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Longrich NR, Pereda-Suberbiola X, Bardet N, Jalil NE. A new small duckbilled dinosaur (Hadrosauridae: Lambeosaurinae) from Morocco and dinosaur diversity in the late Maastrichtian of North Africa. Sci Rep 2024; 14:3665. [PMID: 38351204 PMCID: PMC10864364 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-53447-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/14/2023] [Accepted: 01/31/2024] [Indexed: 02/16/2024] Open
Abstract
In the Late Cretaceous, northern and southern hemispheres evolved distinct dinosaurian faunas. Titanosaurians and abelisaurids dominated the Gondwanan continents; hadrosaurids, ceratopsians and tyrannosaurs dominated North America and Asia. Recently, a lambeosaurine hadrosaurid, Ajnabia odysseus, was reported from the late Maastrichtian phosphates of the Oulad Abdoun Basin Morocco, suggesting dispersal between Laurasia and Gondwana. Here we report new fossils from the phosphates of Morocco showing lambeosaurines achieved high diversity in the late Maastrichtian of North Africa. A skull represents a new dwarf lambeosaurine, Minqaria bata. Minqaria resembles Ajnabia odysseus in size, but differs in the ventrally positioned jugal facet and sinusoidal toothrow. The animal is small, ~ 3.5 m long, but the fused braincase shows it was mature. A humerus and a femur belong to larger hadrosaurids, ~ 6 m long, implying at least three species coexisted. The diversity of hadrosaurids in Europe and Africa suggests a dispersal-driven radiation, with lambeosaurines diversifying to take advantage of low ornithischian diversity. African lambeosaurines are small compared to North American and Asia hadrosaurids however, perhaps due to competition with titanosaurians. Hadrosaurids are unknown from eastern Africa, suggesting Moroccan hadrosaurids may be part of a distinct insular fauna, and represent an island radiation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nicholas R Longrich
- Department of Biology and Biochemistry and Milner Centre for Evolution, University of Bath, Bath, BA2 7AY, UK.
| | - Xabier Pereda-Suberbiola
- Departamento de Geología, Facultad de Ciencia y Tecnología, Universidad del País Vasco/Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea, Apartado 644, 48080, Bilbao, Spain
| | - Nathalie Bardet
- CR2P, Centre de Recherche en Paléontologie-Paris, CNRS-MNHN-Sorbonne Université, Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, CP38, 57 rue Cuvier, 75005, Paris, France
| | - Nour-Eddine Jalil
- CR2P, Centre de Recherche en Paléontologie-Paris, CNRS-MNHN-Sorbonne Université, Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, CP38, 57 rue Cuvier, 75005, Paris, France
- Museum of Marrakech (Museum of Natural History of Marrakesh, Univ. Cadi Ayyad), Marrakesh, Morocco
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Fischer V, Bennion RF, Foffa D, MacLaren JA, McCurry MR, Melstrom KM, Bardet N. Ecological signal in the size and shape of marine amniote teeth. Proc Biol Sci 2022; 289:20221214. [PMID: 36100016 PMCID: PMC9470252 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2022.1214] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/23/2022] [Accepted: 08/23/2022] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Amniotes have been a major component of marine trophic chains from the beginning of the Triassic to present day, with hundreds of species. However, inferences of their (palaeo)ecology have mostly been qualitative, making it difficult to track how dietary niches have changed through time and across clades. Here, we tackle this issue by applying a novel geometric morphometric protocol to three-dimensional models of tooth crowns across a wide range of raptorial marine amniotes. Our results highlight the phenomenon of dental simplification and widespread convergence in marine amniotes, limiting the range of tooth crown morphologies. Importantly, we quantitatively demonstrate that tooth crown shape and size are strongly associated with diet, whereas crown surface complexity is not. The maximal range of tooth shapes in both mammals and reptiles is seen in medium-sized taxa; large crowns are simple and restricted to a fraction of the morphospace. We recognize four principal raptorial guilds within toothed marine amniotes (durophages, generalists, flesh cutters and flesh piercers). Moreover, even though all these feeding guilds have been convergently colonized over the last 200 Myr, a series of dental morphologies are unique to the Mesozoic period, probably reflecting a distinct ecosystem structure.
