A new Cenomanian vertebrate tracksite at Tamajón (Guadalajara,Spain): Palaeoichnology and palaeoenvironmental implications

A new Upper Cretaceous vertebrate tracksite has been discovered at Tamajón (Iberian Ranges, Guadalajara, Spain). The track level is a relatively smooth and slightly undulating sandy ferruginous crust, corresponding to an erosive surface at the base of a small meandering channel. It is incised into the underlying planar cross-bedded sandstones of coastal bars located at the middle-upper part of the Utrillas Formation (middle-upper Cenomanian). The site shows an extraordinary concentration of vertebrate tracks, among which numerous sets of two to five isolated digit impressions (“swim tracks”) and, at least, two trackways referred to crocodyliforms, and a single tridactyl footprint probably produced by a theropod dinosaur can be recognized. There are also several long traces (epichnial grooves) revealing sharp direction changes (up to 90°) which seem to be fish fin traces (Undichna unisulca), although crocodyliforms (tail marks) and/or fish invertebrates cannot be rejected as possible tracemakers. Some crocodyliform tracks reveal a thin raised rim, due to the displacement of the sediment by the pressure produced by the feet. Several impressions are moderately deformed by small sediment slides, only preserving their deepest part (claw marks). This is clearly indicative of a soft substrate with a high degree of plasticity and water content at the time of the track registration. Nevertheless, the sediment was hard enough to preserve manus and pes print morphologies and also possible crocodyliform tail and/or fish fin traces. Small rhizoliths can also be recognized and may belong to herbaceous wetland vegetation. The morphology of the palaeochannel, the sedimentary context and the track preservation seem to indicate that the tracks were impressed in a shallow channel located near the coast, under wet conditions and in different moments of time. This discovery represents the first occurrence of vertebrate ichnites in the Utrillas Formation, a stratigraphic unit where osteological and ichnological remains are relatively scarce, and it confirms that some crocodyliforms lived in near coast channels during the deposition of this unit.     

Notes on fossil remains from the Early Cretaceous Lohan Cura Formation, Neuquén Province, Argentina

In this contribution, we describe an association of fossil remains collected in the locality of Cerro de Los Leones, approximately 8 km southwest of the town of Picún Leufú, Neuquén Province, Argentina, from different levels of the Albian Cullín Grande Member, Lohan Cura Formation. The fossils include pelecypodan (Neocorbicula dinosauriorum, Neocorbicula pehuenchensis, and genus indet.) and gastropodan (Physa wichmanni) molluscs, a mesoeucrocodylian, possible pterosaurs, theropods, and sauropods. The sedimentary environment at Cerro de los Leones is characterized by fluvial deposits corresponding to a sandy meandering fluvial system. The most fossiliferous levels (located in the lower part of the exposed sequence) were developed in a distal flood plain and flood basin areas. Sedimentological and paleopedological features suggest semi-arid conditions during the deposition of the Cullín Grande Member. Despite the fragmentary nature of the specimens described here, the new information provided from the Albian assemblages of the Lohan Cura Formation at the Cerro de Los Leones locality provides a broader panorama of the composition of terrestrial faunas during the Early Cretaceous in Patagonia.     

A new Late Cretaceous crocodyliform from the western margin of Gondwana (La Rioja Province,Argentina)

The Cretaceous witnessed the greatest diversity of Gondwanan notosuchian crocodyliforms, which displayed high levels of diversity and a notable array of specialized forms that developed in different ecological niches. Among this diversity, the advanced notosuchians are a clade of mid body sized forms which displays a remarkable abundance but is restricted to two lithological units from the Late Cretaceous of South America, the Adamantina Formation in southeastern Brazil and the Bajo de la Carpa Formation in Patagonia (Argentina). The only exceptions known so far were the Late Cretaceous Labidiosuchus from the Marilia Formation in Brazil and Yacarerani from the Cajones Formation in Bolivia. Herein we report a new Cretaceous crocodyliform, Llanosuchus tamaensis gen. nov. et sp. nov., found in the Los Llanos Formation (Campanian?) in northwestern Argentina (La Rioja Province). The small specimen includes well preserved fragments of the cranium and mandible with an estimated skull size of about 9 cm lengths. This crocodyliform shares several derived characters with Notosuchus terrestris from the Bajo de la Carpa Formation (Patagonia) and it was found in a weakly developed sandy paleosol profile formed in wet local conditions but in a region characterized by semi-arid climate and active eolian sedimentation. The presence of a new advanced notosuchian in the Cretaceous of western Gondwana, and its intermediate geographical region between the known South American species (Brazil, Argentina and Bolivia), has interesting implications, and adds another record of an advanced notosuchian in deposits with inferred warm climates and semi-arid paleoenvironments. Finally, Llanosuchus tamaensis supports a Late Cretaceous age for Los Llanos Formation with important geological implications for La Rioja Province.