Ecology,Systematics and Biogeographical Relationships of Dinosaurs,Including a New Theropod,from the Santana Formation (?Albian,Early Cretaceous) of Brazil

Although rare, dinosaurs are well preserved in calcareous nodules of the Santana Formation (Early Cretaceous, ?Albian) of the Araripe Basin, in northeastern Brazil. So far, including only a spinosauroid and three coelurosaurs, the dinosaur fauna appears depauperate. High theropod diversity in assemblages where other dinosaurs are rare or absent is not unique to the Santana Formation. It is seen also in several other assemblages, including Solnhofen and the Maevarano Formation of Madagascar. We consider several factors, including the occurrence of intraguild predation, the possibility that small theropods could subsist in marginal environments, and reliance on coastal resources, that may have been responsible for this apparent ecological imbalance. A new coelurosaur from the Santana Formation, here formally named Mirischia asymmetrica, is shown to be distinct from Santanaraptor placidus [Kellner, A.W.A. () “Short note on a new dinosaur (Theropoda, Coelurosauria) from the Santana Formation (Romualdo Member, Albian) northeastern Brazil”, Boletim do Museu Nacional, Nova Serie, Rio de Janeiro, Brasil 49, 1–8]. Other theropods from the Santana Formation are briefly reviewed. Mirischia is a compsognathid, more similar to the European Compsognathus than to the Asian Sinosauropteryx.     

The Serra da Mantiqueira, south-eastern Brazil, as a biogeographical barrier for fishes

Aim  To present a fish fauna survey from rivers draining the south-western region of the Serra da Mantiqueira, and to investigate the effectiveness of that mountain range as a biogeographical barrier isolating the fish faunas of the Paraíba do Sul basin and the upper Paraná river.
Location  Six drainages from the south-western portion of the Serra da Mantiqueira in the region of Campos do Jordão, Brazil, were studied. They included three drainages belonging to the Paraíba do Sul basin (Piracuama, Grande and Buenos), and three belonging to the Sapucaí basin, Rio Paraná system (Sapucaí-Mirim, upper Sapucaí and Santo Antônio).
Methods  The survey was conducted in two sampling trips supplemented by examination of specimens preserved in museum collections. Parsimony analysis of endemicity (PAE) was used to detect the hierarchy of relationships among the six drainages.
Results  A total of 47 species of fishes was recorded in the six drainages. The main watershed divide is an effective barrier between the two basins, with 28 species occurring exclusively in the Paraíba do Sul versant, and 15 occurring exclusively on the slope of the Sapucaí basin. The PAE of 18 species with cladistically informative distributions and unproblematic taxonomic diagnoses produced a single area cladogram, with complete congruence among 14 species.
Main conclusions  The main Mantiqueira watershed divide is an effective biogeographical barrier isolating the fish faunas of the Paraíba do Sul and the Sapucaí basin (upper Paraná system). Previous hypotheses of a past connection between the upper Paraná and the Paraíba do Sul are not supported by extant species distributions in the Serra da Mantiqueira region. Within-basin drainage differentiation, however, is relatively low.     

A reconsideration of the origins of the 'typical' Cretaceous inoceramid calcitic hinge plate in the light of new ultrastructural observations from some Jurassic 'inoceramids'

Abstract:  Marked differences occur between the hinge plates of Jurassic and Upper Cretaceous British 'inoceramid' species. Albian and Upper Cretaceous inoceramids had the poiriform calcite hinge plate with closely spaced resiliifers that is widely associated with this extinct bivalve family. The whole structure was dominated by compressible ligament. Jurassic species, in contrast, had an ultrastructurally less familiar aragonite hinge plate with widely spaced resiliifers and a ligament reminiscent of Isognomon with equally spaced elastic and compressional components. The wider taxonomic relationships of the Inoceramidae still remain uncertain, although the majority of the evidence links the family to the Pterioida. This study, however, suggests that the ancestral inoceramid did not necessarily have a calcitic hinge plate, but rather that a Jurassic 'inoceramid' species could have been developing such a structure via an aragonite precursor. Observations on British Kimmeridgian 'inoceramid' specimens indicate that calcite was being incorporated into the aragonite hinge plate by these times. Structures in the ligamentat of Jurassic species suggest that the fundamental change in mineralogy was initiated by valve architectural modification at the byssal notch, linked to inoceramid epifaunalism. Worldwide poor preservation of Lower Cretaceous inoceramids makes it very difficult to further prove this hypothesis via intermediate evolutionary stages leading to the fully poiriform calcite hinge plate observed in Albian and Upper Cretaceous species of Inoceramidae.     

