Marine reptiles from the Nanaimo Group (Upper Cretaceous) of Vancouver Island

2002 ◽  
Vol 39 (11) ◽  
pp. 1591-1603 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth L Nicholls ◽  
Dirk Meckert

A new fauna of fossil marine reptiles is described from the Late Cretaceous Nanaimo Group of Vancouver Island. The fossils are from the Haslam and Pender formations (upper Santonian) near Courtenay, British Columbia, and include elasmosaurid plesiosaurs, turtles, and mosasaurs. This is only the second fauna of Late Cretaceous marine reptiles known from the Pacific Coast, the other being from the Moreno Formation of California (Maastrichtian). The new Nanaimo Group fossils are some 15 million years older than those from the Moreno Formation. However, like the California fauna, there are no polycotylid plesiosaurs, and one of the mosasaurs is a new genus. This reinforces the provinciality of the Pacific faunas and their isolation from contemporaneous faunas in the Western Interior Seaway.


2018 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew J. Vavrek ◽  
Donald B. Brinkman

Trionychid turtles were widespread throughout much of the Western Interior Basin of North America during the Cretaceous, represented by a wide variety of taxa. Despite their widespread abundance east of the Rocky Mountains, they have not previously been reported from Cretaceous deposits along the Pacific Coast of North America. We report here on an isolated trionychid costal from Vancouver Island, British Columbia. The fossil was recovered from the Late Cretaceous (Turonian to Maastrichtian) Nanaimo Group, on Vancouver Island, British Columbia. While the fossil is generically indeterminate, its presence adds an important datapoint in the biogeographic distribution of Trionychidae.  



Zootaxa ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 4429 (1) ◽  
pp. 157
Author(s):  
LUCIANA MARTINS ◽  
MARCOS TAVARES

Paulayellus gustavi, a new sclerodactylid genus and species, is described from the Pacific coast of Panama. The new genus and species is assigned to the subfamily Sclerothyoninae based on a suite of characters, which include the radial and interradial plates of the calcareous ring united at the base only. Paulayellus gen. nov. differs from the other Sclerothyoninae genera in having posterior processesof radial plates undivided. Additionally, differs from Sclerothyone, Thandarum and Neopentamera in having knobbed buttons, plates and cups in the body wall (whereas the body wall is furnished only with tables and plates in Sclerothyone, Temparena and Thandarum, and only with knobbed buttons and plates in Neopentamera). The new genus is, so far, monotypic. The also monotypic genus Neopentamera proved to have the radial and the interradial plates of the calcareous ring united at the base only, as typically found in the Sclerothyoninae, and is therefore transferred to that subfamily. The discovery of a new genus in the Sclerothyoninae and the transfer of Neopentamera required the amendation of the diagnosis for the subfamily. A key to the Sclerothyoninae is given. 



1987 ◽  
Vol 61 (1) ◽  
pp. 70-100 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. P. Popenoe ◽  
L. R. Saul ◽  
Takeo Susuki

Seven previously described and seven new taxa of gyrodiform naticoids from West Coast Late Cretaceous–Paleocene age strata are discussed. Gyrodes (Gyrodes) dowelli White of Turonian age is a typical Gyrodes; G. robustus Waring from the Paleocene has the shape of Gyrodes s.s. but lacks the crenulations. G. greeni Murphy and Rodda, G. yolensis n. sp., G. quercus n. sp., G. banites n. sp., G. canadensis Whiteaves, G. pacificus n. sp., and G. expansus Gabb comprise the new subgenus Sohlella, which thus ranges from Cenomanian through Maastrichtian. Gyrodes robsauli n. sp. resembles “Polinices” (Hypterita) helicoides (Gray), and Hypterita is reassigned to the Gyrodinae as a subgenus of Gyrodes. Gyrodes onensis n. sp. of Albian age is similar to the G. americanus group of Sohl (1960). Three texa—Natica allisoni (Murphy and Rodda) of Cenomanian age and N. conradiana Gabb and N. conradiana vacculae n. subsp. of Turonian age—which have all been previously considered to be Gyrodes are placed in Natica. Well marked relict color patterns on N. conradiana and N. conradiana vacculae suggest that these naticids from northern California and southern British Columbia were tropical forms.Diversity of taxa and size of specimens are reduced at the end of the Turonian, suggesting a change in West Coast marine conditions at that time.



1966 ◽  
Vol 23 (6) ◽  
pp. 805-811 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tai Soo Park

A new species Bradyidius saanichi from Saanich Inlet, Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada, is described and illustrated in detail. This species is closely related to B. pacificus (Brodsky, 1950) among the six previously known species in the genus, but can be readily distinguished from the latter by the strongly divergent rostral rami in addition to some other differences.



1974 ◽  
Vol 52 (8) ◽  
pp. 989-992
Author(s):  
Gordon A. Robilliard

The range of the nudibranch molluscs Archidoris odhneri, Cadlina luteomarginaia, and Dendronotus rufus has been extended northward to Auke Bay, Alaska, from Vancouver Island, British Columbia. The range of Archidoris montereyensis has been extended to Port Valdez, Alaska, from Sitka, Alaska, while that of Dirana aurantia and Coryphella fusca has been extended to Port Valdez from Vancouver Island. The range of Archidoris odhneri has also been extended southward to San Diego, California, from Point Conception, California. Large gaps in the geographic distribution of Triopha carpenteri and Dendronotus dalli were partially filled by observation of animals in southeastern Alaska. Finally, the distribution of Tochuina tetraquetra along the Pacific Coast is discussed.



