New paper

["Michael Lange" <Michael.Lange@gmx.ch>]

ARCHOSAUR EVOLUTION DURING THE JURASSIC: A SOUTHERN PERSPECTIVE

Oliver W. M. RAUHUT and Adriana LOPEZ-ARBARELLO

Revista de la Asociación Geológica Argentina 63 (4): 557 - 585 (2008)

ABSTRACT: The fossil record of archosaurs - crocodylomorphs, pterosaurs and 
dinosaurs - from the Jurassic of the Southern Hemisphere
is critically reviewed, and its evolutionary implications are evaluated. 
Although several important faunas and also isolated finds
are known from Gondwana, the record in total is still very patchy, and any 
evolutionary scenario based on this record should
be seen as tentative. Compared to the Northern Hemisphere, southern archosaurs 
are much more poorly known, which is
especially true for terrestrial crocodiles and pterosaurs. Marine crocodiles 
are rather well represented in south-western South
America, whereas the report of terrestrial archosaurs is currently best for 
Africa. However, in South America, important and
especially promising archosaur faunas are known from the Callovian Cañadón 
Asfalto and the (?)Tithonian Cañadón Calcáreo
formations of Chubut province, Argentina. Early and Middle Jurassic Gondwanan 
archosaurs demonstrate that the faunas of
that period still had a generally Pangean distribution, whereas first 
indications of differential archosaur evolution in the
Northern and Southern Hemispheres are evident in Late Jurassic Gondwanan faunas.
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