The hybodont shark, Priohybodus d'Erasmo, 1960 (Early Cretaceous, northern Africa)

Priohybodus arambourgi d'Erasmo, 1960 is redescribed on the basis of nearly 200 teeth and a dorsal fin spine from the Chicla Sandstone (Aptian to Albian, Early Cretaceous) near Nalut in northwestern Libya. The generic distinction of Priohybodus is confirmed; its geological record is so far confined to the Late Jurassic and Early Cretaceous of Africa.     

Middle–Late Permian tetrapods from the Rio do Rasto Formation,Southern Brazil: a biostratigraphic reassessment

Dias‐da‐Silva, S. 2011: Middle–Late Permian tetrapods from the Rio do Rasto Formation, Southern Brazil: a biostratigraphic reassessment. Lethaia, Vol. 45, pp. 109–120. The Rio do Rasto Formation (Permian of Southern Brazil) was previously regarded as Guadalupian–early Lopingian age. Three tetrapod‐based localities are known: the Serra do Cadeado area, Aceguá and Posto Queimado. The latest tetrapod‐based biostratigraphic contribution considers that the Posto Queimado and Aceguá faunas are coeval and Wordian (middle Guadalupian) in age, correlated to the Isheevo faunas from Eastern Europe and to the Tapinocephalus Assemblage Zone of South Africa; whereas the Serra do Cadeado fauna is Capitanian (late Guadalupian), correlated to the Kotelnich fauna of Eastern Europe and, from bottom to top, to upper Pristerognathus, Tropidostoma and lower Cistecephalus assemblage zones of South Africa. A re‐evaluation of the tetrapods from the Rio do Rasto Formation and new fossil discoveries in the localities of Posto Queimado and Serra do Cadeado area (melosaurine and platyoposaurine temnospondyls, a basal anomodont, a dinocephalian and a basal dicynodont) supports a new tetrapod‐based biostratigraphic scheme for the Rio do Rasto Formation. Accordingly, the age of the fauna at Aceguá is late Roadian‐early Wordian, whereas the locality of Posto Queimado is late Wordian‐Capitanian. The Serra do Cadeado Area is correlated with both southernmost ones (Guadalupian) but also Wuchiapinghian (early Lopingian). □Paraná Basin, Passa Dois Group, tetrapod biostratigraphy, Western Gondwana.     

Tithonian-Berriasian foraminiferal faunas from the Torinosu-type calcareous blocks of the southern Kanto Mountains, Japan: their implications for post-accretionary tectonics of Jurassic to Cretaceous terranes

The Torinosu-type limestones, having many lithologic characters showing their original deposition on shallow shelves, are widely distributed in the Jurassic to Cretaceous terranes of Japan. The foraminiferal faunas from the Jurassic to the lowermost Cretaceous of Japan were first revealed in the calcareous blocks of the southern Kanto Mountains. Distinguished microfaunas consist of 39 species including many marker species of the Upper Jurassic to Lower Cretaceous in Europe, West Asia, and North Africa such as Melathrokerion spirialis, Charentia evoluta, Freixialina planispiralis, Nautiloculina oolithica, Everticyclammina cf. virguliana, Haplophragmium lutzei and Pseudocyclammina lituus. These faunas suggest a Tithonian to Berriasian age of Torinosu-type limestones. They are contained in four tectonostratigraphic units (Kamiyozawa, Hikawa and Gozenyama Formations; Ogouchi Group) continuously accreted from Middle Jurassic to Late Cretaceous. The younger deposition age of Torinosu-type limestones than the accretion age (Bajocian to Bathonian) in the Kamiyozawa Formation and their older age than the accretion age of the Ogouchi Group (late Albian to middle Maastrichtian) are important to date the post-accretionary tectonics of Jurassic to Cretaceous terranes of Japan and to explain the emplacement process of Torinosu-type limestones.     

