The sphenodontian fossil record in South America is well known from Mesozoic and Paleogene deposits of Argentinean Patagonia, mainly represented by opisthodontians, or taxa closely related to the modern Sphenodon. In contrast, the Brazilian fossil record is restricted to the Caturrita Formation, Late Triassic of Rio Grande do Sul, represented by several specimens of Clevosauridae, including Cle...

Here we report on angiosperm-like pollen and Afropollis from the Anisian (Middle Triassic, 247.2-242.0 Ma) of a mid-latitudinal site in Northern Switzerland. Small monosulcate pollen grains with typical reticulate (semitectate) sculpture, columellate structure of the sexine and thin nexine show close similarities to early angiosperm pollen known from the Early Cretaceous. However, they differ i...

The first abundant, well-preserved fossils of the unusual archosauromorph reptile Trilophosaurus jacobsi Murry are from an Upper Triassic bonebed in the lower-most Trujillo Formation of the Chinle Group in Borden County, Texas. A nearly complete left side of the skull and incomplete but articulated mandible of a juvenile individual demonstrate that Trilophosaurus jacobsi Murry is referable to T...

The poorly understood Triassic reptile Drepanosaurus is known for its excessively large claws. New discoveries demonstrate a remarkable modification of the bones in the wrist and forearm, a significant departure from the typical five-digit tetrapod limb.

rhaetian strata from the nayband formation of the tabas block, east- central iran, were studied palynologically. the materialexamined contained moderately diverse and well-preserved dinoflagellate cyst assemblages which lead to the identification ofrhaetogonyaulax rhaetica zone. the assigned age of this dinozone (rhaetian) is justified by plant fossils such as equisetitesarenaceus, scytophyllum...

The Triassic was a time of turmoil, as life recovered from near-annihilation. Archosauromorph reptiles flourished and diversified as they filled empty ecological niches, and some of them presaged later dinosaurian inventions, such as thickened skull roofs.

Belmophenopterum rasnitsyni sp. n. is described from the Middle Triassic Madygen locality in Kyrgyzstan. It latest record of genus Rasnitsyn et Aristov, 2004. The Permian Sylviodes Martynov, 1940 and Permian-Triassic are transferred family Sylvaphlebiidae (Reculida) to Mesorthopteridae (Eoblattida).

Polyploidy (or whole-genome doubling) is a key mechanism for plant speciation leading to new evolutionary lineages. Several lines of evidence show that most species among flowering plants had polyploidy ancestry, but it is virtually unknown for conifers. Here, we study variability in pollen tetrad morphology and the size of the conifer pollen type Classopollis extracted from sediments of the Tr...