Cretohisteridae, a new beetle family from the Early Cretaceous of China, and its implications for the early evolution of the basal group of Histeroidea (Coleoptera)

2018 ◽  
Vol 43 (4) ◽  
pp. 716-728 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yu-Lingzi Zhou ◽  
Michael S. Caterino ◽  
Adam Ślipiński ◽  
Chen-Yang Cai
Keyword(s):  
Early Cretaceous ◽  
Early Evolution ◽  
Basal Group

The Currently Earliest Angiosperm Fruit from the Jurassic of North America

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Xin Wang
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Early Cretaceous ◽  
Middle Jurassic ◽  
Early Evolution ◽  
The North ◽  
Plant Group ◽  
Ecological Radiation ◽  
Origin Of Angiosperms ◽  
Crucial Test

Angiosperms are the single most important plant group in the current ecosystem. However, little is known about the origin and early evolution of angiosperms. Jurassic and earlier traces of angiosperms have been claimed multiple times from Europe and Asia, but reluctance to accept these records remains. To test the truthfulness of these claims, palaeobotanical records from continents other than Europe and Asia constitute a crucial test. Here I document a new angiosperm fruit, Dilcherifructus mexicana gen. et sp. nov, from the Middle Jurassic of Mexico. Its Jurassic age suggests that origin of angiosperms is much earlier than widely accepted, while its occurrence in the North America indicates that angiosperms were already widespread in the Jurassic, although they were still far away from their ecological radiation, which started in the Early Cretaceous.

scholarly journals New interpretation of the cranial osteology of the Early Cretaceous turtle Arundelemys dardeni (Paracryptodira) based on a CT-based re-evaluation of the holotype

PeerJ ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
pp. e11495
Author(s):  
Serjoscha W. Evers ◽  
Yann Rollot ◽  
Walter G. Joyce
Keyword(s):  
Early Cretaceous ◽  
Computer Tomography ◽  
Mass Extinction ◽  
Early Evolution ◽  
New Interpretation ◽  
Phylogenetic Hypotheses ◽  
Initial Description ◽  
Cranial Osteology ◽  
Anatomical Information

Arundelemys dardeni is an Early Cretaceous paracryptodire known from a single, incomplete, but generally well-preserved skull. Phylogenetic hypotheses of paracryptodires often find Arundelemys dardeni as an early branching baenid. As such, it has a central role in understanding the early evolution of the successful clade Baenidae, which survived the Cretaceous–Paleogene mass extinction, as well as the diversification of Paracryptodira into its subclades, which recent research suggests to perhaps include helochelydrids, compsemydids, pleurosternids, and baenids. Computer tomography scans of the holotype material that were produced for the initial description of Arundelemeys dardeni reveal several errors in the initial anatomical description of the species, which we correct based on element-by-element segmentation. In addition, we provide entirely novel anatomical information, including descriptions of several previously undescribed cranial bones, the endosseous labyrinth, and the cranial scutes, the latter of which are unknown for most paracryptodires. We provide an interpretation of cranial scutes which homologizes the scutes of Arundelemys dardeni with those of other stem turtles.

CRAYFISH GROUP HYDROCARBONS—IMPLICATIONS FOR PALAEOENVIRONMENT OF EARLY CRETACEOUS RIFT FILL IN THE WESTERN OTWAY BASIN

1995 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
pp. 517 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. Padley ◽  
D. M. McKirdy ◽  
J. E. Skinner ◽  
R. E. Summons ◽  
R. P. Morgan
Keyword(s):  
Source Rock ◽  
Early Cretaceous ◽  
Late Jurassic ◽  
Early Evolution ◽  
Petroleum Exploration ◽  
Rift Basin ◽  
Lacustrine Deposits

Recent hydrocarbon discoveries in Early Cretaceous (pre-Aptian) reservoirs of the western Otway Basin offer encouragement to future petroleum exploration and also contain clues to the palaeoenvironments and early evolution of this rift basin. The Late Jurassic/Early Cretaceous Casterton Formation and the Early Cretaceous Crayfish Group have traditionally been regarded as fluvial and lacustrine deposits. Indeed, the source rock characteristics inferred from the geochemistry of the Katnook Field condensate and the oils from Wynn-1 and Sawpit-1 are those of siliciclastic freshwater facies. However, the biomarker assemblage of the Troas-1 condensate implies that its source beds were deposited in a marginal marine setting. Even more unexpected are the biomarker compositions of reservoir bitumens from Crayfish-Al and Zema-1 which provide evidence for the existence of saline to hypersaline palya lakes during the early rift phase of the Otway Basin.

scholarly journals Atolchelys lepida , a new side-necked turtle from the Early Cretaceous of Brazil and the age of crown Pleurodira

2014 ◽  
Vol 10 (7) ◽  
pp. 20140290 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pedro S. R. Romano ◽  
Valéria Gallo ◽  
Renato R. C. Ramos ◽  
Luzia Antonioli
Keyword(s):  
New Species ◽  
Early Cretaceous ◽  
Cladistic Analysis ◽  
Early Evolution ◽  
Phylogenetic Position ◽  
Molecular Clocks ◽  
Minimum Age