The Hybodontiformes (Chondrichthyes: Elasmobranchii) from the Missão Velha Formation (?Lower Cretaceous) of the Araripe Basin,North-East Brazil

The ?Early Cretaceous (pre-Aptian) Missão Velha Formation of the Araripe Basin of North-East Brazil yields remains referred to two hybodontiform shark taxa: the hybodontid Planohybodus and the lonchidiid Parvodus. Paleoenvironmental analysis of this formation suggests freshwater or perhaps brackish deposition. The specimens described here were collected from a new locality and are found in association with actinopterygian and sarcopterygian fishes and rarer turtles, crocodylomorphs and theropod dinosaurs. The chondrichthyan assemblage is represented by isolated teeth, cephalic spines, and dorsal fin spines. This is the first record of Planohybodus in the Araripe Basin and the first record of Parvodus in the Cretaceous of Gondwana.     

The oldest higher true crabs (Crustacea: Decapoda: Brachyura): insights from the Early Cretaceous of the Americas

Despite the extensive fossil record of higher crabs (Eubrachyura) from Late Cretaceous and Cenozoic rocks worldwide, their Early Cretaceous occurrences are scarce and fragmentary, obscuring our understanding of their early evolution. Until now, representatives of only two families of eubrachyuran‐like crabs were known from the Early Cretaceous: Componocancridae and Tepexicarcinidae fam. nov., both monospecific lineages from the Albian (~110–100 Ma) of North and Central America, respectively. The discovery of Telamonocarcinus antiquus sp. nov. (Telamonocarcinidae) from the early Albian of Colombia, South America (~110 Ma), increases to three the number of known Early Cretaceous eubrachyuran‐like families. The ages and geographical distributions of the oldest eubrachyuran‐like taxa (i.e. Componocancridae, Telamonocarcinidae and Tepexicarcinidae fam. nov.) suggest that the oldest higher true crabs might have originated in the Americas; that they were already morphologically diverse by the late Early Cretaceous; and that their most recent common ancestor must be rooted in the Early Cretaceous, or even the Late Jurassic.     

Three new species of Peristicta Hagen in Selys (Odonata: Zygoptera: Protoneuridae) from Brazil

Three new species of Peristicta Hagen in Selys from Brazil are described and illustrated: P. janiceae from Minas Gerais State (Diamantina, Gouvêa, Lagoa Santa, Serra do Cara?a, Serra do Cipó, Urobotanga), P. jalmosi from Goiás State (Chapada dos Veadeiros, Reserva da Universidade de Brasília) and Minas Gerais State (Urobotanga, Lagoa Santa, Ponte Nova, S?o Jo?o del Rey,) and P. muzoni from Mato Grosso State (Serra da Bodoquena). An identification key for males of Peristicta is presented.     

New data about Early Cretaceous Ginkgoales from southwestern Europe (middle-late Albian of Spain)

We present in this work a leaf-type corresponding to the Ginkgoales genus Sphenobaiera recorded in deposits from the middle-upper Albian (Lower Cretaceous) of northeastern Spain. The fossil leaf shows a widely dissected lamina that forks regularly six times ending at the apex in sixty-four tiny wedge-shaped segments, which are characters similar to those in Sphenobaiera pecten from the Middle Jurassic of England. The exceptional preservation of this fossil leaf, which preserves all segments in connection with its base, in addition to taphonomical and sedimentological data, indicates a nearby location for the parent plant, which grew near the shores of a tidally-influenced fluvial environment. A palaeoenvironmental reconstruction of the sub-environments where the different types of Ginkgoales known from the Albian of northeastern Spain developed is also presented. The presence of a variety of different types of Ginkgoales in middle-upper Albian deposits from Spain represents a new contribution to the knowledge of the palaeoenvironmental conditions for this region of southwestern Eurasia during the late Early Cretaceous.     

First Jurassic occurence of Enoploclytia M’Coy, 1849 (Crustacea: Decapoda: Erymidae)

Among the Erymidae Van Straelen, 1925, known as early as the Late Permian (Changhsingian) and widespread in the Jurassic, the genus Enoploclytia M’Coy, 1849 seems to have a late appearance because of its lack before the Cretaceous. Until now, the oldest representative was E. augustobonae Devillez, Charbonnier, Hy?ný and Leroy, 2016 from the Early Cretaceous (Barremian) of the eastern Paris basin (France). However, a new fossil collected in Normandy (France), showing the typical carapace groove pattern of Enoploclytia, attests the presence of the genus in the Late Jurassic (Oxfordian).     

