The turtles from the uppermost Jurassic and Early Cretaceous of Galve (Iberian Range,Spain): Anatomical,systematic, biostratigraphic and palaeobiogeographical implications

The faunal associations of the uppermost Jurassic and Early Cretaceous Villar del Arzobispo, El Castellar, and Camarillas formations of the Spanish town of Galve (Maestrazgo Basin of the Iberian Range) are composed of more than fifty taxa belonging to Chondrichthyes, bony fishes, lissamphibians, mammals, and reptiles. Although the presence of turtles has been recognized in these three formations, being very abundant, the published information is limited. The detailed study of these turtles allows us to recognize at least nine taxa, several of them previously not identified in the Spanish record. These taxa correspond to stem Testudines (Solemydidae), members of Paracryptodira (Pleurosternidae), several representatives of Plesiochelyidae and taxa closely related with this clade, representatives of the stem group of Cryptodira (Xinjiangchelyidae) and members of crown Cryptodira. The chelonian fauna of Galve increases the systematic, anatomical, biostratigraphic, and paleobiogeographic knowledge on several clades, represented by taxa shared with other European regions, clades also present in Early Cretaceous sites of North America or Asia, as well as taxa exclusive of the Iberian record.     

The Early Cretaceous megaflora of the Springhill Formation,Patagonia. Paleofloristic and Paleonvironmental inferences

The Springhill Formation (Lower Cretaceous) is considered as one of the most important oil producer units within the Austral Basin in Argentina. However, knowledge regarding this formation's plant community composition is still very scarce. In this work a thorough survey of the outcrops of the Springhill Formation was conducted regarding both geological and palaeobotanical aspects. Abundant fossil plant material was collected at the Estancia El Salitral and Río Correntoso localities in Santa Cruz Province, Argentina, consisting primarily of compressions of leafy shoots with several branching orders, completely to partially preserved fronds, simple to pinnate leaves and fertile scales. Analysis of these materials made it possible to describe 20 new taxa which add to the already known flora of the Springhill Formation; nine of these taxa were found in Estancia El Salitral, and the remaining 11 were found in Río Correntoso. The floristic diversity of the unit has increased through the discovery of the first megafossils of ginkgophytes (Baiera sp. 1 and Baiera? sp. 2), whereas new taxa have been described within the divisions of Pteridophyta, Pteridospermophyta, Cycadophyta and Pinophyta. Analysis of the vegetative and reproductive epidermal structures of the various groups included within this megaflora has been demonstrated to be a valuable tool for the recognition and differentiation of species. Analysis has also made it possible to suggest paleoenvironmental inferences. Finally, the megaflora from the Springhill Formation was compared to other relevant plant assemblages from the Lower Cretaceous of Western Gondwana. The megaflora was determined to be most similar to that of the well-known Patagonian Anfiteatro de Ticó Formation and most different from that of the Brazilian Crato Formation.     

New fossil anurans from the Lower Cretaceous Sasayama Group of Hyogo Prefecture,Western Honshu,Japan

We describe two well-preserved and articulated fossil anurans excavated from the Lower Cretaceous Sasayama Group in Hyogo Prefecture, Western Honshu, Japan, as new taxa on the basis of unique combinations of character states. We performed a phylogenetic analysis that included these new taxa, as well as Mesozoic and archaic anurans. This analysis strongly supports the monophyly of each of the two new taxa, both of which are placed in more derived positions than extant leiopelmatids or Liaobatrachus from the Lower Cretaceous in China. Anuran specimens from the Tetori Group of Japan are not assigned to the two new taxa, suggesting that at least three anuran taxa were present in Japan during the Early Cretaceous. These Japanese representatives are not closely related to known fossil anurans from Eastern Eurasia, unlike recently described Cretaceous lizards from these two regions.     