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Affiliation(s)
- Valentin Fischer
- Evolution and Diversity Dynamics Lab, Université de Liège, Liège 4000, Belgium
| | - Rebecca F. Bennion
- Evolution and Diversity Dynamics Lab, Université de Liège, Liège 4000, Belgium
- Palaeobiosphere Evolution, Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, Brussels, Belgium
| | - Davide Foffa
- Department of Natural Sciences, National Museums Scotland, Edinburgh EH1 1JF, UK
- School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Birmingham, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK
- Department of Geosciences, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA 24061, USA
| | - Jamie A. MacLaren
- Evolution and Diversity Dynamics Lab, Université de Liège, Liège 4000, Belgium
- Functional Morphology Lab, Department of Biology, Universiteit Antwerpen, Antwerpen 2610, Belgium
| | - Matthew R. McCurry
- Australian Museum Research Institute, Sydney, New South Wales 2010, Australia
- Earth and Sustainability Science Research Centre, School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences (BEES), University of New South Wales, Kensington, New South Wales 2052, Australia
- Paleobiology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC 20560, USA
| | - Keegan M. Melstrom
- Engineering and Science Division, Rose State College, Midwest City, OK 73110, USA
- Dinosaur Institute, Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, Los Angeles, CA 90007, USA
| | - Nathalie Bardet
- CR2P, Centre de Recherche en Paléontologie–Paris, CNRS-MNHN-SU, Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris 75005, France
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MacLaren JA, Bennion RF, Bardet N, Fischer V. Global ecomorphological restructuring of dominant marine reptiles prior to the Cretaceous-Palaeogene mass extinction. Proc Biol Sci 2022; 289:20220585. [PMID: 35611532 PMCID: PMC9130788 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2022.0585] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/04/2023] Open
Abstract
Mosasaurid squamates were the dominant amniote predators in marine ecosystems during most of the Late Cretaceous. Here, we use a suite of biomechanically rooted, functionally descriptive ratios in a framework adapted from population ecology to investigate how the morphofunctional disparity of mosasaurids evolved prior to the Cretaceous-Palaeogene (K/Pg) mass extinction. Our results suggest that taxonomic turnover in mosasaurid community composition from Campanian to Maastrichtian is reflected by a notable global increase in morphofunctional disparity, especially driving the North American record. Ecomorphospace occupation becomes polarized during the Late Maastrichtian, with morphofunctional disparity plateauing in the Southern Hemisphere and decreasing in the Northern Hemisphere. We show that these changes are not strongly associated with mosasaurid size, but rather with the functional capacities of their skulls. Our novel approach indicates that mosasaurid morphofunctional disparity was in decline in multiple provincial communities before the K/Pg mass extinction, highlighting region-specific patterns of disparity evolution and the importance of assessing vertebrate extinctions both globally and locally. Ecomorphological differentiation in mosasaurid communities, coupled with declines in other formerly abundant marine reptile groups, indicates widespread restructuring of higher trophic levels in marine food webs was well underway when the K/Pg mass extinction took place.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jamie A. MacLaren
- Evolution and Diversity Dynamics Lab, UR Geology, Université de Liège, 14 Allée du 6 Août, Liège 4000, Belgium,Functional Morphology Lab, Department of Biology, Universiteit Antwerpen, Gebouw D, Campus Drie Eiken, Universiteitsplein 1, Wilrijk, Antwerpen 2610, Belgium
| | - Rebecca F. Bennion
- Evolution and Diversity Dynamics Lab, UR Geology, Université de Liège, 14 Allée du 6 Août, Liège 4000, Belgium,O.D Terre et Histoire de la Vie, Institut Royal des Sciences Naturelles de Belgique, Rue Vautier 29, Brussels 1000, Belgium
| | - Nathalie Bardet
- CR2P – Centre de Recherche en Paléontologie de Paris, UMR 7207 CNRS-MNHN-SU, Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, 57 Rue Cuvier, CP38, Paris 75005, France
| | - Valentin Fischer
- Evolution and Diversity Dynamics Lab, UR Geology, Université de Liège, 14 Allée du 6 Août, Liège 4000, Belgium
