[dinosaur] Aragochersis, new Cretaceous turtle + Orientalosuchus, new Eocene alligatoroid + more

Ben Creisler
[email protected]

Some recent non-dino papers:

Aragochersis lignitesta gen. et sp. nov.

A. Pérez-García, E. Espílez, L. Mampel & L. Alcaláb (2019)
A new basal turtle represented by the two most complete skeletons of
Helochelydridae in Europe.
Cretaceous Research (advance online publication)
doi: https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__doi.org_10.1016_j.cretres.2019.104291&d=DwIFaQ&c=clK7kQUTWtAVEOVIgvi0NU5BOUHhpN0H8p7CSfnc_gI&r=Ry_mO4IFaUmGof_Yl9MyZgecRCKHn5g4z1CYJgFW9SI&m=MZLLHe-0bZwvjMpOTPbNGkJmLa5iJBMGbMe6fp9Agc4&s=uCXava_tRmExsZnzTY_786EE8J--PgQMDlq-hWLrCO8&e= 
https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.sciencedirect.com_science_article_pii_S0195667119303179-3Fvia-253Dihub&d=DwIFaQ&c=clK7kQUTWtAVEOVIgvi0NU5BOUHhpN0H8p7CSfnc_gI&r=Ry_mO4IFaUmGof_Yl9MyZgecRCKHn5g4z1CYJgFW9SI&m=MZLLHe-0bZwvjMpOTPbNGkJmLa5iJBMGbMe6fp9Agc4&s=JDqJ-1HxOXzjzptVmHtXhe0hzsoodI1KJQYqBofsML0&e= 


Highlights
A new basal turtle, from the Lower Cretaceous of Europe, is defined.
Aragochersis lignitesta gen. et sp. nov. is an helochelydrid.
It is represented by the two most complete skeletons of this lineage in
Europe.
New anatomical information about this relatively poorly known lineage is
provided.

ABSTRACT
Two partial skeletons attributable to a single basal turtle taxon (i.e.,
Testudinata not belonging to the crown group Testudines) are studied here.
These specimens come from the lower Albian (Lower Cretaceous) of the
lignite coal mine of Santa María, in Ariño (Teruel Province, Aragon,
northeastern Spain). They are identified as belonging to a new member of
the clade of terrestrial turtles Helochelydridae, Aragochersis lignitesta
gen. et sp. nov. Both specimens represent the most complete skeletons of
this lineage so far identified in Europe. The skull and mandible of the new
taxon, but also the shell, several vertebrae, and numerous elements of the
appendicular skeleton, are preserved. New anatomical information about this
relatively poorly known group of basal turtles is provided.

===

Orientalosuchus naduongensis gen. et sp. nov.

Tobias Massonne, Davit Vasilyan, Márton Rabi & Madelaine Böhme (2019)
A new alligatoroid from the Eocene of Vietnam highlights an extinct Asian
clade independent from extant Alligator sinensis.
PeerJ 7:e7562
doi: https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__doi.org_10.7717_peerj.7562&d=DwIFaQ&c=clK7kQUTWtAVEOVIgvi0NU5BOUHhpN0H8p7CSfnc_gI&r=Ry_mO4IFaUmGof_Yl9MyZgecRCKHn5g4z1CYJgFW9SI&m=MZLLHe-0bZwvjMpOTPbNGkJmLa5iJBMGbMe6fp9Agc4&s=RcV87P8R921JUptwTDtZS7IhXIfCgm3E9veJs3TX5LQ&e= 
https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__peerj.com_articles_7562_&d=DwIFaQ&c=clK7kQUTWtAVEOVIgvi0NU5BOUHhpN0H8p7CSfnc_gI&r=Ry_mO4IFaUmGof_Yl9MyZgecRCKHn5g4z1CYJgFW9SI&m=MZLLHe-0bZwvjMpOTPbNGkJmLa5iJBMGbMe6fp9Agc4&s=6D4jsBdvoehFQ2M33G7y2KiMvOUqK9NVVA2h1ZImqyk&e= 

Free pdf:
https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__peerj.com_articles_7562.pdf&d=DwIFaQ&c=clK7kQUTWtAVEOVIgvi0NU5BOUHhpN0H8p7CSfnc_gI&r=Ry_mO4IFaUmGof_Yl9MyZgecRCKHn5g4z1CYJgFW9SI&m=MZLLHe-0bZwvjMpOTPbNGkJmLa5iJBMGbMe6fp9Agc4&s=yeiC4vQm2lbbYHKkoV62i1YCXi6YsoLSmvo2wxAxJKQ&e= 

