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1.
The holotype of Libonectes atlasense is an almost complete skeleton from Upper Cretaceous (mid-Turonian) rocks of the Goulmima area in eastern Morocco. Initial assessment of this specimen in 2005 proposed generic referral based on stratigraphical contemporaneity with Libonectes morgani from the Cenomanian–Turonian of Texas, U.S.A. Nevertheless, relative differences in the profile of the premaxillary-maxillary tooth row, position of the external bony nasal opening, number of teeth and rostrad inclination of the mandibular symphysis, proportions of the axial neural arch, and number of cervical and pectoral vertebrae were used to distinguish between these species. As part of an on-going comparative appraisal of elasmosaurid plesiosaurian osteo-anatomy, we re-examined the type and formally referred material of both L. atlasense and L. morgani in order to establish species validity, as well as compile a comparative atlas for use in future works. Our inspections revealed that these reportedly distinct species-level fossils are in fact virtually indistinguishable in gross morphology. Indeed, the only substantial difference occurs in relative prominence of the midline keel along the mandibular symphysis, which might be explained by intraspecific variation. Furthermore, our observations permit an amendment to the published generic diagnosis of Libonectes with the confirmation of important states such as the likely presence of a pectoral bar, distocaudad expansion of the humerus, and an epipodial foramen. In addition, novel features include a prominent ‘prong-like’ ventral midline process on the coracoids, and the development of a median pelvic bar that encloses a central fenestration. The composite remains of L. morgani thus constitute one of the most complete elasmosaurid skeletal hypodigms documented worldwide, and evidence a trans-Atlantic distribution for this apparently dispersive species during the early–Late Cretaceous.  相似文献   

2.
Pachycephalosaurs, a group of ornithischian dinosaurs with distinctive cranial ornamentation and skull domes, underwent dramatic changes in cranial morphology during ontogeny. This has caused debate about whether some specimens belong to juveniles or adults, which impacts studies of pachycephalosaur phylogeny and evolution. One such debate concerns a small skull roof specimen from the Campanian (Upper Cretaceous) of New Mexico, NMMNH P-33898, which was originally described as an indeterminate juvenile but later regarded as a mature adult and erected as the holotype of a new small-bodied species, Stegoceras novomexicanum. We restudied NMMNH P-33898 using computed tomography scanning, morphometric and phylogenetic analyses, and comparisons to growth series of other pachycephalosaurs (Stegoceras validum, Pachycephalosaurus wyomingensis). We conclude that two purported paratype specimens of Stegoceras novomexicanum cannot be referred to the same taxon as the holotype, that the holotype and controversial paratypes all belong to immature specimens and not aberrant small-bodied adults, but that current evidence cannot clearly determine whether NMMNH P-33898 is a juvenile belonging to its own diagnostic species (S. novomexicanum) or is a juvenile of Stegoceras validum, Sphaerotholus goodwini, or another known taxon. We review the pachycephalosaur record of New Mexico and demonstrate that pachycephalosaurs were important components of dinosaur faunas in the southern part of Western North America during the ∼15 million years before the end-Cretaceous extinction, just as they were in roughly contemporaneous northern localities.  相似文献   

3.
Upper Maastrichtian deposits formed in a nearshore subtidal environment within the Valdenoceda Formation (Castilian Ramp, North Iberian margin) are described together with two recently found selachian assemblages. Rare earth element concentrations (REE) have been used to assess the degree of taphonomic mixing and reworking, observing that it is minor or non-existent, and differences in degree of preservation and ecologic mixing can be explained by biostratinomic processes. The patterns of REE also helped to obtain a better understanding of the depositional environment, including the diagenetic history from burial to final degree of bone preservation.The fossil assemblages here described are close to that of the late Maastrichtian of Albaina (in the enclave of Condado de Treviño, Burgos), both in the Basque-Cantabrian Region, but their age may be slightly older (early late Maastrichtian). In total, the new assemblages consist of 17 taxa, assigned to 11 genera of shallow-water dwellers combined with individuals from the outer shelf. They represent cosmopolitan taxa (Squalicorax pristodontus, Serratolamna serrata and Rhombodus binkhorsti) together with local species (Rhinobatos echavei, Rhinobatos ibericus). Although there are not significant differences between Albaina and Quintanilla la Ojada faunas, the new assemblages add interesting taphonomic and geochemical information to the few existing uppermost Cretaceous deposits with fossil sharks in southwestern Europe.  相似文献   

