Pablo NuÃez Demarco, Melitta Meneghel, Michel Laurin and Graciela PiÃeiro (2018)
Was Mesosaurus a Fully Aquatic Reptile?
Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution 6: 109
doi: 10.3389/fevo.2018.00109
Mesosaurs have been considered strictly aquatic animals. Their adaptations to the aquatic environment are well known and include putative viviparity, along with the presence of several skeletal characters such as a long, laterally compressed tail, long limbs, the foot larger than the manus, and presence of pachyosteosclerotic bones. They were also described as possessing non-coossified girdle bones and incompletely ossified epiphyses, although there could be an early fusion of the front girdle bones to form the scapulocoracoid in some specimens. Some of these features, however, are shared by most basal tetrapods that are considered semiaquatic and even some terrestrial ones. The study of vertebral columns and limbs provides essential clues about the locomotor system and the lifestyle of early amniotes. In this study, we have found that the variation of the vertebral centrum length along the axial skeleton of Mesosaurus tenuidens fits better with a semi-aquatic morphometric pattern, as shown by comparisons with other extinct and extant taxa. The present study allows us to suggest that whereas well-preserved mesosaur skeletons are mostly represented by juveniles and young adults that inhabited aquatic environments, more mature individuals might hypothetically have spent time on land. This is also supported, to an extent, by taphonomic factors such as the scarce representation and poor preservation of remains of mature individuals in the fossiliferous levels, and also by anatomy of the appendicular bones, and particularly the strongly ossified epiphyses and tarsus.
Jeholochelys lingyuanensis gen. et sp. nov.Â
Shuai Shao, Lan Li, Yang Yang & Chang-Fu Zhou (2018)
Hyperphalangy in a new sinemydid turtle from the Early Cretaceous Jehol Biota
ÂPeerJ 6:e5371Â
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Hyperphalangy is a rare condition in extant aquatic turtles, and mainly limited to soft-shelled turtles. Here we report a new freshwater turtle, Jeholochelys lingyuanensis gen. et sp. nov. from the Early Cretaceous Jehol Biota of western Liaoning, China. This new turtle is characterized by a hyperphalangy condition with one additional phalanx in pedal digit V, rather than the primitive condition (phalangeal formula: 2-3-3-3-3) of crown turtles. J. lingyuanensis is recovered with other coexisting turtles in the family Sinemydidae in the phylogenetic analysis. This discovery further confirms that hyperphalangy occurred multiple times in the early evolutionary history of the crown turtles. Hyperphalangy is possibly a homoplasy in Jeholochelys and the soft-shelled turtles to adapt to the aquatic environments.
Kulgeriherpeton ultimus gen. et sp. nov.Â
Pavel P. Skutschas, Veniamin V. Kolchanov, Alexander O. Averianov, Thomas Martin, Rico Schellhorn, Petr N. Kolosov, and Dmitry D. Vitenko (2018)
A new relict stem salamander from the Early Cretaceous of Yakutia, Siberian Russia.
Acta Palaeontologica Polonica (in press)
A new stem salamander, Kulgeriherpeton ultimus gen. et sp. nov., is described based on a nearly complete atlas (holotype) from the Lower Cretaceous (BerriasianâBarremian) Teete vertebrate locality in southwestern Yakutia (Eastern Siberia, Russia). The new taxon is diagnosed by the following unique combination of atlantal characters: the presence of a transversal ridge and a depression on the ventral surface of the posterior portion of the centrum; ossified portions of the intercotylar tubercle represented by dorsal and ventral lips; the absence of a deep depression on the ventral surface of the anterior portion of the centrum; the absence of pronounced ventrolateral ridges; the absence of spinal nerve foramina; the presence of a pitted texture on the ventral and lateral surfaces of the centrum and lateral surfaces neural arch pedicels; the presence of a short neural arch with its anterior border situated far behind the level of the anterior cotyles; moderately dorsoventrally compressed anterior cotyles; and the absence of a deep incisure on the distal-most end of the neural spine. The internal microanatomical organization of the atlas is characterized by the presence of a thick, moderately vascularized cortex and inner cancellous endochondral bone. The recognition of stem salamanders and other vertebrates with Jurassic affinities in the Early Cretaceous high-latitude (paleolatitude estimate N 63â70Â) vertebrate assemblage of Teete suggests that: (i) the large territory of present day Siberia was a refugium for Jurassic relicts; (ii) there were no striking differences in the composition of high-latitude Yakutian and mid-latitude Western Siberian Early Cretaceous vertebrate assemblages; and (iii) there was a smooth transition from the Jurassic to Cretaceous biotas in North Asia.
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Paolo Citton, Ausonio Ronchi, Simone Maganuco, Martina Caratelli, Umberto Nicosia, Eva Sacchi & Marco Romano (2018)
First tetrapod footprints from the Permian of Sardinia and their palaeontological and stratigraphical significance.
Geological Journal (advance online publication)
The Torre del Porticciolo palaeontological locality (Alghero, northâwest Sardinia, Italy) is important for having provided the skeletal remains of the first Permian basal synapsid from Italy, Alierasaurus ronchii, the largest late early Permian to early middle Permian nonâtherapsid synapsid known to date. Recently, other skeletal remains preliminarily attributed to a carnivorous nonâtherapsid synapsid were described from a second site, approximately from the same stratigraphic level within the Cala del Vino Fm. During the excavation of this second site, tetrapod tracks were found near Cala Viola, about 1 km from the first two sites. The new find represents the first ichnological record from the Permian of Sardinia. The ichnological analysis allowed the recognition of tetrapods presently not recognized, just on the base of skeletal remains. This new evidence sheds more light on the faunal diversity within the Cala del Vino Fm., which is one of the few examples in the Permian of Europe of a combined ichnoâ and bodyâfossil record. The tracks have been referred to as Merifontichnus, an ichnotaxon established from the uppermost portion of the Permian succession of the LodÃve Basin in southern France. The new material is the first reliable occurrence of this ichnotaxon from Italy and would represent, to date, the oldest occurrence of the ichnogenus.
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