During systematic paleontological surveys in the Na Duong Basin in North
Vietnam between 2009 and 2012, well-preserved fossilized cranial and
postcranial remains belonging to at least 29 individuals of a middle to
late Eocene (late Bartonian to Priabonian age (39–35 Ma)) alligatoroid were
collected. Comparative anatomical study of the material warrants the
diagnosis of a new taxon, Orientalosuchus naduongensis gen. et sp. nov. The
combined presence of an enlarged fifth maxillary tooth, prominent
preorbital ridges, a large supraoccipital exposure on the skull table, a
palatine-pterygoid suture anterior to the posterior end of the suborbital
fenestra, and a pterygoid forming a neck surrounding the choana is unique
to this species. Unlike previous phylogenies, our parsimony analysis
recovers a monophyletic Late Cretaceous to Paleogene East to Southeastern
Asian alligatoroid group, here named Orientalosuchina. The group includes
Orientalosuchus naduongensis, Krabisuchus siamogallicus, Eoalligator
chunyii, Jiangxisuchus nankangensis and Protoalligator huiningensis, all of
them sharing a medial shifted quadrate foramen aerum. The recognition of
this clade indicates at least two separate dispersal events from North
America to Asia: one during the Late Cretaceous by Orientalosuchina and one
by the ancestor of Alligator sinensis during the Paleogene or Neogene, the
timing of which is poorly constrained.

News:

https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__novataxa.blogspot.com_2019_11_orientalosuchus.html&d=DwIFaQ&c=clK7kQUTWtAVEOVIgvi0NU5BOUHhpN0H8p7CSfnc_gI&r=Ry_mO4IFaUmGof_Yl9MyZgecRCKHn5g4z1CYJgFW9SI&m=MZLLHe-0bZwvjMpOTPbNGkJmLa5iJBMGbMe6fp9Agc4&s=Szdwynfd9-2XsSQxctwEot3ZYf-9ra4JH4UZzUjZY6Q&e= 

===


Michael R. Rampino, Yoram Eshet-Alkalai, Athanasios Koutavas & Sedelia
Rodriguez (2019)
End-Permian stratigraphic timeline applied to the timing of marine and
non-marine extinctions.
Palaeoworld (advance online publication)
doi: https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__doi.org_10.1016_j.palwor.2019.10.002&d=DwIFaQ&c=clK7kQUTWtAVEOVIgvi0NU5BOUHhpN0H8p7CSfnc_gI&r=Ry_mO4IFaUmGof_Yl9MyZgecRCKHn5g4z1CYJgFW9SI&m=MZLLHe-0bZwvjMpOTPbNGkJmLa5iJBMGbMe6fp9Agc4&s=hhJGjJULBMRQPla3Zp9iooui6rl5s6gyDFo8mVyU-DA&e= 
https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.sciencedirect.com_science_article_pii_S1871174X19301040&d=DwIFaQ&c=clK7kQUTWtAVEOVIgvi0NU5BOUHhpN0H8p7CSfnc_gI&r=Ry_mO4IFaUmGof_Yl9MyZgecRCKHn5g4z1CYJgFW9SI&m=MZLLHe-0bZwvjMpOTPbNGkJmLa5iJBMGbMe6fp9Agc4&s=cazBBqg7O3W8tNXlJ1oFXzPppbx1pVTqDOgIOTpPkFk&e= 


A latest Permian timeline (251.9 Ma) can be constructed from the
perspectives of: a global nickel spike attributed to emissions from the
coeval Siberian flood-basalt eruptions, the correlative end-Permian marine
mass extinction (EPME), a transition from reversed to normal
paleomagnetism, and a negative anomaly in δ13Ccarb and δ13Corg. In a number
of marine and non-marine localities, this timeline is also correlated (to
within ≤30 ky) with palynological evidence for the latest Permian
destruction of terrestrial vegetation and the accompanying short-lived
global fungal (Reduviasporonites) event. This correlation suggests that
devastation in marine and non-marine environments was essentially coeval at
a time marked by hyperthermal conditions and anoxic oceans.

We utilized this proposed timeline to estimate the relative timing of the
extinction of latest Permian vertebrates in the Karoo Basin of South
Africa. In several sections in the Karoo, the LAD of the therapsid
Dicynodon, is correlated with the proposed timeline. In the Carlton Heights
section in the Karoo we estimate that the palynological changes and the
fungal event occurred within ≤ 30 ky of the LAD of Dicynodon. Further
sampling in the Karoo and other Permian–Triassic non-marine basins would
help to clarify the relative timing of the global marine extinctions, plant
devastation and the disappearance of non-marine vertebrates.