4.
New Middle Turonian mosasauroid remains were discovered in the same large-sized nodule that yielded a specimen referred to Tethysaurus nopcsai Bardet et al., 2003, from the Goulmima region (southern Morocco). They comprise isolated, fragmentary cranial elements (skull and mandible) and some vertebrae. Their very small size suggests a juvenile condition, an observation supported also by anatomical (spongious nature of numerous bone parts), micro-anatomical (loose inner spongiosa) and histological (numerous remains of calcified cartilage deep into the centrum; radial vascular canals) data. These bones belonged to a basal mosasauroid that cannot be distinguished from Tethysaurus nopcsai to which taxon we tentatively assign the material.  相似文献   

5.
The anatomy of an articulated juvenile specimen of the saurolophine hadrosaurid dinosaur Edmontosaurus annectens, LACM 23504, is described in detail. This individual consists of a partial skull and nearly complete articulated postcranium, collected from upper Maastrichtian strata of the Hell Creek Formation of Montana, USA. This study aims to help understand the ontogenetic morphological changes occurring in the cranium and postcranium of saurolophine hadrosaurids using E. annectens as a case study. Emphasis is placed on those morphological attributes that are ontogenetically variable via comparative osteology between the juvenile and the available adult specimens. It is observed that much of the cranial ontogenetic variation relates to the elongation of the skull and mandible. In the postcranium, most of the ontogenetic variation concentrates in the pectoral and pelvic girdles and the stylopodia. Not all the identified patterns of ontogenetic variation may be generalized to all hadrosaurids. The impact of ontogenetic variation on phylogenetically informative characters of saurolophine hadrosaurids is evaluated. It is concluded that, at least for Edmontosaurus annectens (and perhaps other saurolophine hadrosaurids), most characters used in phylogenetic inference of these animals are not affected by ontogeny. Thus, juvenile specimens are still a source of substantial character data suitable for use in phylogenetic analyses of saurolophine relationships. Nevertheless, it is recommended that ontogenetically variable characters are left as missing data in a character–taxon matrix when only juvenile material is available for a given saurolophine taxon. Scoring those characters based solely on juveniles is likely to decrease the accuracy of the phylogenetic inference.  相似文献   

6.
A new genus and species of clupeomorph fish, Leufuichthys minimus, is described from the fluvial deposits of the Portezuelo Formation, Upper Cretaceous (Turonian-Coniacian) of the Neuquén Group, Patagonia, Argentina. It is a small-sized fish with an estimated body length up to 46 mm. Among other characters, the new species shows the following: abdominal scutes; abdomen moderately convex; anal fin elongate-based; three uroneurals; two epurals; caudal fin bearing very elongate rays; and cycloid scales. Leufuichthys minimus gen. et sp. nov. shows a greater similarity with Kwangoclupea dartevellei, a clupeomorph described from a marine Cenomanian deposit of the Democratic Republic of Congo (Africa), mainly due to the presence of an elongate-based anal fin, bearing more than 20 fin-rays, differing from it by the presence of a not hypertrophied abdomen. As far as known, L. minimus gen. et sp. nov. is the first clupeomorph described in the Upper Cretaceous of Patagonia and represents one fortuitous preservation of an articulated fish in fluvial deposits.  相似文献   

7.
New fossil genus with a new species, Stellularis longirostris Chen, Yao and Ren, gen. et sp. nov., from the family Procercopidae, are described. New specimens were collected from the Lower Cretaceous non-marine sedimentary strata from the Yixian Formations of northeast China. The exceptionally well-preserved materials reveal fine details of the body structure and morphology including rostrum, legs, abdomen, anteclypeus and ovipositor. The genera Luanpingia Hong, 1983 and Cathaycixius Ren, Lu, and Guo, 1995 are discussed.  相似文献   