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Fischer V, Benson RBJ, Druckenmiller PS, Ketchum HF, Bardet N. The evolutionary history of polycotylid plesiosaurians. R Soc Open Sci 2018; 5:172177. [PMID: 29657811 PMCID: PMC5882735 DOI: 10.1098/rsos.172177] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/11/2017] [Accepted: 02/13/2018] [Indexed: 05/31/2023]
Abstract
Polycotylidae is a clade of plesiosaurians that appeared during the Early Cretaceous and became speciose and abundant early in the Late Cretaceous. However, this radiation is poorly understood. Thililua longicollis from the Middle Turonian of Morocco is an enigmatic taxon possessing an atypically long neck and, as originally reported, a series of unusual cranial features that cause unstable phylogenetic relationships for polycotylids. We reinterpret the holotype specimen of Thililua longicollis and clarify its cranial anatomy. Thililua longicollis possesses an extensive, foramina-bearing jugal, a premaxilla-parietal contact and carinated teeth. Phylogenetic analyses of a new cladistic dataset based on first-hand observation of most polycotylids recover Thililua and Mauriciosaurus as successive lineages at the base of the earliest Late Cretaceous polycotyline radiation. A new dataset summarizing the Bauplan of polycotylids reveals that their radiation produced an early burst of disparity during the Cenomanian-Turonian interval, with marked plasticity in relative neck length, but this did not arise as an ecological release following the extinction of ichthyosaurs and pliosaurids. This disparity vanished during and after the Turonian, which is consistent with a model of 'early experimentation/late constraint'. Two polycotylid clades, Occultonectia clade nov. and Polycotylinae, survived up to the Maastrichtian, but with low diversity.
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Affiliation(s)
- V. Fischer
- Department of Geology, Université de Liège, 14 allée du 6 Août, Liège 4000, Belgium
| | - R. B. J. Benson
- Department of Earth Sciences, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3AN, UK
| | - P. S. Druckenmiller
- University of Alaska Museum and Department of Geosciences, University of Alaska Fairbanks, 1962 Yukon Drive, Fairbanks, AK 99775, USA
| | - H. F. Ketchum
- Oxford University Museum of Natural History, Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3PW, UK
| | - N. Bardet
- CR2P CNRS-MNHN-UPMC Paris 6, Département Origines et Evolution, Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, CP 38, 57 rue Cuvier, 75005 Paris, France
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Allemand R, Boistel R, Daghfous G, Blanchet Z, Cornette R, Bardet N, Vincent P, Houssaye A. Comparative morphology of snake (Squamata) endocasts: evidence of phylogenetic and ecological signals. J Anat 2017; 231:849-868. [PMID: 28960295 DOI: 10.1111/joa.12692] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 08/14/2017] [Indexed: 12/22/2022] Open
Abstract
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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Affiliation(s)
- Rémi Allemand
- Centre de Recherche sur la Paléobiodiversité et les Paléoenvironnements, CR2P - UMR 7207 - CNRS, MNHN, UPMC, Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Sorbonne Universités, Paris, France.,Département Adaptations du Vivant, UMR 7179 - CNRS/Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris, France
| | - Renaud Boistel
- IPHEP-UMR CNRS 6046, UFR SFA, Université de Poitiers, Poitiers, France
| | - Gheylen Daghfous
- Groupe de Recherche sur le Système Nerveux Central, Département de Neurosciences, Université de Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada
| | - Zoé Blanchet
- Département Adaptations du Vivant, UMR 7179 - CNRS/Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris, France
| | - Raphaël Cornette
- Institut de Systématique, Evolution, Biodiversité, ISYEB - UMR 7205 - CNRS, MNHN, UPMC, EPHE, Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Sorbonne Universités, Paris, France
| | - Nathalie Bardet
- Centre de Recherche sur la Paléobiodiversité et les Paléoenvironnements, CR2P - UMR 7207 - CNRS, MNHN, UPMC, Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Sorbonne Universités, Paris, France
| | - Peggy Vincent
- Centre de Recherche sur la Paléobiodiversité et les Paléoenvironnements, CR2P - UMR 7207 - CNRS, MNHN, UPMC, Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Sorbonne Universités, Paris, France
| | - Alexandra Houssaye
- Département Adaptations du Vivant, UMR 7179 - CNRS/Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris, France
