scholarly journals Triassic marine reptiles and other fossil vertebrates from the area of Godech, Western Bulgaria

2021 ◽  
Vol 82 (3) ◽  
pp. 118-120
Author(s):  
Vladimir Nikolov ◽  
Docho Dochev ◽  
Lubomir Metodiev ◽  
Dimitar Dimitrov ◽  
Gergana Velyanova ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Fossil Record ◽  
Carbonate Rocks ◽  
Upper Cretaceous ◽  
Middle Triassic ◽  
Barren Land ◽  
Marine Reptiles ◽  
The Town

Hitherto, the popular understanding was that the Bulgarian fossil record of Mesozoic tetrapods (four-limbed vertebrates) has been restricted to the Upper Cretaceous. In this contribution we report on the discovery of isolated bones of marine reptiles and teeth of various vertebrates from the Middle Triassic carbonate rocks outcropping near the town of Godech, Western Bulgaria. A revision of the currently held orthodoxy that Bulgaria is mostly a barren land when it comes to Mesozoic tetrapods is urged.

The large superpredators’ teeth from Middle Triassic of Poland

2013 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 91-94 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dawid Surmik ◽  
Tomasz Brachaniec
Keyword(s):  
Marine Sediments ◽  
Middle Triassic ◽  
Morphological Features ◽  
Marine Reptiles

ABSTRACT An unusual large teeth, finding from time to time in marine sediments of Muschelkalk, Silesia, Poland indicate the superpredators occurrence. According to size and morphological features the teeth are similar to archosaurs or giant marine reptiles.

Anatomical, morphometric, and stratigraphic analyses of theropod biodiversity in the Upper Cretaceous (Campanian) Dinosaur Park Formation

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-15
Author(s):  
Thomas M. Cullen ◽  
Lindsay Zanno ◽  
Derek W. Larson ◽  
Erinn Todd ◽  
Philip J. Currie ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
High Resolution ◽  
North America ◽  
Fossil Record ◽  
Upper Cretaceous ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Morphometric Analyses ◽  
Variable Distribution ◽  
Taxic Diversity ◽  
Dinosaur Park Formation ◽  
Broad Scale

The Dinosaur Park Formation (DPF) of Alberta, Canada, has produced one of the most diverse dinosaur faunas, with the record favouring large-bodied taxa, in terms of number and completeness of skeletons. Although small theropods are well documented in the assemblage, taxonomic assessments are frequently based on isolated, fragmentary skeletal elements. Here we reassess DPF theropod biodiversity using morphological comparisons, high-resolution biostratigraphy, and morphometric analyses, with a focus on specimens/taxa originally described from isolated material. In addition to clarifying taxic diversity, we test whether DPF theropods preserve faunal zonation/turnover patterns similar to those previously documented for megaherbivores. Frontal bones referred to a therizinosaur (cf. Erlikosaurus), representing among the only skeletal record of the group from the Campanian–Maastrichtian (83–66 Ma) fossil record of North America, plot most closely to troodontids in morphospace, distinct from non-DPF therizinosaurs, a placement supported by a suite of troodontid anatomical frontal characters. Postcranial material referred to cf. Erlikosaurus in North America is also reviewed and found most similar in morphology to caenagnathids, rather than therizinosaurs. Among troodontids, we document considerable morphospace and biostratigraphic overlap between Stenonychosaurus and the recently described Latenivenatrix, as well as a variable distribution of putatively autapomorphic characters, calling the validity of the latter taxon into question. Biostratigraphically, there are no broad-scale patterns of faunal zonation similar to those previously documented in ornithischians from the DPF, with many theropods ranging throughout much of the formation and overlapping extensively, possibly reflecting a lack of sensitivity to environmental changes, or other cryptic ecological or evolutionary factors.

scholarly journals First rebbachisaurid sauropod dinosaur from Asia

PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. e0246620
Author(s):  
Alexander Averianov ◽  
Hans-Dieter Sues
Keyword(s):  
Phylogenetic Analysis ◽  
Fossil Record ◽  
Upper Cretaceous ◽  
Neural Spine ◽  
Lateral Side ◽  
New Taxon ◽  
Caudal Vertebra