8.
On 21 April 2007, a Mw 6·2 earthquake struck Aysén fjord (Chilean Patagonia) and caused onshore and offshore mass movements which triggered tsunamis and density flows in the fjord. To better understand the facies successions in, and the intercalation of, the density‐flow deposits, a study was made of the 2007 deposits in 22 short sediment cores taken in the inner Aysén fjord. By combining grain‐size analysis with X‐ray computed tomography scanning, it was possible to demonstrate that the encountered facies correspond to classical divisions of debrites and turbidites. The single‐event deposits consist of a succession of several sub‐deposits deposited under different flow directions and can be interpreted as stacked turbidites. Orientations of: (i) folds; (ii) imbricated mud clasts; (iii) backsets and foresets of climbing ripples; and (iv) asymmetrical convolute lamination were used to determine relative flow directions at the location of the cores. By assigning the basal flow of the stacked debrites and turbidites to the closest principal mass flow, the absolute flow directions of the sub‐deposits were determined which, in combination with multibeam basin‐floor morphology, allowed reconstruction of the 2007 density‐flow successions in Aysén fjord. Furthermore, alternating flow directions provide evidence for a seiche induced by the density flows. It was concluded that X‐ray computed tomography scans provide crucial information for reconstructing palaeoflows and can be a useful tool in marine and lacustrine sedimentology and palaeoseismology. The multidirectionality of sub‐deposits in turbidites is, next to differences in mineralogy, a new criterion to identify stacked turbidites. These multidirectional, stacked turbidites are an indication of simultaneous triggering of density flows and can therefore, in most cases, be attributed to earthquakes, ruling out other triggers, such as floods, storms or other sediment failures.  相似文献   

9.
10.
Two new genera and species belonging to the family Scolebythidae are described from mid-Cretaceous amber of Myanmar, Cursoribythus silvestris and Siccibythus musculosus. These taxa are introduced into the current phylogenetic tree of the family, in order to analyze their relationships and observe their impacts on our understanding of the family. The implication of the findings (this is the first record of the family in the Cretaceous amber deposits of Myanmar) are discussed.  相似文献   

11.
Documentation of non- or weakly biomineralizing animals that lived during the Furongian is essential for a comprehensive understanding of the diversification dynamics of metazoans during the early Palaeozoic. However, the fossil record of ‘soft’-bodied metazoans is particularly scarce for this critical time interval, consisting of rare fossils found at a dozen or so localities worldwide. Here we report new occurrences of exceptional preservation in Furongian (Jiangshanian) strata of the McKay Group near Cranbrook, British Columbia, Canada. This locality had already yielded trilobites with phosphatised guts, with all specimens representing the same species and occurring within a 10-m-thick interval. Two stratigraphically higher horizons with soft-tissue preservation are reported herein; one has yielded a ctenophore and an aglaspidid arthropod, the other a trilobite with a phosphatised gut belonging to a different species than the previously described specimens. The ctenophore represents the first Furongian record of the phylum and the first reported occurrence of Burgess Shale-type preservation in the upper Cambrian of Laurentia. The aglaspidid belongs to a new species of Glypharthrus, and is atypical in having twelve trunk tergites and an anteriorly narrow ‘tailspine’. These features suggest that the tailspine of aglaspidids evolved from the fusion of a twelfth trunk segment with the telson. They also confirm the vicissicaudatan affinities of these extinct arthropods. Compositional analyses suggest that aglaspidid cuticle was essentially organic with a thin biomineralised (apatitic) outer layer. The trilobite reveals previously unknown gut features, such as medial fusion of digestive glands, possibly related to enhanced capabilities for digestion, storage, or the assimilation of food. The new fossils demonstrate that conditions conducive to soft-tissue preservation repeatedly developed in the outer shelf environment represented by the Furongian strata near Cranbrook. Future exploration of the c. 600-m-thick, mudstone-dominated upper part of the section may result in more abundant discoveries of exceptional fossils.  相似文献   

12.
The rare preservation of columns perpendicular to bedding may provide convincing evidence that ancient crinoids adopted an upright attitude during life. However, taphonomic and sedimentological analyses are important in determining whether such occurrences are truly in situ or represent unusual allochthonous accumulations. The Crinoid Biosome of the Thornton Reef Complex, Silurian of Illinois, USA, includes pluricolumnals preserved perpendicular to bedding, in association with more common specimens parallel or angled to bedding. Upright pluricolumnals are relatively shorter (<150 mm) than the longest non-upright specimens; they sometimes occur as imbricate accumulations and lack attachment structures (although these are preserved separately). Brachiopod valves and colonial corals may also be preserved perpendicular to bedding. These features suggest that the Thornton beds were formed as viscous mass flow deposits and that the upright crinoid columns are allochthonous or, at best, parautochthonous. © 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.  相似文献   

