WITHDRAWN: A maned theropod dinosaur from Gondwana with elaborate integumentary structures

Digging deeper into colonial palaeontological practices in modern day Mexico and Brazil

“…The specimen was collected and removed from Brazil after 1990, so in accordance with Brazilian law, the work should have been conducted through a partnership with a Brazilian institution, and the specimen should have been accompanied by a permit from MCTI. The in press article appeared in the journal Cretaceous Research, but was temporarily removed two weeks later by the editor [ 26 ], pending an investigation. This attracted considerable media attention.…”

“…This includes material currently housed in museum collections which lack detailed field collecting records, and/or which provenance cannot be definitively ascertained with certainty’ [ 254 ]. This journal, however, notoriously continues to publish numerous fossils of highly questionable origin from regions such as Araripe [ 255 – 258 ] including ‘ U. jubatus ’ [ 26 ], finally removed after complaints from other researchers and social media pressure. Cretaceous Research also continues to publish articles on amber from Myanmar (54 publications as of October 2021), despite many other palaeontology journals placing restrictions on the publication of this material for ethical and legal reasons [ 130 – 132 ] (see discussion in §5).…”

“…Several published fossils lack contextual geographical and geological information, while many important specimens are in private or foreign collections, where they can be difficult to access. Recent publications describing new fossil species such as the plesiosaur Mauriciosaurus fernandezi [ 25 ] ( figure 1 e ) and the shark Aquilolamna milarcae [ 32 ] ( figure 1 f ) from the Agua Nueva Formation (Sabinas Basin), Mexico as well as the snake-like reptile Tetrapodophis amplectus [ 27 ] ( figure 2 f ) and the dinosaur ‘ Ubirajara jubatus ’ [ 26 ] ( figure 2 a ) both from the Crato Formation (Araripe Basin) Brazil, have raised a number of questions involving ethics, legal issues and scientific reproducibility. In this study, we present and discuss the academic and social impact of the research published during 1990–2021 that represents examples of scientific colonialism in Brazil and Mexico ( box 1 ).…”

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Figure 2Holotype vertebrate fossils from Araripe Basin, Brazil, stored in foreign collections. ( a ) SMNK PAL 29241, proposed holotype skeleton of the feathered dinosaur ‘ Ubirajara jubatus ’ [26], (publication retracted by publisher), ( b ) SMNK PAL 3828, holotype of the pterosaur Ludodactylus sibbicki [28], ( c ) SMNK 2344 PAL holotype of the pterosaur Tupandactylus navigans [95], ( d ) SMNS 58022 holotype of the dinosaur Irritator challengeri [30] ( e ) SMNK PAL 3804, holotype of the crocodyliform Susisuchus anatoceps [96], ( f ) private collection BMMS BK 2-2, holotype of the putative legged-snake Tetrapodophis amplectus [27], currently interpreted as an aquatic lizard [33], photograph by Michael Caldwell. Abbreviations: SMNK, State Museum of Natural History Karlsruhe, Germany; SMNS, State Museum of Natural History Stuttgart.

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Investigações Brasileiras Em Busca De Tecidos Moles Preservados Em Fósseis

“…Desde 2006, por exemplo, o paleogeoquímico e paleobotânico Ricardo Pereira, do Departamento de Geologia da Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, e o paleontólogo Ismar de Souza Carvalho, do Instituto de Geociências da Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, e colaboradores, têm conduzido pesquisas de caracterização geoquímica e molecular de folhelho, âmbares e vegetais fossilizados de Bacias Sedimentares do Nordeste do Brasil, utilizando técnicas analíticas diversas, tais como cromatografia gasosa convencional e bidimensional acopladas à espectrometria de massas quadrupolar, e espectrometria de massas de razão isotópica(PEREIRA et al, 2006;2009a;2009b;2011a;2011b;. Os grupos de compostos orgânicos encontrados nas amostras têm possibilitado identificar taxonomicamente distintos grupos de plantas.É válido mencionar que nesta breve perspectiva não estou considerando nem mesmo aqueles fósseis de diversos táxons brasileiros traficados para fora do país, que poderiam render inúmeras pesquisas brasileiras, nos quais os pesquisadores estrangeiros que os estudaram descobriram múltiplos achados de tecidos moles do tipo mineralizados e não mineralizados(MARTILL, 1989;MARTILL;UNWIN, 1989;FREY; TISCHLINGER, 2000; FREY et al, 2003;VINTHER et al, 2008;SMYTH et al, 2020).Em 2016, outro grupo de pesquisa coordenado pela tafônoma Mirian Forancelli Pacheco, do Departamento de Biologia da Universidade Federal de São Carlos (Campus Sorocaba), coordenou uma investigação paleométrica utilizando diversas técnicas complementares a fim de entender a preservação de tecidos moles mineralizados e lábeis em insetos fósseis. Os resultados da pesquisa sugeriram que biofilmes bacterianos auxiliaram em sua decomposição e preservação(OSÉSet al, 2016).…”