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Vullo R, Cavin L, Khalloufi B, Amaghzaz M, Bardet N, Jalil NE, Jourani E, Khaldoune F, Gheerbrant E. A unique Cretaceous-Paleogene lineage of piranha-jawed pycnodont fishes. Sci Rep 2017; 7:6802. [PMID: 28754956 PMCID: PMC5533729 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-017-06792-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/17/2017] [Accepted: 06/16/2017] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
The extinct group of the Pycnodontiformes is one of the most characteristic components of the Mesozoic and early Cenozoic fish faunas. These ray-finned fishes, which underwent an explosive morphological diversification during the Late Cretaceous, are generally regarded as typical shell-crushers. Here we report unusual cutting-type dentitions from the Paleogene of Morocco which are assigned to a new genus of highly specialized pycnodont fish. This peculiar taxon represents the last member of a new, previously undetected 40-million-year lineage (Serrasalmimidae fam. nov., including two other new genera and Polygyrodus White, 1927) ranging back to the early Late Cretaceous and leading to exclusively carnivorous predatory forms, unique and unexpected among pycnodonts. Our discovery indicates that latest Cretaceous-earliest Paleogene pycnodonts occupied more diverse trophic niches than previously thought, taking advantage of the apparition of new prey types in the changing marine ecosystems of this time interval. The evolutionary sequence of trophic specialization characterizing this new group of pycnodontiforms is strikingly similar to that observed within serrasalmid characiforms, from seed- and fruit-eating pacus to flesh-eating piranhas.
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Affiliation(s)
- Romain Vullo
- Géosciences Rennes, UMR CNRS 6118, Université de Rennes 1, 35042, Rennes, France.
| | - Lionel Cavin
- Département de Géologie et Paléontologie, Muséum d'Histoire Naturelle de Genève, CP 6434, 1211 Geneva 6, Switzerland
| | - Bouziane Khalloufi
- ISYEB - Institut de Systématique, Evolution, Biodiversité, UMR 7205 Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, CNRS, EPHE, UPMC, Sorbonne Universités. MNHN, CP38, 75005, Paris, France
| | - Mbarek Amaghzaz
- OCP Group SA, Avenue Hassan II, BP 168, 25010, Khouribga, Morocco
| | - Nathalie Bardet
- CR2P - Centre de Recherche sur la Paléobiodiversité et les Paléoenvironnements, UMR 7207, Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, CNRS, UPMC, Sorbonne Universités. MNHN, CP38, 75005, Paris, France
| | - Nour-Eddine Jalil
- CR2P - Centre de Recherche sur la Paléobiodiversité et les Paléoenvironnements, UMR 7207, Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, CNRS, UPMC, Sorbonne Universités. MNHN, CP38, 75005, Paris, France
| | - Essaid Jourani
- OCP Group SA, Avenue Hassan II, BP 168, 25010, Khouribga, Morocco
| | - Fatima Khaldoune
- OCP Group SA, Avenue Hassan II, BP 168, 25010, Khouribga, Morocco
| | - Emmanuel Gheerbrant
- CR2P - Centre de Recherche sur la Paléobiodiversité et les Paléoenvironnements, UMR 7207, Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, CNRS, UPMC, Sorbonne Universités. MNHN, CP38, 75005, Paris, France
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Martin JE, Vincent P, Tacail T, Khaldoune F, Jourani E, Bardet N, Balter V. Calcium Isotopic Evidence for Vulnerable Marine Ecosystem Structure Prior to the K/Pg Extinction. Curr Biol 2017; 27:1641-1644.e2. [PMID: 28552352 DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2017.04.043] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/01/2017] [Revised: 04/06/2017] [Accepted: 04/20/2017] [Indexed: 12/14/2022]
Abstract
The collapse of marine ecosystems during the end-Cretaceous mass extinction involved the base of the food chain [1] up to ubiquitous vertebrate apex predators [2-5]. Large marine reptiles became suddenly extinct at the Cretaceous-Paleogene (K/Pg) boundary, whereas other contemporaneous groups such as bothremydid turtles or dyrosaurid crocodylomorphs, although affected at the familial, genus, or species level, survived into post-crisis environments of the Paleocene [5-9] and could have found refuge in freshwater habitats [10-12]. A recent hypothesis proposes that the extinction of plesiosaurians and mosasaurids could have been caused by an important drop in sea level [13]. Mosasaurids are unusually diverse and locally abundant in the Maastrichtian phosphatic deposits of Morocco, and with large sharks and one species of elasmosaurid plesiosaurian recognized so