Dzharatitanis kingi gen. et sp. nov. is based on an isolated anterior caudal vertebra (USNM 538127) from the Upper Cretaceous (Turonian) Bissekty Formation at Dzharakuduk, Uzbekistan. Phylogenetic analysis places the new taxon within the diplodocoid clade Rebbachisauridae. This is the first rebbachisaurid reported from Asia and one of the youngest rebbachisaurids in the known fossil record. The caudal is characterized by a slightly opisthocoelous centrum, ‘wing-like’ transverse processes with large but shallow PRCDF and POCDF, and the absence of a hyposphenal ridge and of TPRL and TPOL. The neural spine has high SPRL, SPDL, SPOL, and POSL and is pneumatized. The apex of neural spine is transversely expanded and bears triangular lateral processes. The new taxon shares with Demandasaurus and the Wessex rebbachisaurid a high SPDL on the lateral side of the neural spine, separated from SPRL and SPOL. This possibly suggests derivation of Dzharatitanis from European rebbachisaurids. This is the second sauropod group identified in the assemblage of non-avian dinosaurs from the Bissekty Formation, in addition to a previously identified indeterminate titanosaurian.

scholarly journals Hematological convergence between Mesozoic marine reptiles (Sauropterygia) and extant aquatic amniotes elucidates diving adaptations in plesiosaurs

PeerJ ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
pp. e8022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Corinna V. Fleischle ◽  
P. Martin Sander ◽  
Tanja Wintrich ◽  
Kai R. Caspar
Keyword(s):  
Cell Size ◽  
Marine Mammals ◽  
Middle Triassic ◽  
Sensory Ecology ◽  
Cellular Level ◽  
Thin Sections ◽  
Marine Reptiles ◽  
Canal Diameter ◽  
Physiological Adaptations ◽  
Pelagic Habitat

Plesiosaurs are a prominent group of Mesozoic marine reptiles, belonging to the more inclusive clades Pistosauroidea and Sauropterygia. In the Middle Triassic, the early pistosauroid ancestors of plesiosaurs left their ancestral coastal habitats and increasingly adapted to a life in the open ocean. This ecological shift was accompanied by profound changes in locomotion, sensory ecology and metabolism. However, investigations of physiological adaptations on the cellular level related to the pelagic lifestyle are lacking so far. Using vascular canal diameter, derived from osteohistological thin-sections, we show that inferred red blood cell size significantly increases in pistosauroids compared to more basal sauropterygians. This change appears to have occurred in conjunction with the dispersal to open marine environments, with cell size remaining consistently large in plesiosaurs. Enlarged red blood cells likely represent an adaptation of plesiosaurs repeated deep dives in the pelagic habitat and mirror conditions found in extant marine mammals and birds. Our results emphasize physiological aspects of adaptive convergence among fossil and extant marine amniotes and add to our current understanding of plesiosaur evolution.

The oldest Diptera (Insecta) from the Upper Buntsandstein (early Middle Triassic) of Europe

Zootaxa ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 5067 (1) ◽  
pp. 135-143
Author(s):  
ELENA D. LUKASHEVICH
Keyword(s):  
Fossil Record ◽  
New Genus ◽  
Middle Triassic ◽  
Insect Fauna ◽  
The Family ◽  
Lower Franconia ◽  
Grès À Voltzia ◽  
Early Middle Triassic

The fossil record of Triassic Diptera is still poor, with the oldest dipteran assemblage described from the Upper Buntsandstein of the ‘Grès à Voltzia’ Formation (early Anisian, France). From the stratigraphically closest insect fauna of the Röt Formation of Lower Franconia, Germany, the first Diptera, Bashkonia franconica gen. et sp. nov. is described based on an isolated wing. The new genus is assigned to the family Nadipteridae, bridging the gap between two other genera included.  

A new marine clupeoid fish from the Lower Cretaceous of the Sergipe-Alagoas Basin, northeastern Brazil

Zootaxa ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 2164 (1) ◽  
pp. 21-32 ◽  
Author(s):  
FRANCISCO J. DE FIGUEIREDO
Keyword(s):  
Fossil Record ◽  
Upper Cretaceous ◽  
Democratic Republic ◽  
Democratic Republic Of Congo ◽  
Axial Skeleton ◽  
Northeastern Brazil ◽  
Unique Combination ◽  
Caudal Vertebrae ◽  
Clupeoid Fish ◽  
Marine Deposit

