Erathem of Asia