Melting dynamics of Late Cretaceous lamprophyres in central Asia suggest a mechanism to explain many continental intraplate basaltic suite magmatic provinces

Author(s):  
Hong‐Kun Dai ◽  
Beñat Oliveira ◽  
Jian‐Ping Zheng ◽  
William L. Griffin ◽  
Juan Carlos Afonso ◽  
...  
2013 ◽  
Vol 50 (7) ◽  
pp. 693-700 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marisol Montellano-Ballesteros ◽  
Richard C. Fox ◽  
Craig S. Scott

Although the known record of Mesozoic eutherian mammals has been significantly enriched in recent years, early eutherian evolution is still not well understood. Among the more controversial of Mesozoic eutherians is Paranyctoides Fox, which was described in 1979 from the Judithian Dinosaur Park Formation, Alberta, Canada. It is a rare taxon and therefore has been identified in only a few other North American Late Cretaceous local faunas since. Within the past decade, dental and gnathic remains discovered in Central Asia have also been referred to Paranyctoides, thereby expanding the geographic range of the genus substantially and making it the only Late Cretaceous eutherian ostensibly occurring in both continents. As a result of our detailed study of Paranyctoides, however, we find that the Central Asian species lack the diagnostic characters of Paranyctoides and must be referred to other taxa. We conclude that this genus was limited to North America, ranging from Aquilan to Lancian time, and accordingly we recognize as valid only the following species: Paranyctoides sternbergi (Judithian, Alberta), P. maleficus (Aquilan, Alberta), Paranyctoides Wahweap sp. A and sp. B (Judithian, Utah), Paranyctoides Kaiparowits sp. A and sp. B (Judithian, Utah). Another purported species of Paranyctoides, P. megakeros, from the Lancian of Wyoming, is a junior synonym of Alostera saskatchewanensis.


Author(s):  
Anna V. Koromyslova ◽  
Paul D. Taylor ◽  
Silviu O. Martha ◽  
Matthew Riley

Species commonly assigned to the cheilostome bryozoan genus Onychocella Jullien, 1882 are numerous in deposits of Late Cretaceous age. Among these are 15 species with wide stratigraphical and geographical distributions that are better placed in the genus Rhagasostoma Koschinsky, 1885. These are used here to show similarities between Late Cretaceous bryozoan associations from Western Europe and Central Asia. Type and additional material was examined of several species from the Turonian to the Maastrichtian of Western Europe, including material studied by R.M. Brydone, E. Voigt and T.A. Favorskaya and undescribed material from the Campanian and Maastrichtian of several localities in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. The new species Rhagasostoma brydonei sp. nov., R. aralense sp. nov. and R. operculatum sp. nov. are introduced. New and published data on the morphology and the stratigraphical and geographical distributions of R. inelegans (Lonsdale, 1850), R. gibbosum (Marsson, 1887), R. gibbosulum Brydone, 1936, R. rowei (Brydone, 1906) and R. mimosa (Brydone, 1930) is presented.


1993 ◽  
Vol 30 (10) ◽  
pp. 2002-2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dale A. Russell

Dinosaurian biogeography may have been largely controlled by the Mesozoic fragmentation of Pangea and the reassembly of its fragments into a new, boreal supercontinent (Laurasia). Although Late Triassic and Early Jurassic dinosaurs were globally distributed, Chinese assemblages were dominated by endemic forms from Middle Jurassic into Early Cretaceous time. The affinities of Aptian – Albian immigrants to Asia were strongest with North America and Europe rather than Gondwana, indicating that the northern and southern hemispheres had by then attained their biogeographic identity. This distinctiveness was maintained through Cretaceous time. Europe seems to have been a buffer area between Paleolaurasia and Gondwana; of the northern continents it was the most strongly influenced by Gondwana dispersants. Late Jurassic dinosaur assemblages in North America exhibited Gondwana affinities, but by Late Cretaceous time they were dominated by forms of Asian ancestry.


2018 ◽  
Vol 185 (2) ◽  
pp. 335-387 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ivan T Kuzmin ◽  
Pavel P Skutschas ◽  
Elizaveta A Boitsova ◽  
Hans-Dieter Sues
Keyword(s):  

2011 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 97-100 ◽  
Author(s):  
Darren Naish ◽  
Gareth Dyke ◽  
Andrea Cau ◽  
François Escuillié ◽  
Pascal Godefroit

We describe an enormous Late Cretaceous fossil bird from Kazakhstan, known from a pair of edentulous mandibular rami (greater than 275 mm long), which adds significantly to our knowledge of Mesozoic avian morphological and ecological diversity. A suite of autapomorphies lead us to recognize the specimen as a new taxon. Phylogenetic analysis resolves this giant bird deep within Aves as a basal member of Ornithuromorpha. This Kazakh fossil demonstrates that large body size evolved at least once outside modern birds (Neornithes) and reveals hitherto unexpected trophic diversity within Cretaceous Aves.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document