[Paleontology • 2021] First Record of A Late Jurassic Rhamphorhynchine Pterosaur (Pterosauria: Rhamphorhynchidae) from Gondwana

Hypothetical reconstruction of Oxfordian rhamphorhinchids: MUHNCAL.20165 (Rhamphorhynchinae gen. et sp. indet.), Cerro Campamento Formation, Chile

in Alarcón-Muñoz, Otero, Soto-Acuña, ... et Rojas, 2021. 

 DOI: 10.4202/app.00805.2020 

Artwork: facebook.com: Mauricio Alvarez 

Researchgate.net/publication/354413138

We describe partial remains of a non-pterodactyloid pterosaur from Upper Jurassic levels of the Atacama Desert in northern Chile. The material includes a left humerus, a possible dorsal vertebra, and the shaft of a wing phalanx, all preserved in three dimensions and likely belonging to a single individual. The humerus has a hatchet-shaped deltopectoral crest, proximally positioned, and its shaft is markedly anteriorly curved, which are characteristic features of the clade Rhamphorhynchidae. In addition, the presence of a groove that runs along the caudal surface of the phalanx, being flanked by two asymmetric crests, is a distinctive feature of the clade Rhamphorhynchinae, which includes such genera as Rhamphorhynchus and Nesodactylus. Previous to this research, known records of Rhamphorhynchinae were restricted to Laurasia; thus, the specimen studied here represents the first evidence of this group found to date in Gondwana. Associated ammonoids allow us to assign the material to a middle Oxfordian age, which makes this specimen the oldest known pterosaur found in Chile, and the first of Oxfordian age in Gondwana. This discovery suggests that the clade Rhamphorhynchidae had a global distribution during the Late Jurassic.

Key words: Pterosauria, Rhamphorhynchidae, Rhamphorhynchinae, Oxfordian, Chile, Laurasia, Gondwana.

Systematic palaeontology

Diapsida Osborn, 1903

Archosauria Cope, 1869

Pterosauria Kaup, 1834

Breviquartossa Unwin, 2003

Rhamphorhynchidae Seeley, 1870

Rhamphorhynchinae Nopcsa, 1928

Rhamphorhynchinae gen. et sp. indet.

Fig. 3. Rhamphorhynchinae gen. et sp. indet. (MUHNCAL.20165) from Cerritos Bayos, west Calama, Chile; Cerro Campamento Formation, middle Oxfordian.
 Left humerus in dorsal (A1 , A5), posterodorsal (A2 , A6), posterior (A3 , A7), and ventral (A4 , A8) views,
photographs (A1 -A4) and explanatory drawings (A5 -A8).

Fig. 7. Simplified map of the world during the Oxfordian. The dashed line represents the hypothetical route that would have allowed the dispersal of marine vertebrates and invertebrates between Tethys and South America during the Late Jurassic (Caribbean corridor).
The finds of Oxfordian rhamphorhinchids: MUHNCAL.20165 (Rhamphorhynchinae gen. et sp. indet.), Cerro Campamento Formation, Chile (circle);
Cacibupteryx caribensis (Gasparini et al. 2004) and Nesodactylus hesperius (Colbert et al. 1969), Jagua Formation, Cuba (square);
Rhamphorhynchinae gen. et sp. indet. (Lydekker 1890, O'Sullivan 2018), Oxford Clay Formation, UK (star);
 Qinglongopterus guoi (Lü et al. 2012), Tiaojishan Formation, China (triangle).

Modified map from Scotese (2014).

Jhonatan Alarcón-Muñoz, Rodrigo A. Otero, Sergio Soto-Acuña, Alexander O. Vargas, Jennyfer Rojas, and Osvaldo Rojas. 2021. First Record of A Late Jurassic Rhamphorhynchine Pterosaur from Gondwana. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica. in press. DOI: 10.4202/app.00805.2020

  facebook.com/MauricioAlvarez904108/posts/4283038125151148

Researchgate.net/publication/354413138_First_rhamphorhynchine_Pterosauria_Rhamphorhynchidae_from_the_Upper_Jurassic_of_Gondwana

Investigadores U. de Chile identifican enigmático "dragón volador" del Jurásico por primera vez en el Hemisferio Sur

 uchile.cl/noticias/179797/investigadores-identifican-enigmatico-dragon-volador-del-jurasico

MUHNCAL, Museo de Historia Natural y Cultural del Desierto de Atacama, Calama, Antofagasta Region, Northern Chile

  

[Paleontology • 2017] Vouivria damparisensis • The Earliest Known Titanosauriform Sauropod Dinosaur from France and the Evolution of Brachiosauridae