2015 ◽  
Vol 153 (3) ◽  
pp. 449-459 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. ANGST ◽  
N. BARDET

AbstractThe site of Goulmima (south Morocco) is well known for its rich marine fauna of Turonian age (Late Cretaceous). It has yielded a large variety of invertebrates but also of vertebrate taxa, represented by actinopterygians and marine reptiles including Plesiosauria (Sauropterygia) and Mosasauroidea (Squamata). The Plesiosauria are known so far by two major clades of Plesiosauroidea: the Elasmosauridae (Libonectes atlasenseBuchy, 2005) and the Polycotylidae (Thililua longicollis, Bardet, Suberbiola & Jalil, 2003a;Manemergus angirostrisBuchy, Metayer & Frey, 2005). Here we describe a new specimen of plesiosaur found in the same outcrop, differing from those previously cited and belonging to the other large plesiosaur clade, the Pliosauroidea. Comparison of this specimen with other Plesiosauria shows that it belongs toBrachauchenius lucasiWilliston (1903), a species previously known only from the Cenomanian–Turonian stages of the Western Interior Seaway of North America and in the upper Barremian succession of northern South America (Colombia). The description of this species on a contemporaneous site of North Africa significantly expands its palaeobiogeographic distribution. This discovery confirms the affinities between marine faunas of the Western Interior Seaway and those of North Africa at this time, and also permits a better understanding of the palaeobiology of the Goulmima outcrop. A discussion about the systematical status ofPolyptychodonOwen, 1841 is also provided.



1992 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 377-380 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth L. Nicholls

An incomplete specimen of Desmatochelys cf. D. lowi (Reptilia: Chelonioidea) from the Trent River Formation (Santonian–Campanian) of the Comox Basin of eastern Vancouver Island is the first documented account of Cretaceous marine vertebrates from the Pacific coast of Canada. It represents both stratigraphic and geographic range extensions for the genus Desmatochelys.



1985 ◽  
Vol 63 (8) ◽  
pp. 1429-1435 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. A. Redhead ◽  
G. P. White

A new form-genus, Mycopappus, is recognized for fungi producing multicellular, epiphyllous, splash-dispersed propagules previously described under the names Cercosporella alni Dearness and Bartholomew and C. aceris Dearness and Batholomew. Mycopappus alni comb. nov. occurs on Alnus rubra Bong, or A. sinuata (Regel) Rydb. along the Pacific coast from the Alaskan panhandle to Oregon. Mycopappus aceris comb. nov. on Acer macrophyllum Pursh occurs from southern British Columbia to Oregon. Anguillospora vermiformis (Davis) comb. nov. on Alnus rugosa (Du Roi) Spreng. in Wisconsin and A. coryli sp. nov. on Corylus americana Walt, and C. cornuta Marsh, in Wisconsin have been confused with Mycopappus alni. All four species are leaf pathogens.



2011 ◽  
Vol 48 (1) ◽  
pp. 63-69 ◽  
Author(s):  
Victoria M. Arbour ◽  
Philip J. Currie

An unusual jaw found in a calcite nodule from Collishaw Point, Hornby Island, British Columbia (off the east coast of Vancouver Island) represents the first definitive pterosaur found in British Columbia, and the first istiodactylid from Canada. The nodule was derived from the Northumberland Formation (Nanaimo Group), a fossiliferous formation known for producing numerous plants, invertebrates, sharks, and mosasaurs. The pterosaur is represented by the anterior portion of the rostrum, including the anterior edge of the nasoantorbital fenestra, and numerous small, triangular teeth lacking denticles. These teeth are similar in overall morphology to the teeth of istiodactylids, but are smaller, more numerous, more tightly packed, and have proportionately smaller crowns. Although fragmentary, this specimen is diagnostic and represents a new genus of istiodactylid pterosaur. Its presence in the upper Campanian Northumberland Formation makes this the latest occurring istiodactylid and extends the stratigraphic and geographic range of this enigmatic group of pterosaurs.



1994 ◽  
Vol 72 (12) ◽  
pp. 1787-1796 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. E. McIver

Fossil remains of a Chamaecyparis-like member of the Cupressaceae occur in the Upper Cretaceous Comox Formation of Vancouver Island, British Columbia. The cedar bore both flattened, opposite-branching foliage of the Cupressinocladus interruptus type, as well as alternate-branching foliage more similar to that of extant Thuja. Seed cones attached to the foliage are minute, about 3.0 mm in diameter, and consist of four cone scales with abaxial, leaflike umbos. Despite their small size, the structure of the cones and their disposition on axes resembles those of extant species of Chamaecyparis. It is apparent that the Comox cedar is closely related to extant Chamaecyparis and appears to represent an early member of the clade. These data challenge the hypothesis that Chamaecyparis evolved from a Cupressus-like ancestor with large, many-scaled seed cones and terete branches. Key words: Cupressaceae, Chamaecyparis, Late Cretaceous, fossil, seed cones, evolution.



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