Diversity of the Woody Vegetation of Gondwanan Southern Africa

The flora of Gondwanan southern Africa is represented in the rock record by micro-fossils, macro-fossils and petrified woods. All these types of fossils are seldom preserved together in any one particular facies because of taphonomic and preservational biases. In order to obtain as accurate a picture as possible of the woody vegetation, both the fossil woods and other macroplant fossils, such as leaf impressions, fructifications and cuticle, of woody plants, have been correlated. This was done for each Formation in the Karoo Supergroup in order to illustrate the changes in diversity of woody vegetation over time. Sediments of the Karoo Supergroup represent the terrestrial fossil record of the period Upper Carboniferous to the Lower Cretaceous when Africa finally separated from South America. In the Upper Carboniferous to Lower Permian (Dwyka Formation) there are at least five described genera of woods from South Africa and Namibia. Early to Middle Permian woods (Ecca Group) are a little more diverse with six genera, representing the glossopterids, cordaitaleans and possibly other seed fern groups. Late Permian to Early Triassic (Beaufort Group) woods show very little change in diversity in spite of the major floral and biotic turnover evident from the rest of the fossil record. Although the Late Triassic (Molteno Formation) macro-flora has been shown to be an example of explosive diversification, the generally poorly preserved woods do not reflect this. Lower Jurassic fossils (Clarens Formation) are also poorly preserved but have araucarian characteristics. Early Cretaceous woods represent the Araucariaceae, Cheirolepidiaceae and Podocarpaceae with a number of species. The diversity of the woods has not changed as much as the rest of the floral components in southern Africa from the Late Carboniferous to the Early Cretaceous. Possible reasons for this apparent stasis are the conservative nature of wood, functional restrictions, limitations of suitable conditions for petrifications and the fact that very little research has been done on southern African woods.     

Mammalian femora across the Cretaceous–Paleogene boundary in eastern Montana

Our understanding of latest Cretaceous and earliest Paleogene mammalian evolution is based almost entirely on the dental fossil record. Mammalian postcranial fossils are rare and mostly found as isolated elements in latest Cretaceous and earliest Paleogene vertebrate microfossil assemblages of North America. Although placing these fossils in a tooth-based taxonomic framework is difficult, they can provide insight into locomotor diversity and habitat preference to complement diet reconstructions and diversity estimates from dental fossils. Here, we describe 64 femora of mammals recovered from latest Cretaceous (Lancian) and earliest Paleogene (Puercan) localities in eastern Montana. We sorted these based on morphology and size (morphotypes). In some cases, morphotypes were tentatively assigned to dentally based taxa that are known from these strata.Although our resulting femoral dataset is small relative to the study area's dental dataset, we show several key findings. First, there is a greater morphological diversity of multituberculate femora than previously recognized, especially in the latest Cretaceous sample. In contrast, metatherians, which have a high relative abundance in Lancian Hell Creek Formation dental assemblages, are absent from our postcranial samples; eutherian femora are only present in the Puercan assemblages. Second, we record a minor decrease in morphotype richness across the K–Pg boundary that is associated with an increase in mean specimen size, due to the appearance of a few significantly larger-bodied, immigrant taxa. Among the eutherians, there are two specimens of larger-bodied early Puercan archaic ungulates, a very large specimen of a middle/late Puercan taeniodont, pantodont, or triisodontid, as well as a specimen possibly attributed to a “plesiadapiform” archaic primate. Third, preliminary functional morphologic analyses of the more complete specimens suggest that locomotor diversity increased from mainly arboreal or terrestrial/saltatorial multituberculates in the latest Cretaceous to include a fossorial multituberculate and potentially an arboreal eutherian in the early Paleocene. These patterns parallel those previously reported from a dental dataset and indicate that postcranial data are valuable as an independent means to test hypotheses of taxonomic and ecomorphological diversity across the K–Pg boundary.     

中国东北首次发现白垩纪紫萁科叶柄基化石

我国东北地区是北半球少有的中生代紫萁科茎干化石产地之一。该地区出产的茎干化石为研究中生代紫萁科的演化历史提供了重要证据。我国过去报道的紫萁科茎干化石来自东北地区的侏罗系。近期在东北松辽盆地北部白垩系发现了紫萁科茎干化石, 为认识紫萁科在中生代晚期的演化发展过程提供了不可或缺的证据。本研究报道了在黑龙江省五大连池市和平镇发现的白垩纪紫萁科叶柄基化石。横切面上看叶柄基以茎缺失的位置为中心螺旋状排列, 较为紧密。维管束木质部呈深凹的C形, 末端向内弯曲。维管束凹陷处有薄的C形、边缘呈波纹状的厚壁组织带。C形维管束与厚壁组织带之间分布着薄壁细胞组成的粘液囊。内皮层中分布着不规则排列的若干厚壁组织束。近轴端叶柄基托叶翼中分布有2个较大和若干小的厚壁组织束; 大的厚壁组织束呈水滴形。随着叶柄基由近轴端向远轴端的延伸, 维管束近轴面凹陷处的厚壁组织带长度增长, 粘液囊数量增加; 托叶翼中厚壁组织束数量相应增加, 除了两个大的厚壁组织束外, 它们附近增加了若干大小不等的厚壁组织束和单个厚壁纤维细胞。当前化石是我国第一个白垩纪保存解剖结构的紫萁科化石记录。其结构特征与灭绝的Osmundacaulis和现存的Plenasium的叶柄基比较相似, 可能代表了白垩纪以上两属的成员之一。由于目前欧亚大陆白垩纪还未见Osmundacaulis和Plenasium的茎干化石记录, 当前化石的发现丰富了欧亚大陆白垩纪紫萁科植物的多样性。     

