Brain endocasts obtained from computed tomography (CT) are now widely used in the field of comparative neuroanatomy. They provide an overview of the morphology of the brain and associated tissues located in the cranial cavity. Through anatomical comparisons between species, insights on the senses, the behavior, and the lifestyle can be gained. Although there are many studies dealing with mammal and bird endocasts, those performed on the brain endocasts of squamates are comparatively rare, thus limiting our understanding of their morphological variability and interpretations. Here, we provide the first comparative study of snake brain endocasts in order to bring new information about the morphology of these structures. Additionally, we test if the snake brain endocast encompasses a phylogenetic and/or an ecological signal. For this purpose, the digital endocasts of 45 snake specimens, including a wide diversity in terms of phylogeny and ecology, were digitized using CT, and compared both qualitatively and quantitatively. Snake endocasts exhibit a great variability. The different methods performed from descriptive characters, linear measurements and the outline curves provided complementary information. All these methods have shown that the shape of the snake brain endocast contains, as in mammals and birds, a phylogenetic signal but also an ecological one. Although phylogenetically related taxa share several similarities between each other, the brain endocast morphology reflects some notable ecological trends: e.g. (i) fossorial species possess both reduced optic tectum and pituitary gland; (ii) both fossorial and marine species have cerebral hemispheres poorly developed laterally; (iii) cerebral hemispheres and optic tectum are more developed in arboreal and terrestrial species.

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Turonian deposits of the Goulmima area, Er-Rachidia Province in Southern Morocco, have yielded a diverse marine vertebrate fauna, including chondrichthyans, bony fishes and large marine reptiles such as plesiosaurians, mosasauroids and turtles. These fossils are included in ovoid calcareous nodules that are difficult to prepare. Moreover, bones may be partially or totally dissolved, making their study difficult. Using computed tomography, we have reconstructed the entire skull anatomy of SMNS 81783, one of the rare plesiosaurian specimens found in this locality and more generally in Africa. The digital 3D reconstruction of the skull and mandible offers for the first time the possibility to exhaustively describe this specimen. The new anatomical characters recorded confirm that the SMNS 81783 belongs to Elasmosauridae on the basis of: (1) slender triangular skull; (2) a beak index equal to 42%; (3) temporal fossa estimated to occupy about 40% of the skull length; (4) long process of the premaxillae extending posteriorly to meet the parietal above the orbit and separating the frontals; (5) margin of the temporal fenestra lacking obvious contribution from the frontal. A preliminary phylogenetic analysis confirms its elasmosaurid affinity. The relationships between SMNS 81783, Libonectes atlasense and Libonectes morgani, as well as the presence of stapes and pineal foramen are discussed.

Vertebrate endocasts are widely used in the fields of paleoneurology and comparative neuroanatomy. The validity of endocranial studies is dependent upon the extent to which an endocast reflects brain morphology. Due to the variable neuroanatomical resolution of vertebrate endocasts, direct information about the brain morphology can be sometimes difficult to assess and needs to be investigated across lineages. Here, we employ X‐ray computed tomography (CT), including diffusible iodine‐based contrast‐enhanced CT, to qualitatively compare brains and endocasts in different species of squamates. The relative position of the squamate brain within the skull, as well as the variability that may exist in such spatial relationships, was examined to help clarify the neurological regions evidence on their endocasts. Our results indicate that squamate endocasts provide variable representation of the brain, depending on species and neuroanatomical regions. The olfactory bulbs and peduncles, cerebral hemispheres, as well as the medulla oblongata represent the most easily discernable brain regions from squamate endocasts. In contrast, the position of the optic lobes, the ventral diencephalon and the pituitary may be difficult to determine depending on species. Finally, squamate endocasts provide very limited or no information about the cerebellum. The spatial relationships revealed here between the brain and the surrounding bones may help to identify each of the endocranial region. However, as one‐to‐one correspondences between a bone and a specific region appear limited, the exact delimitation of these regions may remain challenging according to species. This study provides a basis for further examination and interpretation of squamate endocast disparity.

