A new species, Goniopholis kiplingi sp. nov., based on an exceptionally preserved skull from the Lower Cretaceous of England is described in detail. It shows great similarity with Goniopholis simus and Goniopholis baryglyphaeus, but can be distinguished by the presence of longer lachrymals, smooth (not edged) dorsal surface of the quadrate, and proportionally longer rostrum. A comprehensive phylogenetic analysis of Mesoeucrocodylia (104 taxa; 486 characters) focused on goniopholidids (14 species) places G. kiplingi as sister‐group of G. simus, and as part of a monophyletic group also containing G. baryglyphaeus. The relationships of Nannosuchus gracilidens and three undescribed European taxa are explored, and preliminary analyses of Denazinosuchus kirtlandicus (Upper Cretaceous, USA) and ‘Goniopholis’ phuwiangensis (Lower Cretaceous, Thailand) are presented. The assignment of taxa to the genus Goniopholis is discussed. Goniopholis, in its traditional sense, is considered paraphyletic and a restricted updated definition is proposed, with comments on the evolution of other goniopholidids. Morphological characteristics of fragmentary material attributed to Goniopholis are not considered sufficient to secure their generic/specific assignment, and provide no support for the presence of Goniopholis in Gondwanan and/or Upper Cretaceous sedimentary units. Currently Goniopholis is restricted to the Upper Jurassic−Lower Cretaceous of Europe. © 2011 The Linnean Society of London, Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2011, 163, S66–S108.

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Abstract:The Jurassic was an important period in the evolution of Testudinata and encompasses the origin of many clades, and this is especially true of Jurassic turtles from Western Europe. A new genus and species of Late Jurassic turtle, Hispaniachelys prebetica gen. et sp. nov. from the upper Oxfordian of the Prebetic (Southern Spain), is described on the basis of postcranial material. The specimen is the only known tetrapod from the Mesozoic of the Prebetic and the oldest turtle from southern Europe. A mosaic of characters indicates this is a new genus: it displays basal features including dorsal epiplastral processes ⁄ reduced cleithra, no medial contact of the extragulars and a long first thoracic rib, alongside derived characters including an absence of mesoplastra and the vertebral 3 ⁄ 4 sulcus crossing neural 5. The phylogenetic position of the new taxon is hard to resolve, and it might be either a paracryptodire or a basal testudine, but it is distinct from Plesiochelys. A complex taphonomic history is shown by a range of overlying grazing traces and bioerosion on the carapace. The carapace was subsequently overturned and buried ventrally up, terminating grazing activity, and was then bored by sponges before final burial. Scanning electron microscopy reveals phosphatic microspheroids associated with bacterial decay in the vascular cavities of the cancellous bone, suggesting the carapace may have acted as a closed microenvironment in which decay-derived authigenic minerals formed.

Coprolites can provide detailed information about the nutritional habits and digestive processes of the animals that produced them and may also yield information about the palaeoenvironment in which the animal existed. To test the utility of the lipid biomarker approach to coprolite analysis, lipids were extracted from a coprolite of the Pleistocene ground sloth Nothrotheriops shastensis. Gas chromatography/mass spectrometry results revealed a dominant spiroketal sapogenin component identified, using nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, as epismilagenin. The dominance of epismilagenin is probably due to ingestion of Yucca spp. and Agave spp., which is consistent with previous studies on the diet of this species.

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