Continental fossil vertebrates from the mid-Cretaceous (Albian–Cenomanian) Alcântara Formation, Brazil, and their relationship with contemporaneous faunas from North Africa

A new sauropod dinosaur from the Early Cretaceous of Tunisia with extreme avian-like pneumatization

“…On one side, mid-Cretaceous paralic ecosystems of the peri-Mediterranean area are represented by a rich and diversified fauna indicative of extremely productive biota with significant peaks in biodiversity observed in shallow marine and brackish taxa (including crocodilians) 15,31,32 . At the same time, some of the largest known terrestrial vertebrates, and in particular theropod and sauropod dinosaurs, have been found at the very margin of these ecosystems in an increasing number of localities 2,9,33-37 supporting adaptation of terrestrial taxa to extreme, xeric and poorly vegetated environments.…”

Vicariance and dispersal in southern hemisphere freshwater fish clades: a palaeontological perspective

“…Fragmentary polypterid remains from the Maastrichtian and Paleocene of Bolivia reveal a more widespread distribution of this group in the past (Gayet et al ., ). Undescribed polypterid material from the Albian–Cenomanian Alcântara Formation of Brazil (Candeiro et al ., ) suggests polypterid presence in South America pre‐dating South America–Africa breakup. However, the lack of a phylogenetic framework for fragmentary fossil polypterids precludes a reliable reconstruction of their biogeographic history.…”

The “Continental Intercalaire” of southern Tunisia: Stratigraphy, paleontology, and paleoecology

“…Pleurodiran chelonids have been also reported from coeval deposits of Libya (Cabao Formation, El-Zouki, 1980;Le Loeuff et al, 2010;Rubino et al, 2010) and from the Gadofaoua site in Niger (Broin, 1980;Rauhut and Lòpez-Arbarello, 2009). Similarly, indeterminate pleurodiran remains have been reported from the Early Cretaceous of northern Brazil (Candeiro et al, 2011), whereas Cenomanian representatives of four groups of Pleomedusoides have been recognized in the Kem Kem beds of Morocco (see Torices et al, in press). In the study area, turtles remains are more frequent in clay-dominated beds, where shell fragments, vertebras, and other postcranial elements are found.…”

“…Sarcopterygian remains are represented by cranial elements (parietals and postparietals fragments) and a small tooth plate referred to the coelacanthiform Mawsonia ( Fig. 7S and T), a genus known from Early and mid-Cretaceous beds of Brazil, Egypt, Algeria, Morocco, Niger, and Democratic Republic of Congo (Maisey, 2000;Churcher and De Iuliis, 2001;Grandstaff et al, 2002;Yoshitaka, 2002;Carvalho and Maisey, 2008;Candeiro et al, 2011). Mawsonia has been previously reported from the Chenini beds of southern Tunisia (Benton et al, 2000) and Libya (Le Loeuff et al, …”