The Posidonien-schiefer Formation (Toarcian) of Holzmaden, Baden-Württemberg in southwestern Germany has yielded several excellently preserved plesiosaurian specimens and received considerable research attention. The plesiosaurians found within these deposits are always significantly outnumbered by ichthyosaurs and close examination of these rare specimens is crucial to a better understanding of the diversity and palaeoecology of Plesiosauria in this very peculiar ecosystem. The plesiosaurian specimen SMNS 51945 found in this area is a juvenile individual consisting of a partial, crushed skull and an exquisitely preserved postcranial skeleton. Its anatomical characters seem to differ from the long-necked 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 2 plesiosauroids Microcleidus brachypterygius and Seeleyosaurus guilelmiimperatoris that are the most abundant taxa within the plesiosaurian assemblage. However, the juvenile status of this specimen makes comparisons with other taxa problematic and features potentially less influenced by the ontogenetic status will be discussed in term of taxonomic utility. The postcranial skeleton also contains gastroliths and very likely soft tissues around the vertebral column and hindlimb of the animal, which could provide new insights into the palaeoecology and palaeobiology of plesiosaurians.Manuscript Click here to download Manuscript MSVincentetal Science of Nature.doc Click here to view linked References

Despite recent advances in non-invasive imaging, Plesiosauria remains one of the least explored clade of reptiles with respect to palaeoneuroanatomy. Only partial endocasts, obtained from either latex casts or imprints left on the braincase, have been described so far. In this contribution, the digital endocasts of three plesiosaurian specimens were analysed: two referred to the Elasmosauridae Libonectes morgani and one undetermined Polycotylidae, all from the Late Cretaceous (Turonian) of Goulmima (Morocco). They were CT-scan generated in order to provide new anatomical information on the plesiosaurian endocast, endosseous labyrinth and cranial nerves. Results show that the three endocasts are very similar to each other. They appear anteroposteriorly elongated and horizontally oriented in lateral view, with long olfactory tracts, relatively small and incomplete olfactory bulbs, a reduced pineal organ, distinguishable optic lobes, and a possible large cerebellum constituting the main component in size of the endocast. The endocranial features reconstructed here are compared to those of other plesiosaurians, as well as other marine reptiles, notably to discuss their intraspecific and interspecific variability. This study provides pioneer data in order to estimate the impact of both phylogenetical and ecological constraints on the endocranial morphology of plesiosaurians and proposes a few preliminary paleobiological suggestions.

Landmark‐based geometric morphometrics is widely used to study the morphology of the endocast, or internal mold of the braincase, and the diversity associated with this structure across vertebrates. Landmarks, as the basic unit of such methods, are intended to be points of correspondence, selected depending on the question at hand, whose proper definition is essential to guarantee robustness and reproducibility of results. In this study, 20 landmarks are defined to provide a framework to analyze the morphological variability in squamate endocasts. Ten species representing a cross‐section of the diversity of Squamata from both phylogenetic and ecological (i.e., habitat) perspectives were considered, to select landmarks replicable throughout the entire clade, regardless of the degree of neuroanatomical resolution of the endocast. To assess the precision, accuracy, and repeatability of these newly defined landmarks, both intraobserver and interobserver error were investigated. Estimates of measurement error show that most of the landmarks established here are highly replicable, and preliminary results suggest that they capture aspects of endocast shape related to both phylogenetic and ecologic signals. This study provides a basis for further examinations of squamate endocast disparity using landmark‐based geometric morphometrics.

Icacinaceae are well represented in the modern tropical flora of East Asia, but this family has no confirmed macrofossils from this region. Most of the unambiguous fossils (e.g., endocarps) are from the Paleogene of North America and Europe, where the family is no longer present. Here we report a fossil endocarp of the liana genus Iodes from the Oligocene Wenshan flora, southwestern China. The fossil is relatively large (ca. 20 mm length, 11 mm width) and documents a vascular bundle inside the endocarp wall, a pattern of ridges enclosing few areoles, and an asymmetrical apex and rounded base. On the basis of these characteristics, we described a new species, Iodes elliptica, which represents the first Icacinaceae fruit fossil record from Asia. This fossil, consistent with recent reports of Iodes pollen from the Eocene of Hainan, indicates a long-standing presence of the genus in SE Asia, dating back to the Paleogene. Based on the climatic data of modern Iodes, and other fossil occurrences from Wenshan, we hypothesize that the climate in the region was subtropical during the Oligocene, supporting a rainforest, with an overall mixed regional flora of subtropical and tropical elements.