Clupeomorph fishes are largely diversified and widespread in Cretaceous strata of northeastern Brazil. They are represented by basal clupeiforms, †ellimmichthyiforms, and advanced clupeoids. In this paper, a new clupeoid fish, †Nolfia riachuelensis sp. nov., is described based on a specimen found in marine shale yielded in the Taquari Member (Albian) of Riachuelo Formation, Sergipe-Alagoas Basin. Although partially preserved (most of skull is lacking), the fish shows many informative characters, particularly in the axial skeleton. The fish is morphologically very similar to †Nolfia kwangoensis, a clupeoid fish originally described from marine deposit from the Upper Cretaceous (Cenomanian) of Kipala, Democratic Republic of Congo, with which it shares: 18 caudal vertebrae; long and cylindrical pleural ribs; posteriormost pleural ribs supported by long parapophyses and gradually decreasing in size posteriorly; very reduced ural centra; presence of long and distally congruent neural spines of third, second, and first preural centra; three uroneural bones (the first probably forming the pleurostyle). Otherwise, †Nolfia riachuelensis sp. nov. differs from other clupeomorphs by a unique combination of features. The number of supraneural bones, aligned rod-like postcleithra, less than 30 rays in the anal fin, and derived absence of dorsal scutes indicate its placement within Clupeidae. As far as is known, †Nolfia riachuelensis sp. nov. is the most ancient clupeoid fish known from the fossil record.

The Triassic U–Pb age for the aquatic long-necked protorosaur of Guizhou, China

2014 ◽  
Vol 151 (4) ◽  
pp. 749-754 ◽  
Author(s):  
YANBIN WANG ◽  
DETING YANG ◽  
JUAN HAN ◽  
LITING WANG ◽  
JIANXIN YAO ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Middle Triassic ◽  
Rapid Evolution ◽  
Guizhou Province ◽  
Ion Microprobe ◽  
Isotopic Age ◽  
Zircon Age ◽  
Marine Reptiles ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
History Of ◽  
Permian Mass Extinction

AbstractThe ancient marine limestone beds of the upper part of the Guanling Formation, Panxian County, Guizhou Province, SW China, yielded a wide range of high-diversity well-preserved marine reptiles such as the fully aquatic protorosaur with an extremely long neckDinocephalosaurus orientalis, the oldest mixosaurid ichthyosaurs and lariosaurs. However, there is no precise isotopic age to study the intriguing origin, evolution and emigration history of the important fauna. We report a sensitive high-resolution ion microprobe (SHRIMP) U–Pb zircon age for a volcanic tuff bed within the upper part of the Guanling Formation. The result indicates that the age of the fossil horizon is 244.0±1.3 Ma, 14 Ma earlier than the previously estimated age based on conodont evidence. We consider that the marine reptiles had a relatively rapid evolution during Middle Triassic time, some 8 Ma after the end-Permian mass extinction.

Whales, Dolphins and Porpoises: Origin and Evolution of the Cetacea

1984 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
pp. 139-154 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lawrence G. Barnes
Keyword(s):  
Fresh Water ◽  
Fossil Record ◽  
Middle Eocene ◽  
Origin And Evolution ◽  
Marine Reptiles

The order Cetacea was the earliest, and is the most diverse mammalian group to adapt to a marine existence. The first fossil whales appear in the fossil record in the Middle Eocene. Interestingly, cetaceans developed in some ways that are parallel to earlier marine reptiles and appear to have filled some of their niches. Some cetaceans later re-adapted to fresh water.

Geochemical Methods of Inference the Thermoregulatory Strategies in Middle Triassic Marine Reptiles – A Pilot Study

2012 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 87-91
Author(s):  
Dawid Surmik ◽  
Andrzej Pelc
Keyword(s):  
Stable Isotopes ◽  
Pilot Study ◽  
Middle Triassic ◽  
Research Project ◽  
Late Mesozoic ◽  
Southern Poland ◽  
Marine Reptiles ◽  
Oxygen Stable Isotopes ◽  
Physiological Adaptations ◽  
Environmental Background

Abstract The oxygen stable isotopes investigation to elucidate thermoregulatory strategies in Middle Triassic basal sauropterygians is currently ongoing at University of Silesia and University of Maria Curie-Skłodowska. The results of similar studies on Late Mesozoic marine reptiles indicate that some of fully aquatic reptiles like plesiosaurs or ichthyosaurs could be warm-blooded animals. Our investigation is an important part of the aim of the research project "The Marine and Terrestrial reptiles in the Middle Triassic environmental background of Southern Poland" to solve the thermoregulation issue in basal marine reptiles and show how, and when did homoiothermy evolve in Sauropterygia.. Homeothermy and gigantothermy were important physiological adaptations which allowed sauropterygian ancestors to leave the shores and conquer the open seas and oceans.

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