Fossils discovered in Lower Cretaceous (Aptian) rocks in the Tenere Desert of central Niger provide new information about spinosaurids, a peculiar group of piscivorous theropod dinosaurs. The remains, which represent a new genus and species, reveal the extreme elongation and transverse compression of the spinosaurid snout. The postcranial bones include blade-shaped vertebral spines that form a ...

The divergence times of lizardfishes (Euteleostei: Aulopiformes) are estimated utilizing a Bayesian approach in combination with knowledge of the fossil record of teleosts and a taxonomic review of fossil aulopiform taxa. These results are integrated with a study of character evolution regarding deep-sea evolutionary adaptations in the clade, including simultaneous hermaphroditism and tubular e...

The role of niche specialization and narrowing in the evolution and extinction of the ichthyosaurs has been widely discussed in the literature. However, previous studies have concentrated on a qualitative discussion of these variables only. Here, we use the recently developed approach of quantitative ecospace modelling to provide a high-resolution quantitative examination of the changes in diet...

Abstract Sediment routing systems of cratonic domains have not been studied extensively because their relief and erosion rates are very low, although vast dimensions allowed them to contribute a significant proportion the sediments exported global ocean. To gain further insights into behavior sediment at geological time scales, we investigated Guiana Shield its Atlantic rifted margin (i.e., Gui...

The timing of crustal thickening in the northern Central Andean Plateau (CAP), at 13–20°S, and its relationship to surface uplift is debated. Zircon qualitatively records thickness as trace element chemistry controlled by growth cogenetic minerals relative uptake light heavy Rare Earth Elements. Jurassic Neogene zircons from volcanic rocks, sandstones, river sediments reveal shifts ratios sugge...

Metriorhynchidae is an extinct group of Jurassic–Cretaceous crocodylomorphs that developed a fully pelagic lifestyle. Its Jurassic record outstanding (it includes around 40 nominal species), while the records can be restricted to Cretaceous are particularly sparse. Here we describe partial skull new species Cricosaurus, Cricosaurus puelchorum sp. nov., from lower Berriasian Vaca Muerta Formatio...

BACKGROUND Modern selachians and their supposed sister group (hybodont sharks) have a long and successful evolutionary history. Yet, although selachian remains are considered relatively common in the fossil record in comparison with other marine vertebrates, little is known about the quality of their fossil record. Similarly, only a few works based on specific time intervals have attempted to i...

Owing to their great diversity and abundance, ammonites and belemnites represented key elements in Mesozoic food webs. Because of their extreme ontogenetic size increase by up to three orders of magnitude, their position in the food webs likely changed during ontogeny. Here, we reconstruct the number of eggs laid by large adult females of these cephalopods and discuss developmental shifts in th...

Two new earwigs (Dermaptera) recently discovered in mid-Cretaceous (latest Albian) amber from Myanmar are described and figured. Astreptolabis ethirosomatiagen. et sp. n. is represented by a peculiar pygidicranoid female, assigned to a new subfamily, Astreptolabidinaesubfam. n., and differs from other protodermapterans in the structure of the head, pronotum, tegmina, and cercal forceps. Tytthod...

Despite their profound adaptations to the aquatic realm and their apparent success throughout the Triassic and the Jurassic, ichthyosaurs became extinct roughly 30 million years before the end-Cretaceous mass extinction. Current hypotheses for this early demise involve relatively minor biotic events, but are at odds with recent understanding of the ichthyosaur fossil record. Here, we show that ...