===========

Douglas A. Sprinkel, Mary Beth Bennis, Dale E. Gray & Carole T. Gee (2019)
Stratigraphic setting of fossil log sites in the Morrison Formation (Upper
Jurassic) near Dinosaur National Monument, Uintah County, Utah, USA.
Geology of the Intermountain West 6: 61-76
DOI: https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__doi.org_10.31711_giw.v6i0.36&d=DwIFaQ&c=clK7kQUTWtAVEOVIgvi0NU5BOUHhpN0H8p7CSfnc_gI&r=Ry_mO4IFaUmGof_Yl9MyZgecRCKHn5g4z1CYJgFW9SI&m=MZLLHe-0bZwvjMpOTPbNGkJmLa5iJBMGbMe6fp9Agc4&s=suzxRJpAYCH5e0u-tAR6lhP2zjwNv4Rdlh0xWoa8XEA&e= 
https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__giw.utahgeology.org_index.php_giw_article_view_36&d=DwIFaQ&c=clK7kQUTWtAVEOVIgvi0NU5BOUHhpN0H8p7CSfnc_gI&r=Ry_mO4IFaUmGof_Yl9MyZgecRCKHn5g4z1CYJgFW9SI&m=MZLLHe-0bZwvjMpOTPbNGkJmLa5iJBMGbMe6fp9Agc4&s=JevijxVRwOrahfnCwhpQvlRrMmaZb_1RK4R1_9AeTck&e= 

Free pdf:
https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__giw.utahgeology.org_index.php_giw_article_view_36_60&d=DwIFaQ&c=clK7kQUTWtAVEOVIgvi0NU5BOUHhpN0H8p7CSfnc_gI&r=Ry_mO4IFaUmGof_Yl9MyZgecRCKHn5g4z1CYJgFW9SI&m=MZLLHe-0bZwvjMpOTPbNGkJmLa5iJBMGbMe6fp9Agc4&s=1nvcfb3bcQsEVGeC3ZZRYSjsaJA9VC4AI-zjIpl3D6E&e= 

The outcrop belt of the Upper Jurassic Morrison Formation in the
northeastern Uinta Basin and southeastern flank of the Uinta Mountains is
particularly rich in dinosaurian and non-dinosaurian faunas, as well as in
fossil plants. The discovery of several well-preserved, relatively intact,
fossil logs at several locations in Rainbow Draw and one location in Miners
Draw, both near Dinosaur National Monument (Utah), has provided an
opportunity to study the local paleobotany, stratigraphy, and sedimentology
of the Morrison Formation in northeastern Utah. The Morrison Formation in
northeastern Utah consists of four members. In ascending
chronostratigraphic order, they are the Windy Hill, Tidwell, Salt Wash, and
Brushy Basin Members. The lithology (including the presence of glauconite
grains) and fossil assemblage of the lower two members (Windy Hill and
Tidwell) indicate a marine to marginal marine (coastal plain) depositional
environment, whereas the lithology, fossil flora and faunaassemblage of the
upper two members (Salt Wash and Brushy Basin) indicate a
fluvial–lacustrine depositional environment. At least 10 fossil log sites
in Rainbow Draw have been documented so far, and geologic mapping indicates
that the logs and wood all occur in the same stratigraphic interval within
the Salt Wash Member, approximately 17 to 27 m above the base of the
member. The unit containing the logs and wood is about 11 m thick and
consists of very fine to fine-grained sandstone and siltstone with
indistinct bedding and no discernible sedimentary features.

The logs are siliceous, some have a coaly exterior, and they range in
exposed length from 0.5 to 11 m and reach diameters up to 1.1 m. In the
Miners Draw area, a single siliceous log is documented in the upper part of
the Salt Wash Member within a silty sandstone unit that is 4 m thick; its
exposed length is about 6 m. Although the correlation of the Miners Draw
log-bearing interval to the interval in Rainbow Draw is uncertain, both
units are lithologically similar and both occur in the upper part of the
Salt Wash Member. The logs have been identified as araucariaceous conifers
that pertain to the same taxon originally described as Araucarioxylon
hoodii Tidwell et Medlyn 1993 from Mt. Ellen in the Henry Mountains of
southern Utah. Concurrent systematic work will prompt a nomenclatural
transfer of this species to the genus Agathoxylon. Based on the abundance
of large fossil logs and wood in the same stratigraphic interval in Rainbow
Draw, we hypothesize that the area was covered by stands of moderately
large trees of araucariaceous conifers. The sedimentological evidence
suggests that the trees were not transported far from their original site
of growth before they were deposited in a low-energy floodplain environment.

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