Vouivria damparisensis 

Mannion​, Allain & Moine, 2017 

 DOI: 10.7717/peerj.3217 

Abstract

Brachiosauridae is a clade of titanosauriform sauropod dinosaurs that includes the well-known Late Jurassic taxa Brachiosaurus and Giraffatitan. However, there is disagreement over the brachiosaurid affinities of most other taxa, and little consensus regarding the clade’s composition or inter-relationships. An unnamed partial sauropod skeleton was collected from middle–late Oxfordian (early Late Jurassic) deposits in Damparis, in the Jura department of eastern France, in 1934. Since its brief description in 1943, this specimen has been informally known in the literature as the ‘Damparis sauropod’ and ‘French Bothriospondylus’, and has been considered a brachiosaurid by most authors. If correctly identified, this would make the specimen the earliest known titanosauriform. Coupled with its relatively complete nature and the rarity of Oxfordian sauropod remains in general, this is an important specimen for understanding the early evolution of Titanosauriformes. Full preparation and description of this specimen, known from teeth, vertebrae and most of the appendicular skeleton of a single individual, recognises it as a distinct taxon: Vouivria damparisensis gen. et sp. nov. Phylogenetic analysis of a data matrix comprising 77 taxa (including all putative brachiosaurids) scored for 416 characters recovers a fairly well resolved Brachiosauridae. Vouivria is a basal brachiosaurid, confirming its status as the stratigraphically oldest known titanosauriform. Brachiosauridae consists of a paraphyletic array of Late Jurassic forms, with Europasaurus, Vouivria and Brachiosaurus recovered as successively more nested genera that lie outside of a clade comprising (Giraffatitan + Sonorasaurus) + (Lusotitan + (Cedarosaurus + Venenosaurus)). Abydosaurus forms an unresolved polytomy with the latter five taxa. The Early Cretaceous South American sauropod Padillasaurus was previously regarded as a brachiosaurid, but is here placed within Somphospondyli. A recent study contended that a number of characters used in a previous iteration of this data matrix are ‘biologically related’, and thus should be excluded from phylogenetic analysis. We demonstrate that almost all of these characters show variation between taxa, and implementation of sensitivity analyses, in which these characters are excluded, has no effect on tree topology or resolution. We argue that where there is morphological variation, this should be captured, rather than ignored. Unambiguous brachiosaurid remains are known only from the USA, western Europe and Africa, and the clade spanned the Late Jurassic through to the late Albian/early Cenomanian, with the last known occurrences all from the USA. Regardless of whether their absence from the Cretaceous of Europe, as well as other regions entirely, reflects regional extinctions and genuine absences, or sampling artefacts, brachiosaurids appear to have become globally extinct by the earliest Late Cretaceous.




  

Systematic Paleontology

Sauropoda Marsh, 1878
Eusauropoda Upchurch, 1995
Neosauropoda Bonaparte, 1986
Macronaria Wilson & Sereno, 1998

Titanosauriformes Salgado, Coria & Calvo, 1997
Brachiosauridae Riggs, 1904

Vouivria n. gen.  
Vouivria damparisensis n. sp.  

Bothriospondylus madagascariensis Lapparent, 1943

Damparis dinosaur Buffetaut, 1988

French “Bothriospondylus madagascariensis” McIntosh, 1990

Bothriospondylus madagascariensis Wilson, 2002

Damparis sauropod Allain, Pereda & Suberbiola, 2003

Brachiosauridae indet. Mannion, 2010

‘French Bothriospondylus’/Damparis sauropod D’Emic, 2012

‘French Bothriospondylus’ Mannion et al., 2013

Etymology: The generic name is derived from the old French word ‘vouivre’, itself from the Latin ‘vipera’, meaning ‘viper’. In Franche-Comté, the region in which the holotype was discovered, ‘la vouivre’ (=the wyvern) is a legendary winged reptile. In the homonym novel written by the great French author Marcel Aymé, ‘La Vouivre’ is a beautiful woman who lives in the swamps in the neighbourhood of Dôle (Franche-Comté) and protects a spectacular ruby. The specific name is derived from Damparis, the type locality of the new taxon.

 Conclusions: 

A detailed redescription of a long-neglected sauropod specimen from the middle–late Oxfordian (Late Jurassic) of eastern France recognises it as a distinct brachiosaurid, Vouivria damparisensis n. gen. n. sp., that is the stratigraphically oldest known occurrence of Titanosauriformes. An expanded and revised phylogenetic analysis includes the dwarfed Late Jurassic European taxon Europasaurus within Brachiosauridae, but places the Early Cretaceous Colombian genus Padillasaurus within Somphospondyli. The past distribution of Brachiosauridae is currently restricted to Europe, North America and Africa, and the clade appears to have become globally extinct by the earliest Late Cretaceous.

Philip D. Mannion​, Ronan Allain and Olivier Moine. 2017. The Earliest Known Titanosauriform Sauropod Dinosaur and the Evolution of Brachiosauridae. PeerJ. 5:e3217.  DOI: 10.7717/peerj.3217

Earliest relative of Brachiosaurus dinosaur found in France http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/newsandeventspggrp/imperialcollege/newssummary/news_27-4-2017-13-43-8

BBC News - Fossil sheds light on 'Jurassic Park' dinosaurs http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-39771719

[Paleontology • 2016] Qinglongtriton gangouensis • A New Basal Salamandroid (Amphibia, Urodela) from the Late Jurassic of Qinglong, Hebei Province, China

Fig 3. Holotype of Qinglongtriton gangouensis  (PKUP V0226).
Photograph (left) and line drawing (right) of incomplete skeleton in ventral view.

DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0153834 

Abstract

A new salamandroid salamander, Qinglongtriton gangouensis (gen. et sp. nov.), is named and described based on 46 fossil specimens of juveniles and adults collected from the Upper Jurassic (Oxfordian) Tiaojishan Formation cropping out in Hebei Province, China. The new salamander displays several ontogenetically and taxonomically significant features, most prominently the presence of a toothed palatine, toothed coronoid, and a unique pattern of the hyobranchium in adults. Comparative study of the new salamander with previously known fossil and extant salamandroids sheds new light on the early evolution of the Salamandroidea, the most species-diverse clade in the Urodela. Cladistic analysis places the new salamander as the sister taxon to Beiyanerpeton, and the two taxa together form the basalmost clade within the Salamandroidea. Along with recently reported Beiyanerpeton from the same geological formation in the neighboring Liaoning Province, the discovery of Qinglongtriton indicates that morphological disparity had been underway for the salamandroid clade by early Late Jurassic (Oxfordian) time.

Systematic Paleontology

Class Amphibia Linnaeus, 1758

Subclass Lissamphibia Haeckel, 1866

Superorder Caudata Scopoli, 1777

Order Urodela Duméril, 1806

Suborder Salamandroidea Dunn, 1922

Family Incertae Sedis

Genus Qinglongtriton gen. nov.

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:DE89F7C6-1870-4B3E-A4BD-8C2BB208D193

Qinglongtriton gangouensis gen. et sp. nov.

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:B8CFC9E4-051C-4DD9-8C9F-0EC6AF0C7C0A

Holotype: PKUP V0226, an incomplete skeleton including articulated cranium and postcranium, with part of the tail missing (Figs 3, 5A, 6A, 7C and 7D; S1 Fig; S1 and S3 Movies).

Diagnosis: A basal salamandroid sharing with Beiyanerpeton derived features including: palatine present as discrete and dentate element; sensory groove present on external surface of premaxilla and maxilla; lateral surface of dentary deeply grooved; presacral vertebrae 15 in number. Differing from closely related Beiyanerpeton in having: lacrimal dorsally grooved for nasolacrimal duct; anterior ramus of pterygoid bearing teeth and directing anteromedially; ossification of orbitosphenoid absent; free operculum lacking; coronoid present as a dentate element; marginal teeth pedicellate; metacarpal II longest in manus; phalangeal formula 2-2-3-3-3 in pes. The new taxon has the basibranchial II ossified with paired anterolateral and posterolateral processes fused with a median rod as a unique feature among salamanders.

Etymology: “Qinglong” refers to the Qinglong Manchu Autonomous County; “triton”, suffix commonly used for salamander names; “gangou” refers to Gangou Township, in which the fossil locality occurs.

Referred Specimens: PKUP V0227–V0271, all specimens from the same locality and the 13th layer of the stratigraphic section as the holotype.

Type Locality and Horizon: Fossil locality approximately 300 m northwest of Nanshimenzi village (N40°31'52"/E119°29'11"), Gangou Township, Qinglong Manchu Autonomous County, Qinhuangdao City, Hebei Province, China; the 13th layer of the stratigraphic section measured as outlined in Fig 1; Upper Jurassic (Oxfordian) Tiaojishan Formation.

Conclusions

The following conclusions can be drawn from our study of Qinglongtriton gangouensis from the Nanshimenzi locality:

1. Qinglongtriton gangouensis is a neotenic salamandroid named and described based on multiple specimens from the Upper Jurassic Tiaojishan Formation.

2. The new salamandroid displays several features of ontogenetic or taxonomic significance, including: lacrimal with a dorsally open groove for the nasolacrimal duct; presence of a stapedial foramen; lack of ossification of the orbitosphenoid; pedicellate teeth with monocuspid crowns; presence of a toothed coronoid; ontogenetic fusion of the angular bone to the prearticular; and a unique shape of the basibranchial II.

3. Phylogenetic analysis places Qinglongtriton as the sister taxon to Beiyanerpeton, and the two taxa together form the basalmost clade within the Salamandroidea. Along with the coexisting Beiyanerpeton the new discovery indicates that morphological disparity of the salamandroid clade was already underway by early Late Jurassic (Oxfordian) time.

Jia Jia and Ke-Qin Gao. 2016. A New Basal Salamandroid (Amphibia, Urodela) from the Late Jurassic of Qinglong, Hebei Province, China.  PLoS ONE. 11(5): e0153834. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0153834

A Jurassic World of Salamanders
http://blogs.plos.org/paleocomm/2016/05/04/a-jurassic-world-of-salamanders