MOSASAURS, DWARF SAUROPODS ETC.

[darren.naish@port.ac.uk]

Haven't got much time, so I'm not sure how much of this I'll get 
through. The special volume of _Geologie en Mijnbouw_ (Vol. 78, 
1999) is out: includes the proceedings of the Third European Workshop 
on Vertebrate Paleontology (Maastricht 6-9th May 1998). Haven't had 
time to check this, but the journal is available online at 
http://www.kluweronline.nl  They also provide the site 
http://www.wkap.nl - don't know which is right.

Volume includes papers on fish, one on mammals (musk oxen) and a 
tribute to the late great Colin Patterson. Other than that everything 
is Mesozoic or avian.

MULDER, E.W.A. Transatlantic latest Cretaceous mosasaurs (Reptilia, 
Lacertilia) from the Maastrichtian type area and New Jersey. pp. 
382-300.

As has been argued by Mulder before, _Mosasaurus hoffmanni_ (from 
Maastricht) and _M. maximus_ (from New Jersey) prove to be the same 
species (contra arguments from Lingham-Soliar (1995)). The numerous 
photos of both species seem to clinch it. Similarly, _Plioplatecarpus 
marshi_ and _P. depressus_ are probably the same. 

GRIGORESCU, D., VENCZEL, M., CSIKI, Z. and LIMBEREA, R. New latest 
Cretaceous microvertebrate fossil assemblages from the Hateg Basin 
(Romania). pp. 301-314.

The Hateg fauna is predominantly Neopangean with the suggestion of a 
composite palaeobiogeographical origin - as advocated before on the 
basis of Gondwanan dinosaurs in Upper K Europe. Includes gars, 
discoglossids (_Eodiscoglossus_), albanerpetontids, bits of 
anguimorphs and scincomorphs, the crocodyliforms _Doratodon_ (they 
put it in family Hsisosuchidae) and _Allodaposuchus_, 
velociraptorines, multituberculates, my favourite fossil turtle 
_Kallokibotion_ (see Martill and Naish 1999) and _Rhabdodon_.

MARTILL, D. M. and FREY, E. A possible azhdarchid pterosaur from the 
Crato Formation (Early Cretaceous, Aptian) of northeast Brazil. pp. 
315-318.

A small pterosaur wing (approx. 100 cm long) composed of three 
articulated phalanges and the major metacarpal has the T-shaped 
azhdarchid cross section. The early geological age and small size of 
the specimen are of special interest: did azhdarchids start out 
small, and did they first evolve in the southern hemisphere?

COMPANY, J., IGNACIO RUIZ-OMENACA, J. and PEREDA SUBERBIOLA, X. A 
long-necked pterosaur (Pterodactyloidea, Azhdarchidae) from the Upper 
Cretaceous of Valencia, Spain. pp. 319-333.

Fragmentary bits, including cervical vertebrae and limb bones, of a 
probably Maastrichtian azhdarchid indicate a medium-sized form 
(wingspan approx. 5.5 m) that is different from _Arambourgiania_ and 
_Quetzalcoatlus_ but otherwise indet. From terrestrial sediments.

JIANU, C-M. and WEISHAMPEL, D. B. The smallest of the largest: a new 
look at possible dwarfing in sauropod dinosaurs. pp. 335-343.

_Magyarosaurus dacus_ really is a heterochronic dwarf, as revealed by 
regression analyses of humeral length and optimisation of humeral 
data onto titanosaurian cladograms. 

CASANOVAS, M. L., PEREDA SUBERBIOLA, X., SANTAFE, J. V. and 
WEISHAMPEL, D. B. A primitive euhadrosaurian dinosaur from the 
uppermost Cretaceous of the Ager syncline (southern Pyrenees, 
Catalonia). pp. 345-356.

Left lower jaw - the Fontllonga taxon - is a new species different 
from _Telmatosaurus_ and _Pararhabdodon_; is more derived than the 
former. Detailed discussion of mandibular/tooth characters employed 
in hadrosaur phylogenies with the generation of a cladogram: 
intriguingly, _Probactrosaurus_ and _Bactrosaurus_ form a clade that 
is sister to _Telmatosaurus_ + Euhadrosauria. The Fontllonga animal 
is sister taxon to other euhadrosaurians (hadrosaurids + 
lambeosaurids). The survival of this new taxon in the Iberian 
peninsula suggests that European Late K hadrosaurs were relicts.

WIESHAMPEL, D. B., MULDER, E. W. A., DORTANGS, R. W., JAGT, J. W. M., 
JIANU, C-M., KUYPERS, M. M. M., PEETERS, H. G. G. and SCHULP, A. S. 
Dinosaur remains from the type Maastrichtian: an update. pp. 357-365.

Isolated hadrosaur remains including dental and maxillary fragments, 
an isolated metatarsal and broken humerus. Can't be identified to 
species but suggests the presence of more than one non-lambeosaurine 
and a possible euhadrosaurian (Euhadrosauria used here is all 
hadrosauroids excepting _Telmatosaurus_). 

NAISH, D. Theropod dinosaur diversity and palaeobiology in the 
Wealden Group (Early Cretaceous) of England: evidence from a 
previously undescribed tibia. pp. 367-373.

Tibia from indeterminate tetanuran: has tooth marks on the caudal 
surface that appear to have been made by a theropod. Being from the 
Hastings Beds, the specimen is old as Wealden theropods go and 
suggests an animal of _Deinonychus_-like size: it is not the same as 
any other Wealden theropods for which tibiae are known (including the 
new Isle of Wight animal).

KRISTOFFERSEN, A. V. Lithornithid birds (Aves, Palaeognathae) from 
the Lower Palaeogene of Denmark. pp. 375-381.

Sternum, pelvis and femur from the Fur Formation is from a small 
lithornithid - about the same size as _Lithornis (= _Pediorallus_) 
hookeri_, the smallest described member of the group (from the London 
Clay). Some discussion of palaeognath monophyly - Anette suggests 
that lithornithids may have been shorebird-like in habits.

"I knew we had something in common"
"Breathing?"

DARREN NAISH 
PALAEOBIOLOGY RESEARCH GROUP
School of Earth, Environmental & Physical Sciences
UNIVERSITY OF PORTSMOUTH
Burnaby Building
Burnaby Road                           email: darren.naish@port.ac.uk
Portsmouth UK                          tel: 01703 446718
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http://www.naish-zoology.com]