Tetrapods from the Upper Cretaceous (Turonian–Maastrichtian) Bauru Group of Brazil: a reappraisal

An updated, annotated list of all tetrapods from the Adamantina, Uberaba and Marília formations (Bauru Group), which constitute some of the best studied Upper Cretaceous units in Brazil, is presented. Tetrapod diversity in the Bauru Group is remarkable, including an admixture of typically austral Gondwanan taxa (e.g., abelisaurids, notosuchians) and boreal Gondwanan forms (e.g., carcharodontosaurids). Of note is the absence of Laurasian taxa in the upper portion of the Bauru Group. With the exception of some turtles, an anuran, mesoeucrocodylians and one titanosaur, most taxa from the Bauru Group are based on fragmentary and isolated bones, and as such many specimens can be identified only to a higher taxonomic level. Fishes, turtles, anurans, mesoeucrocodylians, dinosaurs, birds and mammals from the Adamantina and Marília formations resemble the latest Late Cretaceous vertebrate faunas from southern South America, except for the absence of ornithischian dinosaurs.     

The Medusa effect: instantaneous fossilization

Rapid fossilization of fishes and other animals in the Lower Cretaceous of the Chapada do Araripe, north-east Brazil, has preserved the most delicate structures known in the fossil record. Gills, muscles, stomachs and even eggs with yolks have been found. Interestingly, the material is not particularly rare, and specimens can be purchased from your local rock shop.     

The first evidence of iguanodontids (Dinosauria: Ornithischia) in Alberta,Canada – A fossil footprint from the Early Cretaceous

Basal iguanodontians (“iguanodontids”) were a successful group of ornithopod dinosaurs that attained a near global distribution by the late Early Cretaceous. Despite their body fossils being known in abundance from the uppermost Jurassic and Lower Cretaceous of the western United States, their remains have never been found in western Canada. With its extensive, terrestrial sedimentary record for the whole of the Early Cretaceous, the expectation is that these dinosaurs would have been present in western Canada. This paper reports the finding of a fossil footprint from the Gladstone Formation in southwestern Alberta that is interpreted to have been made by an iguanodontid. This identification is based on the late Barremian age of the hosting rock, gross footprint details that match the skeletal foot structure of Iguanodon bernissartensis, and similarities to Early Cretaceous dinosaur footprints found elsewhere in the world that are attributed to iguanodontids. This finding fills a noticeable gap in the iguanodontian fossil record, and is consistent with the clade's attainment of global distribution during the Early Cretaceous.     

基于恐龙足迹重建攀西地区白垩纪恐龙动物群

攀西地区没有白垩纪恐龙骨骼化石记录,对该区白垩纪恐龙动物群组合的认识尚属空白。1991年,攀西地区首次发现了恐龙足迹,此后陆续发现了8个足迹点。这些足迹点共发现9种不同的非鸟恐龙足迹(6种非鸟兽脚类、1种蜥脚类和2种鸟脚类足迹),以及翼龙和龟类足迹。共11种足迹形态类型由185道行迹(与孤立足迹)组成,可能代表着同等数量的造迹者。其中飞天山组的组合多样性最强,小坝组和雷打树组较弱。这个相对全面的足迹数据库,为该地区白垩纪四足类的古生态学普查提供了动物群的组成信息,这在该缺乏骨骼化石的地区显得尤为重要。     

