A new small-bodied ankylosaurian dinosaur from the Upper Cretaceous of North Patagonia (Río Negro Province, Argentina)

The most representative ankylosaurian remains from Argentina have been found in sediments of the Allen Formation (Campanian–Maastrichtian) in Salitral Moreno, Río Negro Province. Several authors have discussed the identity and history of these remains. In this study, we review all published material along with some new remains in order to summarize all the knowledge about these ankylosaurs. Previously published material includes a tooth, dorsal and anterior caudal vertebrae, a femur and several osteoderms. The new remains include synsacral and caudal elements, a partial femur and osteoderms. The anatomy of the tooth, the synsacrum, the mid-caudal vertebra, the femur and the osteoderms, and the histology of the post-cervical osteoderms, support a nodosaurid identification, as proposed in previous descriptions of the Salitral Moreno material. Patagopelta cristata gen. et sp. nov. is a new nodosaurid ankylosaur characterized by the presence of unique cervical half-ring and femoral anatomies, including high-crested lateral osteoderms in the half rings and a strongly developed muscular crest in the anterior surface of the femur. The ∼2 m body length estimated for Patagopelta is very small for an ankylosaur, comparable with the dwarf nodosaurid Struthiosaurus. We recovered Patagopelta within Nodosaurinae, related to nodosaurids from the ‘mid’-Cretaceous of North America, contrasting the previous topologies that related this material with Panoplosaurini (Late Cretaceous North American nodosaurids). These results support a palaeobiogeographical context in which the nodosaurids from Salitral Moreno, Argentina, are part of the allochthonous fauna that migrated into South America during the late Campanian as part of the First American Biotic Interchange. https://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:FBA24443-F365-49FD-A959-10D2848C2400.Fil: Riguetti, Facundo Javier. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad Maimónides. Centro de Ciencias Naturales, Ambientales y Antropológicas; ArgentinaFil: Pereda Suberbiola, Xabier. Universidad del País Vasco; EspañaFil: Ponce, Denis Alejandro. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Patagonia Norte. Instituto de Investigación en Paleobiología y Geología; ArgentinaFil: Salgado, Leonardo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Patagonia Norte. Instituto de Investigación en Paleobiología y Geología; ArgentinaFil: Apesteguía, Sebastián. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad Maimónides. Centro de Ciencias Naturales, Ambientales y Antropológicas; ArgentinaFil: Rozadilla, Sebastian. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales "Bernardino Rivadavia"; ArgentinaFil: Arbour, Victoria. University of Victoria; Canad

New fossils of Sirenia from the Middle Eocene of Navarre (Western Pyrenees) : the oldest West European sea cow record

Postcranial remains of Sirenia from the early Middle Eocene (late Lutetian) Urbasa-Andia Formation of Navarre (Western Pyrenees) are described. The material consists of two partial atlas vertebrae, one humerus and several dorsal ribs (from Arrasate, Urbasa plateau), and partial dorsal ribs (from Lezaun, Andia plateau). The morphology of the fossils is consistent with referral to Dugongidae, the only sirenian clade known so far in the Middle Eocene of Europe. Moreover, the histological study of the ribs shows that the pachyosteosclerosis of extant Sirenia was definitively present by the early Middle Eocene. The oldest sirenian remains reported to date in the Pyrenean Realm were assigned to the Biarritzian, a regional stage that is currently ascribed either to the middle or to the lower-middle Bartonian. Therefore, the sirenian remains of Lezaun, reliably dated as late Lutetian (SBZ16 zone) in age, are definitively the earliest sirenian fossils known in Western Europe and are among the oldest sea cow records of Europe

Primeros restos de vertebrados del Cretácico superior de Quecedo de Valdivieso (Burgos)

Chelonian plates, fish scales and crocodilian remains from the uppermost Cretaceous of the Burgos Province are described for the first time. All the remains have been found in the argilites of the Sobrepeña Formation (Middle-to-Upper Maastrichtian). The fossil bones have been found dispersed all around the outcrop. The bothremydid turtle plates are well preserved and represent the most abundant elements. The solemyid turtle plates are eroded and only a few fragments have been discovered. The bony fishes are represented by one scale that could be referred to the family Lepisosteidae. The crocodilian remains consist of an isolated tooth and an osteoderm. The fossil assemblage is in agreement with the sedimentological interpretation of a lower energy lacustrine system. The bothremydid and solemyidid turtles, bony fishes and crocodrilians are common components of the continental vertebrate faunas of the Ibero-Armorican realm at the end of the Cretaceous