J. Deprat,l’Eubée (Grèce) et les fossiles introuvables

In Evia (Greece), limestones attributed to the lower Cretaceous by J. Deprat are in fact of Triassic to Upper Jurassic age. These erroneous attributions are based on the allegedly presence of Barremian and Albian fossils and on the supposed progressive passage of these limestones to the Cenomanian ones. Generally, except for the upper Cretaceous rich in Rudists and known since older works, a big part of the stratigraphical attributions of J. Deprat in Median Evia are erroneous.     

A NEW LATE CRETACEOUS MACROSEMIID FISH (NEOPTERYGII, HALECOSTOMI) FROM MOROCCO, WITH TEMPORAL AND GEOGRAPHICAL RANGE EXTENSIONS FOR THE FAMILY

Abstract:  A recent collection of actinopterygian fossil fishes from a previously unreported locality in the Cenomanian or Turonian of southeastern Morocco includes a single specimen of a macrosemiid fish. Macrosemiids are more common in Jurassic and Early Cretaceous deposits, with the previously known range of the family being Late Triassic through Aptian or Albian. This discovery therefore extends the temporal range of the family into the Late Cretaceous. Moreover, macrosemiids had not previously been reported from northern Africa or the Moroccan area of the Tethys basin; therefore, this fossil also increases the geographical range of the family. The Moroccan macrosemiid is described in a new genus and species, Agoultichthys chattertoni . A phylogenetic analysis places it basal to all other genera of the family with the exception of Notagogus . Diagnostic characters of the new species include the high number of scales laterally along the body and the greater number of dorsal fin rays than in other members of the family.     

Scleractinian corals from lower cretaceous deposits north of Esfahan (central Iran)

Summary A new section through Cretaceous deposits was discovered 1 km west of the Dizlu village (approximately 40 km north of Esfahan, central Iran). Lithologically, the section distinctly differs from all other sections exposed in neighboring localities. A scleractinian coral fauna (Upper Aptian-Upper Albian), collected from a reefal limestone, is described in detail. The following taxa were found:Actinastrea aff.pseudominima (Koby),Columactinastraea sp.,Eugyra cotteaui (d'Orbigny),Pseudomyriophyllia turnsekae Baron-Szabo,Montlivaltia sp.,Paraclausastrea pulchra Morycowa,Placocoenia robusta Oppenheim,Columnocoenia ksiazkiewiczi Morycowa,Stylina micropora Koby,Felixigyra deangelisi Prever,Cyathophora haysensis Wells,Diploastraea harrisi Wells,Morphastrea cf.ludovicina (Michelin),Meandrophyllia meandroides (Koby),Eocomoseris raueni L?ser,Fungiastrea crespoi (Felix),Latiastraea cf.kaufmanni (Koby),Kobya aff.crassolamellosa Gregory. The coral association of the Esfahan region is dominated by forms that are known to be cosmopolitan and semicosmopolitan in the Lower Cretaceous. It was found that over 40% of the coral fauna had previously been reported from both Lower and Upper Cretaceous strata. A similar pattern has been recognized for other reefal associations (e.g. Albian of Greece and Upper Barremian-Middle Albian of Mexico). In contrast, coral assemblages which developed in rather soft bottom environments have a significantly smaller percentage (15–20%) of taxa extending into the Upper Cretaceous and show closer affinities to Upper Jurassic and Lower Cretaceous faunas.     

Découverte de Foraminifères planctoniques paléocènes dans les brèches,précédemment tenues pour aptiennes et d'origine diapirique,des Pyrénées basco-béarnaises