蒙古东南部晚中生代木化石

本文报道了产自蒙古东南部晚侏罗世至早白垩世的木材化石7属8种。其中,包括3个新种(Protaxodioxylon mongolense sp.nov.,Circoporoxylon mongolense sp.nov.,Protocircoporoxylon mongolense sp.nov.)和5个已知种(Protocupressinoxylon coromandelinum,Protocupressinoxylon mishanense,Xenoxylon latiporosum,Protophyllocladoxylon franconicum,Protocedroxylon lindicianum)。作者对这些木化石解剖特征做了详细描述,并对其古气候环境进行了分析与探讨。     

First Psocodean (Psocodea,Empheriidae) from the Cretaceous Amber of New Jersey

<正>Representatives of the extinct psocid family Empheriidae are known from Eocene Baltic amber, Lowermost Eocene French amber(Oise),and Lower Cretaceous Spanish amber(Alava).We report herein the first discovery of an empheriid psocid from the Cretaceous amber of New Jersey as Jerseyempheria grimaldii gen.et sp. nov.The fossil is figured and described.The new species is distinguished from related taxa.A discussion and checklist of Empheriidae are provided.     

Fossil coniferous wood from the Early Cretaceous Jehol Biota in western Liaoning,NE China: New material and palaeoclimate implications

The Early Cretaceous Jehol Biota, one of the most important Mesozoic lagerstätten in East Asia, is especially well-known for occurrences of fossil feathered dinosaurs and early angiosperms. However, the terrestrial biodiversity, especially the fossil wood record, is poorly known. In this study, several structurally preserved coniferous wood specimens from the Lower Cretaceous Yixian Formation are investigated, based on collections from the Heichengzi Basin in Beipiao of western Liaoning, Northeast China. Four species referred to four genera of fossil wood are described, including Taxodioxylon heichengziense sp. nov., Thujoxylon beipiaoense sp. nov., Sciadopityoxylon liaoningense Ding and Protocedroxylon shengjinbeigouense sp. nov. These new records enlarge the fossil wood diversity of the Yixian Formation up to 10 species in 9 genera, and provide further insights into the forest vegetation composition of the Early Cretaceous Jehol Biota. Systematic analysis of the floral constitution indicates that the petrified forests of the Yixian Formation are dominated by conifers, represented by Araucariaceae, Podocarpaceae, Sciadopityaceae, Pinaceae and Cupressaceae in the western Liaoning region. Palaeoclimatical analysis of the fossil wood assemblage implies that the western Liaoning region was dominated by a cool temperate, wet and seasonal climate with variable interannual water supply in the western Liaoning region during the Early Cretaceous.     

Taphonomy and abundance of birds from the Lower Eocene Fur Formation of Denmark

The pattern, pace and extent of the evolutionary radiation of modern birds (Neornithes) by the end‐Cretaceous (65 Ma) has long been debated. Well‐dated, taphonomically understood and phylogenetically constrained fossil birds from both sides of the Cretaceous–Paleogene (K–Pg) boundary are required to quantify the shape of this radiation, but have largely been lacking. Here we report on a large collection of fossil birds from the Lower Eocene of Denmark (ca. 54 Ma) that includes three‐dimensionally preserved, articulated specimens from carbonate concretions as well as skeletal imprints and feathers. These birds are from a marine diatomite sequence (the Fur Formation), a low‐energy deep‐water preservational environment unique to the Cretaceous and Paleogene avian fossil record. We present taphonomic and palaeoecological information gleaned from these birds that in combination with phylogenetic data have implications for unravelling avian survivorship across the K–Pg boundary as well as for the pattern of the neornithine evolutionary radiation. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Diversity and faunal changes in the latest Cretaceous dinosaur communities of southwestern Europe

Characterization of macroecological patterns for latest Cretaceous dinosaur communities is essential to understand how those faunas were changing during the run-up to the Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction event, and thus the cause of the extinction. Outside of the well-studied latest Cretaceous dinosaurs of North America, southwestern Europe (France, Spain and Portugal) preserves one of the richest end-Cretaceous dinosaur fossil records, as it has produced hundreds of dinosaur fossil localities. We compiled a comprehensive database of all dinosaur fossil occurrences from the uppermost Cretaceous of the Ibero-Armorican region and analyze it statistically, providing the first numerical study of the ecological and taxonomic diversities of these communities. Our study corroborates previous work that has identified a major faunal change in the latest Cretaceous terrestrial vertebrate assemblages, and places this event around the C31r-C31n reversal, in the early late Maastrichtian (c. 69 Ma). Significant differences in ecological diversity metrics (dominance, Shannon and Simpson) characterize the pre- and post-turnover assemblages. The turnover event, therefore, did not only lead to a taxonomic replacement but also important reorganizations in the structure of dinosaur communities. Herbivorous dinosaurs suffered the most dramatic alterations across the turnover, in terms of relative dominances, by shifting their contributions within the communities (hadrosauroids replacing titanosaurids as the dominant taxon in the medium-to large-bodied herbivore niche) or even disappearing (rhabdodontids and nodosaurids). The carnivores apparently maintained similar relative abundances before and after the turnover, and the relative proportions between carnivorous and herbivorous taxa remained static through time. Further improvement of the present database might allow for the identification of new ecological patterns, and higher-resolution comparison with the North American records.     

