Editing Monte Bolca (section)

==Species in the formation==
{{Main|Paleobiota of Monte Bolca}}

=== Animal fossils ===
[[File:Ceratoichthys pinnatiformis 4554.jpg|thumb|The bizarre [[Carangidae|jackfish]] ''[[Ceratoichthys]]'']]
[[File:FOS658A.jpg|thumb|The small [[herring]] relative ''[[Bolcaichthys]]'' is the most common fish of the formation]]
[[Image:Naturkundemuseum Berlin - Archaeophis proavus Massalongo - Monte Bolca.jpg|thumb|right|The marine snake ''[[Archaeophis|Archaeophis proavus]]'' Massalongo, Museum für Naturkunde (Berlin).|234x234px]]Monte Bolca is rich in fish: 250 species (140 genera, 90 families and 19 orders).<ref name="Fauna">Williams, Matt, [http://palaeo.gly.bris.ac.uk/palaeofiles/lagerstatten/monte_bolca/faunaandflora.html Fauna and Flora of Monte Bolca] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160327110602/http://palaeo.gly.bris.ac.uk/Palaeofiles/Lagerstatten/monte_bolca/faunaandflora.html |date=2016-03-27 }}, University of Bristol</ref>    Additionally a cephalopod, crustaceans, jellyfish and polychaete worms have been found whole, but foraminifera, molluscs, and corals are found in fragments and may have been transported.<ref name="Fauna" />  Bird feathers and tortoise shell plates have been found, as well as many insects, freshwater and land plants.<ref name="Fauna" />

Notable fossil species include: 
{{Div col|colwidth=22em}}
*'''[[Fish]]''' 
** ''[[Angiolinia|Angiolinia mirabilis]]'', an [[Zanclidae|zanclid]] [[fish]]
** ''[[Bolcaperca|Bolcaperca craccorum]]'', an [[Percoidei|perch]]
** ''[[Blochius]] longirostris'', an [[swordfish|ancestral swordfish]]
** ''[[Ceratoichthys]]'', an unusual [[Carangidae|jack fish]]
** ''[[Bolcaichthys]]'', a [[herring]] relative and the most abundant fish of the formation
** ''[[Cyclopoma]] gigas'', a large [[percomorph]]
** ''[[Eastmanalepes|Eastmanalepes primaevus]]'', a jack fish
** ''[[Eolactoria|Eolactoria sorbinii]]'', a [[Ostraciidae|boxfish]]
** ''[[Eoplatax]] papilio'', a [[Platax|batfish]] 
** ''[[Exellia velifer]]'', a [[Ephippidae|spadefish]] 
** ''[[Godsilia lanceolata]]'', a primitive [[tuna]]
** ''[[Eolates]]'', a [[Lates|relative]] of the [[Nile perch]]
** ''[[Caruso brachysomus]]'', a primitive [[anglerfish]]
** ''[[Mene rhombea]]'' and ''[[Mene oblonga]]'', early [[Mene|moonfish]]
** ''[[Paranguilla|Paranguilla tigrina]]'', an [[eel]] with preserved coloration
** ''[[Pasaichthys|Pasaichthys pleuronectiformis]]'', a [[Monodactylidae|mooneyfish]]
** ''[[Platax]] altissimus'' and ''Platax macropterygius'', [[spadefish]]
** ''[[Platinx]]'', one of the last [[crossognathiform]] fish
** ''[[Proaracana|Proaracana dubia]]'', an [[Aracanidae|aracanid boxfish]]
** ''[[Protobalistum|Protobalistum imperial]]'', a relative of boxfish and triggerfish
** ''[[Psettopsis|Psettopsis subarcuatus]]'', a mooneyfish
** ''[[Pycnodus]] platessus'', one of the last [[pycnodont]] fish
** ''[[Pygaeus]] nobilis'', a bony-fish
** ''[[Serranus]] occipitalis'', a [[Serranidae|sea bass]]
** ''[[Sharfia mirabilis]]'', an anglerfish
** ''[[Sphyraena bolcensis]]'', one of the earliest [[Barracuda|barracudas]]
** ''[[Spinacanthus|Spinacanthus cuneiformis]]'', a [[Tetraodontiformes|relative]] of boxfish and [[triggerfish]]
** ''[[Zorzinichthys]]'', a zorzinichthyid percomorph
*'''[[Shark|Sharks]]'''
** ''[[Galeorhinus cuvieri]]'', a relative of the modern [[school shark]]
** ''[[Eogaleus]]'', an early [[requiem shark]]
** ''[[Brachycarcharias]]'', a [[sand shark]]
*'''[[Ray (fish)|Rays]]'''
** ''[[Arechia|Arechia crassicaudata]]'', an [[Urolophidae|stingaree]]
** ''[[Dasyomyliobatis]]'', a [[stingray]] intermediate between [[whiptail stingray|whiptail stingrays]] and [[eagle rays]]
** ''[[Lessiniabatis]]'', a bizarre stingray with a highly reduced tail
*'''[[Lobster]]'''
**''[[Justitia (crustacean)|Justitia]] desmaresti''
*'''[[Crocodile]]'''
**''[[Crocodylus|Crocodilus]] vicetinus''
*'''[[Snake|Snakes]]'''
** ''[[Archaeophis]] bolcaensis''
** ''Archaeophis proavus'' 
*'''[[Cephalopoda|Cephalopods]]'''
** ''[[Bolcaoctopus|Bolcaoctopus pesciaraensis]]'', an [[octopus]]
{{div col end}}

===Plant fossils===
[[File:Photo Natural History Museum of Verona. Fossil of an undetermined terrestrial plant branch found in the deposits of the Cave della Pesciara on Monte Purga near Bolca. 1964 - Touring Club Italiano 07 0527.jpg|thumb|267x267px|A well-preserved tree branch recovered from Bolca]]
One of the more interesting puzzles in ichnotaxonomy, pertains to fossils from Monte Bolca, originally named ''[[Zoophycos]] caput-medusae'', previously thought to be [[trace fossil]]s, were found to be plants instead and given the name [[Algae|Algarum]] by French zoologist [[Henri Milne-Edwards]] in 1866.<ref name="Miller" />  The type specimen collected by Italian [[Paleobotany|paleobotanist]]  [[Abramo Bartolommeo Massalongo]] before 1855 is at the Natural History Museum of [[Verona]] and was preserved in a [[lithographic limestone]] upper and lower slab.<ref name="Miller" />

When Italian [[Botany|botanist]] Achille Forti (28 November 1878 Verona -11 February 1937  Verona) worked on the specimens in 1926, they were reinterpreted as close relatives of the sea palm, now known to be a [[brown algae]], which had lived in the [[Neritic zone|coastal waters]] of the Eocene sea.<ref name="Miller" />  He renamed the species ''Postelsia caput-medusae'' which makes it related to the genus ''[[Postelsia]]'', now with only one living species, which was described by its discoverer [[Franz Josef Ruprecht]] in 1852 as ''Postelsia palmaeformis''.<ref name="Miller" />   His type-specimen is from [[Bodega Bay, California]],<ref name="Miller" />  but the species is found along the Pacific coast.  The appearance of the plant is a holdfast on the bottom, with a stem-like stipe between there and the fronds which are about {{convert|5|cm|in}} to {{convert|10|cm|in}}.<ref name="Miller" />   In life, the fronds hang vertically when the tide is in but flop over the stipe when exposed by low tide.<ref name="Miller" />

Curiously, other specimens from this deposit collected and described by Massalongo in 1855 were actually trace fossils, only this one was a plant.<ref name="Miller" />