far, contribute to an overabundance of apex predators [3, 7, 14, 15]. For this reason, high local diversity of marine reptiles exhibiting different body masses and a wealth of tooth morphologies hints at complex trophic interactions within this latest Cretaceous marine ecosystem. Using calcium isotopes, we investigated the trophic structure of this extinct assemblage. Our results are consistent with a calcium isotope pattern observed in modern marine ecosystems and show that plesiosaurians and mosasaurids indiscriminately fall in the tertiary piscivore group. This suggests that marine reptile apex predators relied onto a single dietary calcium source, compatible with the vulnerable wasp-waist food webs of the modern world [16]. This inferred peculiar ecosystem structure may help explain plesiosaurian and mosasaurid extinction following the end-Cretaceous biological crisis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jeremy E Martin
- Université de Lyon, ENS de Lyon, Université Lyon 1, CNRS, UMR 5276 Laboratoire de Géologie de Lyon: Terre, Planète, Environnement, 69342 Lyon, France.
| | - Peggy Vincent
- Sorbonne Universités - CR2P - MNHN, CNRS, UPMC-Paris 6, Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle, 57 rue Cuvier, CP 38, 75231 Paris Cedex 05, France
| | - Théo Tacail
- Université de Lyon, ENS de Lyon, Université Lyon 1, CNRS, UMR 5276 Laboratoire de Géologie de Lyon: Terre, Planète, Environnement, 69342 Lyon, France
| | - Fatima Khaldoune
- Direction de la géologie, Office Chérifien des Phosphates SA, Morocco
| | - Essaid Jourani
- Direction de la géologie, Office Chérifien des Phosphates SA, Morocco
| | - Nathalie Bardet
- Sorbonne Universités - CR2P - MNHN, CNRS, UPMC-Paris 6, Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle, 57 rue Cuvier, CP 38, 75231 Paris Cedex 05, France
| | - Vincent Balter
- Université de Lyon, ENS de Lyon, Université Lyon 1, CNRS, UMR 5276 Laboratoire de Géologie de Lyon: Terre, Planète, Environnement, 69342 Lyon, France
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Fischer V, Bardet N, Guiomar M, Godefroit P. High diversity in cretaceous ichthyosaurs from Europe prior to their extinction. PLoS One 2014; 9:e84709. [PMID: 24465427 PMCID: PMC3897400 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0084709] [Citation(s) in RCA: 38] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/27/2013] [Accepted: 11/11/2013] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Ichthyosaurs are reptiles that inhabited the marine realm during most of the Mesozoic. Their Cretaceous representatives have traditionally been considered as the last survivors of a group declining since the Jurassic. Recently, however, an unexpected diversity has been described in Upper Jurassic–Lower Cretaceous deposits, but is widely spread across time and space, giving small clues on the adaptive potential and ecosystem control of the last ichthyosaurs. The famous but little studied English Gault Formation and ‘greensands’ deposits (the Upper Greensand Formation and the Cambridge Greensand Member of the Lower Chalk Formation) offer an unprecedented opportunity to investigate this topic, containing thousands of ichthyosaur remains spanning the Early–Late Cretaceous boundary. Methodology/Principal Findings To assess the diversity of the ichthyosaur assemblage from these sedimentary bodies, we recognized morphotypes within each type of bones. We grouped these morphotypes together, when possible, by using articulated specimens from the same formations and from new localities in the Vocontian Basin (France); a revised taxonomic scheme is proposed. We recognize the following taxa in the ‘greensands’: the platypterygiines ‘Platypterygius’ sp. and Sisteronia seeleyi gen. et sp. nov., indeterminate ophthalmosaurines and the rare incertae sedis Cetarthrosaurus walkeri. The taxonomic diversity of late Albian ichthyosaurs now matches that of older, well-known intervals such as the Toarcian or the Tithonian. Contrasting tooth shapes and wear patterns suggest that these ichthyosaurs colonized three distinct feeding guilds, despite the presence of numerous plesiosaur taxa. Conclusion/Significance Western Europe was a diversity hot-spot for ichthyosaurs a few million years prior to their final extinction. By contrast, the low diversity in Australia and U.S.A. suggests strong geographical disparities in the diversity pattern of Albian–early Cenomanian ichthyosaurs. This provides a whole new context to investigate the extinction of these successful marine reptiles, at the end of the Cenomanian.