First fossil insect from Lower Cretaceous Lebanese amber in Syria (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae)

Lebanoculicoides bloudani a new species of Ceratopogonidae from the Lower Cretaceous ambers of Syria and Lebanon is studied. The new species is characterized, described, illustrated, and compared with the other fossil taxa of the same extinct genus. A key to the species of the genus Lebanoculioides is proposed.     

Early Cretaceous choristoderes (Diapsida,Choristodera) from Siberia,Russia

There are ten known Lower Cretaceous localities for skeletal remains of choristoderes in Siberia (Russia). Choristoderan remains at all these localities are represented by isolated bones, usually by isolated vertebrae of Choristodera indet. Three choristoderan taxa in two geological units were identified: the non-neochoristodere Khurendukhosaurus sp. (possibly closely related to the long-necked Sino-Japanese hyphalosaurids) from the Murtoi Formation, Transbaikalia; cf. Khurendukhosaurus sp. and the “Shestakovo choristodere” with possible neochoristoderan affinities from the Ilek Formation, Western Siberia. All these three choristoderan taxa had a microanatomical organization of vertebrae similar to that of in advanced large neochoristoderes (vertebral centra with tight spongiosa). The Siberian fossil record includes the westernmost (Shestakovo locality, Ilek Formation) and the northernmost (Teete locality, the Sangarian Group) occurrences of the Early Cretaceous choristoderes in Asia. Like in other regions of Asia, Siberian localities are characterized by the absence of neosuchian crocodyliforms.     

Biogeographical network analysis of Cretaceous Australian dinosaurs

The biogeography of Cretaceous Australian dinosaur fauna has been characterized variously as endemic, cosmopolitan or closely related to other Gondwanan faunas. Over the past decade, a large number of new Australian dinosaur taxa have been described and included in phylogenetic analyses, allowing for new insights into their biogeographical affinities to be obtained. Here, I combine the latest phylogenies of Australian dinosaurs into a supertree that includes as many Australian taxa as possible and apply it to the construction of biogeographical networks of Cretaceous dinosaurs. The results show that the Cretaceous dinosaurs of Australia have a strong connection with South American dinosaurs and to those of other Gondwanan continents via South America. Community detection algorithms indicate that the Gondwanan continents form a community within Cretaceous dinosaur biogeographical networks. The biogeographical affinities between Australia and Laurasia detected in previous studies were largely due to the scarce dinosaur fossil record of Gondwana at that time and to the unstable phylogenetic position of Australian dinosaurs because of the fragmentary nature of their fossils. Continuing discoveries of new Australian taxa and refinement of resulting phylogenetic analyses can further deepen our understanding of the biogeographical history of Australia.     

A new species of Mirovia (Coniferales, Miroviaceae) from the Lower Cretaceous of the Iberian Ranges (Spain)

The Lower–Middle Albian coaly clay bed of the Escucha Formation, which is exposed at Rubielos de Mora (eastern Iberian Ranges, Spain), contains a diverse fossil plant assemblage. Among the taxa present in this layer, Mirovia gothanii Gomez sp. nov. differs from other species of the genus by its greater leaf length, margins typically overhanging the depressed stomatal groove, a single short, blunt, papilla borne by each subsidiary cell, non-stomatal cells inside the groove and margins, and a higher number of resin ducts in the mesophyll. Morphological study of the well-preserved cuticles demonstrates that the species also occurs in Lower Cretaceous coals of Santa Maria de Meià (Pyrenees, Spain) where Gothan (1954) described it as Sciadopitytes sp. Both localities constitute the southernmost extent of the genus in Laurasia when the family was likely to have reached its climax in terms of abundance and diversity.