We report a new pleurodiran turtle from the Barremian Morro do Chaves Formation, Sergipe-Alagoas Basin, Brazil. We tested the phylogenetic position of Atolchelys lepida gen. et sp. nov. by including it in a comprehensive cladistic analysis of pleurodires. The new species is a basal member of Bothremydidae and simultaneously the oldest unambiguous crown Pleurodira. The biogeographic and chronostratigraphic significance of the finding has implications for the calibration of molecular clocks studies by pushing back the minimum age of crown Pleurodira by more than 12 Ma ( ca 125 Ma). The reanalysis of Pelomedusoides relationships provides evidence that the early evolution and relationships among the main lineages of side-necked turtles can be explained, at least partially, by a sequence of vicariance events.

scholarly journals Digital restoration of the pectoral girdles of two Early Cretaceous birds, and implications for early flight evolution

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shiying Wang ◽  
Yubo Ma ◽  
Qian Wu ◽  
Min Wang ◽  
Dongyu Hu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Computed Tomography ◽  
Early Cretaceous ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Early Evolution ◽  
Pectoral Girdle ◽  
Transitional Stage ◽  
Digital Restoration

Pectoral girdle morphology is a key determinant of flight capability, but in some respects is poorly known among stem birds. Here, we reconstruct the pectoral girdles of the Early Cretaceous birds Sapeornis and Piscivorenantiornis based on computed tomography and three-dimensional visualization, revealing key morphological details. Enantiornithines such as Piscivorenantiornis have a uniquely localized scapula-coracoid joint, with only one area of articulation. This single articulation contrasts with the double articulation widely present in non-enantiornithine pennaraptoran theropods, including Sapeornis and crown birds, which comprises main and subsidiary articular contacts. A partially closed triosseal canal occurs in non-euornithine birds, representing a transitional stage in flight apparatus evolution. Numerous modifications of the pectoral girdle along the line to crown birds, and lineage-specific pectoral girdle variations, produced diverse pectoral girdle morphologies among Mesozoic birds, which ensured that a commensurate range of capability levels and modes emerged during the early evolution of flight.

The early evolution of the Tyrannosauridae in Asia

1999 ◽  
Vol 73 (6) ◽  
pp. 1176-1178 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Manabe
Keyword(s):  
Body Size ◽  
North America ◽  
Early Cretaceous ◽  
Late Cretaceous ◽  
Lower Cretaceous ◽  
Early Evolution ◽  
Land Bridge ◽  
Early Late

An isolated premaxillary tooth of a tyrannosaurid from the Lower Cretaceous section of the Tetori Group, Central Honshu, Japan, complements Siamotyrannus, which is based upon an incomplete postcranium for existence of tyrannosaurids in the Early Cretaceous of Asia. The occurrence of a tyrannosaurid tooth in the Japanese early Early Cretaceous further supports the possibility that tyrannosaurids originated during the Early Cretaceous in Asia and migrated to North America when the two continents were connected via a land bridge during the early Late Cretaceous. Thickening of the premaxillary teeth might have predated the increase in body size in tyrannosaurid evolution.

A new crown wasp in mid-Cretaceous amber from northern Myanmar (Hymenoptera: Stephanidae)

2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 229-235 ◽  
Author(s):  
MICHAEL S ENGEL
Keyword(s):  
Early Cretaceous ◽  
Late Cretaceous ◽  
Direct Evidence ◽  
Extensive Study ◽  
Early Jurassic ◽  
Early Evolution ◽  
Crown Group ◽  
The Family ◽  
Stem Lineage ◽  
Cretaceous Fossils

The crown wasps, family Stephanidae, are generally believed to occupy a distinguished position as putative relicts of the earliest-diverging lineage of apocritan Hymenoptera (e.g., Sharkey et al., 2012; Mao et al., 2015). More recent analyses have cast some confusion over this hypothesis, with the family instead appearing closer to the Evanioidea or even Trigonalyoidea (Peters et al., 2017; Tang et al., 2019). From most analyses it is clear that the family extends well into the Cretaceous, with crown-group Stephanidae estimated to have appeared by at least the Early Cretaceous and a purported ghost-stem lineage extending into the Early Jurassic or even latest Triassic (Tang et al., 2019). At least parts of such a hypothesis are consistent with the number of mid-Cretaceous fossils representing a variety of crown wasps, including species of both the plesiomorphic subfamily Schlettereriinae as well as putative Stephaninae (Engel & Grimaldi, 2004; Engel et al., 2013; Engel & Huang, 2017; Li et al., 2017).  Unfortunately, while such fossil occurrences are of considerable interest, the total available record of fossil crown wasps is poor, with most species documented from the Palaeogene (Engel, 2005; Engel & Ortega-Blanco, 2008), and hitherto only four species from the Late Cretaceous.  Given the potentially long gap between the first divergence of the lineage and the appearance of the crown group (Tang et al., 2019), it is precisely for such a group that early diverging stem groups would be of considerable value in resolving relationships and documenting the appearance of apomorphies within the clade.  Extensive study of Early Cretaceous and Jurassic deposits for stem-group Stephanidae is necessary in order to provide direct evidence into the early evolution of this critical family of the Euhymenoptera.

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