Lañoko ornodun fosilak: Goi Kretazeorako denboran zeharreko bidaia

Laño (Trebiñoko konterria) Europako Kretazeo bukaerako omodun fosilen aztarnategi aberatsenetarikoa da, bertan agertutako 40 ornodun fosil lehortarrek eta 36 ornodun-espezie itsastarrek erakutsi bezala. Fosil hauek, sistema flubio-deltaikotik (Goi Campaniarra-Behe Maastrichtiarra) kostaldeko plataformaranzko (Goi Maastrichtiarra) jarraiera islatzen duten bi geruza estratigrafikotan banatuta daude. Horietan, guztira. 13 ornodun-espezie berri deskribatu dira. Ornodun lehortarrei dagokienez, suge espezie bi, hiru dortoka, krokodilo bi, dinosauru bat eta ugaztun bat behatu dira, eta, fauna itsastarraren artean, aldiz, lau arraia. Genero batzuk (Herensugea, Lirainosaurus eta Lainodon), gainera, Lañon bakarrik aurkitzen dira. Indusketa-kanpainei eta sedimentuaren bahe-berezien bidezko garbiketei esker, hainbat haginez eta hezur-zatiz osatutako bilduma dugu Arabako Natur Zientzien Museoan (Gasteiz). Datu tafonomikoen eta sedimentarioen arabera, Lañoko fosil-asoziazioak ibai-ubideetako ornodun asoziazio metakorren eredu tafonomikoari jarraitzen diola ikusi da, nolabait ubide-betegarrien eredurantz jotzen badu ere. Ingurune hau, gainera, kostaldeko delta batekin loturik zegoen haran flubial zabala zela interpretatu da. Asoziazio bitxi horretan, paleokomunitate ezberdinetatik etorritako fosilak agertzen dira: garraio minimo bat jasotako elementu urtar edo erdi-urtar paraauktoktonoak (krokodilo, dortoka, arrainak, anfibioak) eta lautada flubial horretatik etorritako elementu auloktonoak (dinosauruak, ugaztunak). Bestetik, Lañoko ornodun-taldeak, Provenza, Languedoc eta Iberiar Penintsulako fauna europarraren oso berdintsua da, eta, Asia edo Ipar Amerikako faunekin baino, Tethys itsasoaren ingurukoekin kidetasun gehiago dituzte. Hau azaltzeko, orduko Afrika eta kontinente europarraren arteko uharte-kateek migrazioak (truke faunistikoa) bidera zitzaketela pentsatu da. Informaziougari bildu den arren, oraindik Lañok, sekretu ugari gordetzen ditu barrenean

Lañoko ornodun fosilak: Goi Kretazeorako denboran zeharreko bidaia

Laño (Trebiñoko konterria) Europako Kretazeo bukaerako omodun fosilen aztarnategi aberatsenetarikoa da, bertan agertutako 40 ornodun fosil lehortarrek eta 36 ornodun-espezie itsastarrek erakutsi bezala. Fosil hauek, sistema flubio-deltaikotik (Goi Campaniarra-Behe Maastrichtiarra) kostaldeko plataformaranzko (Goi Maastrichtiarra) jarraiera islatzen duten bi geruza estratigrafikotan banatuta daude. Horietan, guztira. 13 ornodun-espezie berri deskribatu dira. Ornodun lehortarrei dagokienez, suge espezie bi, hiru dortoka, krokodilo bi, dinosauru bat eta ugaztun bat behatu dira, eta, fauna itsastarraren artean, aldiz, lau arraia. Genero batzuk (Herensugea, Lirainosaurus eta Lainodon), gainera, Lañon bakarrik aurkitzen dira. Indusketa-kanpainei eta sedimentuaren bahe-berezien bidezko garbiketei esker, hainbat haginez eta hezur-zatiz osatutako bilduma dugu Arabako Natur Zientzien Museoan (Gasteiz). Datu tafonomikoen eta sedimentarioen arabera, Lañoko fosil-asoziazioak ibai-ubideetako ornodun asoziazio metakorren eredu tafonomikoari jarraitzen diola ikusi da, nolabait ubide-betegarrien eredurantz jotzen badu ere. Ingurune hau, gainera, kostaldeko delta batekin loturik zegoen haran flubial zabala zela interpretatu da. Asoziazio bitxi horretan, paleokomunitate ezberdinetatik etorritako fosilak agertzen dira: garraio minimo bat jasotako elementu urtar edo erdi-urtar paraauktoktonoak (krokodilo, dortoka, arrainak, anfibioak) eta lautada flubial horretatik etorritako elementu auloktonoak (dinosauruak, ugaztunak). Bestetik, Lañoko ornodun-taldeak, Provenza, Languedoc eta Iberiar Penintsulako fauna europarraren oso berdintsua da, eta, Asia edo Ipar Amerikako faunekin baino, Tethys itsasoaren ingurukoekin kidetasun gehiago dituzte. Hau azaltzeko, orduko Afrika eta kontinente europarraren arteko uharte-kateek migrazioak (truke faunistikoa) bidera zitzaketela pentsatu da. Informaziougari bildu den arren, oraindik Lañok, sekretu ugari gordetzen ditu barrenean

New ankylosaurian trackways (cf. Tetrapodosaurus) from an uppermost Cretaceous level of the El Molino Formation of Bolivia