13.
Marine hypersaline ponds on Anegada, British Virgin Islands contain stratigraphic evidence (Shell and Sand Sheet) of a A.D. 1650?C1800 overwash event that could have formed through a hurricane or tsunami. Candidates for the deposit include far-field (e.g. 1755 Lisbon tsunami) and local Puerto Rico Trench events (e.g. 1690), but hurricanes cannot be ignored. The goal of this study is to provide additional information to assess the origin of the deposit by examining the taphonomic characters of Homotrema rubrum, a common encrusting foraminifer in Caribbean reef settings. Surface samples (n?=?12) from major sub-environments (reef-flat, beach, storm wrack, and dune) and pond sections (n?=?6; 20?C80?cm thick) are analyzed for their Homotrema concentration (specimens/cm3) and taphonomic character. Particle-size analysis was conducted on the same sections and samples. Highly Preserved (red colored, angular, intact chambers) Homotrema dominate the beach, storm wrack, and reef-flat deposits relative to the dune sand, but the beach and storm wrack contain the largest specimens. The Shell and Sand Sheet in the pond has Highly Preserved and abundant Homotrema (specimens/cm3) versus other sedimentary units in the ponds (e.g. Mud Cap and Shelly Mud). Its taphonomic character is most similar (test size and condition) to the storm wrack deposit on the beach indicating an outside provenance for the sand. Concentration of Homotrema in the Shell and Sand Sheet declined southward indicating a northerly reef-flat provenance for the overwash, although it does not preclude a southern inundation as well. It is unclear whether Homotrema individuals originated from the reef itself or were eroded from older beach ridge deposits during the overwash event. Conclusions from Homotrema taphonomic analysis were limited by the lack of comparative data from known hurricane and tsunami deposits in other Caribbean regions.  相似文献   

14.
A Corythosaurus skull (UALVP 13) was collected in 1920 from what is now Dinosaur Provincial Park in southern Alberta, Canada and was designated the holotype of Corythosaurus excavatus, a new hadrosaur species by Gilmore (1923). In 1992, a previously uncovered, weathered, headless skeleton was found. This was collected in 2012 by the University of Alberta as there was potential it could belong to the holotype skull. In addition, an isolated hadrosaur dentary had been found in 1992 close to the articulated postcranial skeleton and may be one of the missing jaws of Corythosaurus excavatus. The hypothesis that it may be the skeleton of the holotype of Corythosaurus excavatus is tested using anatomical information and statistical analyses. Statistical comparisons suggest it is possible that the skull and dentary belong to the same specimen. Furthermore, bivariate plots and percentage prediction errors also indicate that the postcranial material could belong to the UALVP 13 skull. Because many large vertebrate fossil specimens (even types) are not always collected in their entirety, this method may be used as a line of evidence to determine whether independently collected specimens potentially belong to the same individual. The problems described herein highlight the need to collect specimens in their entirety, and for good field documentation, including the spatial and stratigraphic context of all finds.  相似文献   

15.
《Cretaceous Research》2012,33(6):794-805
Three new species within the stigmaphronid genus Tagsmiphron Engel and Grimaldi, 2009, and one new species within the megaspilid genus Conostigmus Dahlbom, 1858 are described from Upper Cretaceous (Campanian) amber originating at the Grassy Lake locality in Alberta, Canada. New taxa include Tagsmiphron spiculum sp. nov., Tagsmiphron leucki sp. nov., Tagsmiphron exitorum sp. nov., and Conostigmus cavannus sp. nov. The new Conostigmus species is a rare discovery. It is the third megaspilid species to be found in Cretaceous amber, with the two specimens described herein effectively doubling the number of known Mesozoic exemplars for the family. We provide the first comprehensive report of known Ceraphronoidea within Canadian amber, and contrast this against other Cretaceous amber assemblages, discussing the potential palaeobiogeographic and palaeoenvironmental implications of the Canadian amber assemblage.  相似文献   