After the dating, by means of planktonic Foraminifera, of post-metamorphic marine breccias, Upper Danian–Lower Selandian in age, associated to hemipelagites and unconformably overlying the Cretaceous tectogenic axis of the Pyrenees from Roussillon to Bigorre, was it possible to extend westwards the breccia-filled Palaeocene ‘trough’ as far as the ‘Zone des Chaı̂nons béarnais’? This later unit, which belonged to the North-Iberian palaeomargin during Lower Cretaceous, was previously considered by several authors as characterized by an important halokinesis generating, during Aptian/?Albian, collapses of the Jurassic–Lower Cretaceous carbonate cover above dissolved salt domes and spectacular accumulations of breccias. In fact, we have everywhere identified Palaeocene planktonic microfauna within the matrix of these breccias (and within the associated hemipelagites), particularly of the reference ‘diapiric’ breccias of Etchebar, Lauriolle, Layens and Bosmendiette/Beloscare. Deposited into intra- ‘trough’ sub-marine canyons, after karstification and erosion of intermediate mountains with a steep topography previously induced by Uppermost Cretaceous compressions, the herein studied Palaeocene marine breccias should not be hereafter regarded as linked to any Lower Cretaceous diapirism on the North-Iberian palaeomargin. To cite this article: B. Peybernès et al., C. R. Palevol 1 (2002) 3–10.     

Molecular data reveal a complex population genetic structure for Psalidodon scabripinnis (Teleostei: Characidae) in the Atlantic Rainforest,Brazil

Recently renamed, Psalidodon scabripinnis populations of Serra da Mantiqueira, previously known as Astyanax scabripinnis have been deeply studied in the last years. These populations are small and isolated and occur very close to the watershed between Paraíba do Sul River basin and Upper Paraná River basin, in Serra da Mantiqueira region in the Atlantic Rainforest. These conditions arouse the interest in knowing theor genetic conservation status and how they responded to the separation between the two rivers basins. Therefore, we accessed the genetic diversity of five P. scabripinnis populations of this region with microsatellites and mitochondrial data. The results showed a complex structure pattern that doesn’t match the simple basin separation and a reasonably conservation status when compared with other populations of the same family or with similar natural history.     

Caetea, a new genus of Pucciniales on Piptadenia (Fabaceae) from Brazil

A new genus of rust fungi (Basidiomycota, Pucciniales), with species type Caetea itatiaiaensis, was collected on Piptadenia (Fabaceae) at the Parque Nacional do Itatiaia in the Serra da Mantiqueira, states of Rio de Janeiro and Minas Gerais, Brazil. This genus is delimited as (i) three-celled teliospores borne on a single pedicel each with a corresponding apical cell and (ii) apical cells giving rise to distally capitate cysts that overhang the teliospore cells.     

Vertebrate Tracksites in the Middle Jurassic-Upper Cretaceous of South Tunisia

Four vertebrate tracksites from the Middle Jurassic and Upper Cretaceous in the Tataouine basin of southern Tunisia are described. Approximately 130 tridactyl footprints distributed over an area of 200 square meters, preserved on Callovian beds exposed at the Beni Ghedir site, represent the oldest evidence of a dinosaur fauna in Tunisia. In addition, three tracksites—Chenini, Ksar Ayaat, and Jebel Boulouha—have been discovered in the Cretaceous beds of the upper Continental Intercalaire, previously considered as a strictly marine depositional sequence. In addition to dinosaur tracks, the Chenini tracksite (late Albian) includes poorly preserved crocodilian tracks, and footprints assigned to a pleurodiran turtle have been recovered at the Ksar Ayaat locality (early Cenomanian). The Jebel Boulouha tracksite is dominated by well-preserved tridactyl tracks referred to small-sized theropods. Depositional settings of each tracksite have been defined on stratigraphic and sedimentologic data, and tracks were ascribed to different ichnocoenoses in relation to their paleoenvironments. This new and differentiated track record gives important information on how the fossil vertebrate fauna changed in southern Tunisia during mid-Jurassic to mid-Cretaceous times. These data provide a unique and useful census of tetrapod associations along the southern margin of the peri-Mediterranean area.     

New species of Isotomiella Bagnall, 1939 from Southeast?of Brazil (Collembola,Isotomidae)

Two new species of the genus Isotomiella Bagnall, 1939 are described and illustrated, the first: Isotomiella macedoi sp. n., based on males and females, from the “Parque Nacional da Serra dos Órgãos” (Teresópolis municipality, State of Rio de Janeiro) differs from the other by tibiotarsus III thickened and blunt and two antero-lateral chaetae of labrum strongly thickened. The second species Isotomiella uai sp. n. from “Serra da Gandarela”, (Caeté municipality, State of Minas Gerais) differs from the other by presence of short sensilla on antennal IV and tergites, two anterolabral chaetae thickened and falcate mucro.