Since the second half of the 20th Century, the study of fossil tracks in South America has steadily increased. A large number of tetrapod ichnogenera is currently known mainly from Argentina, Bolivia and Brazil. In this study, we present a new record consisting of several trackways that we refer to cf. Tetrapodosaurus, representing the first explicit mention of the ichnogenus in South America. These tracks come from the lacustrine to transitional El Molino Formation, deposited in Maastrichtian-Danian times, at the locality of Ninu-Mayu, near Sucre, Bolivia. These tracks preserve a quite similar manual ~ morphology to that of Tetrapodosaurus borealis and minor differences in its pedal prints. Tetrapodosaurus is a typical ichnogenus of the northern hemisphere and commonly assigned to an ankylosaurian trackmaker. Tracks assigned to ankylosaurs were already reported from other sites of Bolivia, Brazil and tentatively Argentina; the new finding further improves our understanding of the ankylosaurian record from South America. A detailed morphological analysis allows us to make an accurate trackmaker identification and footprints are attributed to a member of the ankylosaurian family, the Nodosauridae. The trackways from Ninu-Mayu also have paleobiological implications. Manus prints are complete, pes ~ prints generally lack the proximal region of the pes, the sole pad, expulsion rims are proximally placed in pes prints and the trackway parameters are highly variable, suggesting formation influenced by certain buoyancy of the trackmakers.Fil: Riguetti, Facundo Javier. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Fundación de Historia Natural Félix de Azara; Argentina. Universidad Maimónides. Centro de Ciencias Naturales, Ambientales y Antropológicas; ArgentinaFil: Citton, Paolo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Patagonia Norte. Instituto de Investigación en Paleobiología y Geología; ArgentinaFil: Apesteguía, Sebastián. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Fundación de Historia Natural Félix de Azara; Argentina. Universidad Maimónides. Centro de Ciencias Naturales, Ambientales y Antropológicas; ArgentinaFil: Zacarias, Gerardo Gabriel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Salta; ArgentinaFil: Pereda Suberbiola, Xabier. Universidad del País Vasco; Españ

Geochemical study of vertebrate fossils fron some Upper Cretaceous and Palaeogene localities of the western Pyrenees

The diagenetic history of four vertebrate localities from the western Pyrenees (Laño and Zambrana in the Basque-Cantabrian Region, Ardanatz and Uztarrotz in the Pamplona Basin) is analyzed. The sites range stratigraphically from the Upper Cretaceous (Laño) to the Middle-Upper Eocene (Ardanatz, Uztarrotz, and Zambrana), and correspond to different sedimentary environments. The replacement of biogenic hydroxyapatite by well-crystallized francolite (carbonate fluorapatite) is related to diagenetic changes in all localities. Geochemical techniques based on variance in trace element composition from different fossil bone assemblages can be used as a test to measure the relative degree of mixing or taphonomic averaging within vertebrate associations. The geochemical composition and trends of the fossil remains suggest that the diagenetic processes were relatively uniform in all the sites, although REE trends in each particular sites are different, which precludes mixing of reworked bone

Fast-running theropods tracks from the Early Cretaceous of La Rioja, Spain

Theropod behaviour and biodynamics are intriguing questions that paleontology has been trying to resolve for a long time. The lack of extant groups with similar bipedalism has made it hard to answer some of the questions on the matter, yet theoretical biomechanical models have shed some light on the question of how fast theropods could run and what kind of movement they showed. The study of dinosaur tracks can help answer some of these questions due to the very nature of tracks as a product of the interaction of these animals with the environment. Two trackways belonging to fast-running theropods from the Lower Cretaceous Enciso Group of Igea (La Rioja) are presented here and compared with other fast-running theropod trackways published to date. The Lower Cretaceous Iberian fossil record and some features present in these footprints and trackways suggest a basal tetanuran, probably a carcharodontosaurid or spinosaurid, as a plausible trackmaker. Speed analysis shows that these trackways, with speed ranges of 6.5–10.3 and 8.8–12.4 ms−1, testify to some of the top speeds ever calculated for theropod tracks, shedding light on the question of dinosaur biodynamics and how these animals moved

Clasificación y contextualización de colecciones paleontológicas del entorno alavés mediante métodos multivariantes con variables cualitativas

[ES] El presente proyecto evalúa la utilidad de las herramientas estadísticas para la clasificación y contextualización de colecciones patrimoniales, utilizando para ello el ejemplo concreto del registro de dientes de dinosaurios terópodo del Museo de Ciencias Naturales de Álava (aunque su aplicación es extensible a otros casos). La propuesta incluye como aspecto novedoso el empleo de información cualitativa (no numérica) que, en muchas ocasiones, suele excluirse de los análisis estadísticos. Por otro lado, se evita el sesgo disciplinar en la forma de analizar los datos al contar con especialistas de diferentes áreas que abordan problemas similares de clasificación (geomorfología, arqueología, economía e ingeniería). En el proyecto, se presta atención a la calidad de los datos de partida (esenciales para poder obtener resultados válidos) desde el punto de vista de la documentación 3D y la consideración de tratarse de piezas patrimoniales que deben ser manejadas según los protocolos adecuados y, por otro lado, también se aborda la distribución y reutilización de los datos. Asimismo, se reflexiona sobre el valor del conocimiento generado y las posibilidades de aprovechamiento, no sólo en el ámbito académico, sino también en el desarrollo económico y turístico del territorio.Universidad del País Vasco (UPV/EHU) y Fundación Vital Fundazioa a través de la convocatorias de proyectos de investigación con la Fundación Vital 2021