16.
New trilobite material and the first graptolites from outcrop are described from the Am5 member of the Amdeh Formation near Al Fleij in northeast Oman. The sediments in which these faunas occur are interpreted as distal-shelf deposits with storm beds packed with brachiopods and orthoconic nautiloids. The deposits and its faunas are considered of late Darriwilian age and younger than the shallower-water Am5 deposits known from other outcrops. No palynomorphs could be recovered to confirm this due to the increased burial temperature the Al Fleij area has experienced.The trilobites are of considerable palaeo-biogeographic interest as few faunas of this age are known from the Arabian Plate, though their preservation precludes the establishment of new species. They include Isabelinia aff. glabrata, Liomegalaspides sp., Neseuretus tristani, Neseuretinus sp. and the deeper-water forms, Cyclopyge cf. C. bohemica, Arthrorhachis sp. and Brachypleura sp. The graptolites are pendent Didymograptus spp. of later Darriwilian type.Rare elements of the conodonts Nordiora, Amorphognathus and Microzarkodina have been recovered from shell beds that occur interbedded with the faunas. They too indicate a late Darriwilian age and differ from richer, restricted, shallow-water faunas known from the Am5 at other locations, and the more cosmopolitan shelf fauna from the Ayim Member of the Rann Formation of the United Arab Emirates.A coarser, 80 m-thick, terrestrial sequence containing igneous pebbles, included in the Am5 in the 1980s, is shown from the occurrence of fossil plants to be of Permian age and probably equivalent to the Basal Saiq Clastics of Jabal al Akhdar.  相似文献   

17.
New material of the cirripede genus Concinnalepas is described from the Kimmeridge Clay (Tithonian) of Dorset (UK) and the Marnes de Port (Bathonian) of Port-en-Bessin in Normandy (France). Articulated specimens of C. costata (Withers, 1928), attached to driftwood from Kimmeridge, provide hitherto unknown details of tiered lateral plate formation in the species, and Concinnalepas bessinensis sp. nov. and C. rugosa sp. nov. are described from Normandy and Dorset, respectively. Concinnalepas bessinensis sp. nov. is the oldest calcite-shelled cirripede known to date. A review of the distribution of Jurassic calcareous cirripedes demonstrates that pre-Kimmeridgian records are very sparse and scattered and the early evolutionary history of the group is poorly known. The late Kimmeridgian and Tithonian saw a radiation of the Family Zeugmatolepadidae and a great increase in abundance of cirripedes that mostly lived as epiplankton, attached to driftwood and ammonite shells.  相似文献   

18.
Two fossils belonging to a new genus and species of water measurer (Gerromorpha, Hydrometridae), Alavametra popovi Sánchez-García and Nel gen. n., sp. n., are described as first definitive record of the family in Lower Cretaceous (upper Albian) amber from the Utrillas Group (Peñacerrada I site) in Spain. Although several parts of the specimens are obscured due to preservation, a sufficient number of taxonomical characters are visible to consider adequate placement within Heterocleptinae, including the very long posterior pair of cephalic trichobothria inserted on tubercles and the preapical articulation between the first and second antennal segments. The new fossil taxon is included into a cladistic analysis with extinct and extant hydrometrids, and it results putatively basal among the subfamily Heterocleptinae, suggesting that this clade was already present 105 Ma ago.  相似文献   

19.
The Early Cretaceous lizard Yabeinosaurus was one of the first taxa described from the now famous Jehol Biota of northeast China. Misinterpreted for more than 60 years and misclassified as a gekkotan based on juvenile specimens, it is now recognised to be a large, well-ossified lizard with an extended period of skeletal maturation. Here we describe two additional complete specimens of Yabeinosaurus that provide new information on skeletal morphology, most notably of the skull, pectoral girdle, and tail. Both specimens also preserve gut contents, showing that large individuals took vertebrate prey, including fish. A more complete understanding of Yabeinosaurus permits a review of the type specimen of Yabeinosaurus youngi. Skull traits used to distinguish Y. youngi from Yabeinosaurus tenuis are invalid but, as noted by Hoffstetter, the two species differ markedly in limb proportions. Attribution of Young’s specimen to Yabeinosaurus is equivocal, but could potentially extend the temporal range of the lineage into the Jurassic. A new phylogenetic analysis based on a morphological data set places Yabeinosaurus on the stem of Scleroglossa, as the sister taxon of the contemporaneous Japanese lizard Sakurasaurus.  相似文献   

20.
A new species of Macrocnemus is described on the basis of two incomplete specimens from the Lower Ladinian Prosanto Formation of southeastern Switzerland. The new form can be distinguished by its gracile limb elements and having a noticeably longer tibia than either Macrocnemus bassanii or Macrocnemus fuyuanensis. One of the new specimens exhibits soft part preservation in the region of the pelvic girdle. The hind part of this individual is preserved fully articulated and allows a complete count of the caudal vertebrae to be made for the first time with 52 caudals. It is postulated that this specimen was predated upon and that the anterior part of the animal was consumed by a large predator such as a nothosaurid reptile or the actinopterygian fish Saurichthys.  相似文献   

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