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Affiliation(s)
- Valentin Fischer
- Department of Geology, University of Liège, Liège, Belgium
- Operational Directory ‘Earth and History of Life’, Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, Brussels, Belgium
- * E-mail:
| | - Nathalie Bardet
- CNRS UMR 7207, Département Histoire de la Terre, Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris, France
| | - Myette Guiomar
- Réserve naturelle géologique de Haute Provence, Digne-les-bains, France
| | - Pascal Godefroit
- Operational Directory ‘Earth and History of Life’, Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, Brussels, Belgium
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Bardet N, Jalil NE, de Lapparent de Broin F, Germain D, Lambert O, Amaghzaz M. A giant chelonioid turtle from the late Cretaceous of Morocco with a suction feeding apparatus unique among tetrapods. PLoS One 2013; 8:e63586. [PMID: 23874378 PMCID: PMC3708935 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0063586] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/20/2012] [Accepted: 03/25/2013] [Indexed: 12/03/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Secondary adaptation to aquatic life occurred independently in several amniote lineages, including reptiles during the Mesozoic and mammals during the Cenozoic. These evolutionary shifts to aquatic environments imply major morphological modifications, especially of the feeding apparatus. Mesozoic (250–65 Myr) marine reptiles, such as ichthyosaurs, plesiosaurs, mosasaurid squamates, crocodiles, and turtles, exhibit a wide range of adaptations to aquatic feeding and a broad overlap of their tooth morphospaces with those of Cenozoic marine mammals. However, despite these multiple feeding behavior convergences, suction feeding, though being a common feeding strategy in aquatic vertebrates and in marine mammals in particular, has been extremely rarely reported for Mesozoic marine reptiles. Principal Findings A relative of fossil protostegid and dermochelyoid sea turtles, Ocepechelon bouyai gen. et sp. nov. is a new giant chelonioid from the Late Maastrichtian (67 Myr) of Morocco exhibiting remarkable adaptations to marine life (among others, very dorsally and posteriorly located nostrils). The 70-cm-long skull of Ocepechelon not only makes it one of the largest marine turtles ever described, but also deviates significantly from typical turtle cranial morphology. It shares unique convergences with both syngnathid fishes (unique long tubular bony snout ending in a rounded and anteriorly directed mouth) and beaked whales (large size and elongated edentulous jaws). This striking anatomy suggests extreme adaptation for suction feeding unmatched among known turtles. Conclusion/Significance The feeding apparatus of Ocepechelon, a bony pipette-like snout, is unique among tetrapods. This new taxon exemplifies the successful systematic and ecological diversification of chelonioid turtles during the Late Cretaceous. This new evidence for a unique trophic specialization in turtles, along with the abundant marine vertebrate faunas associated to Ocepechelon in the Late Maastrichtian phosphatic beds of Morocco, further supports the hypothesis that marine life was, at least locally, very diversified just prior to the Cretaceous/Palaeogene (K/Pg) biotic crisis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nathalie Bardet
- CNRS UMR 7207, Département Histoire de la Terre, Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, Paris, France
- * E-mail:
| | - Nour-Eddine Jalil
- Cadi Ayyad University, Faculty of Sciences Semlalia, Department of Earth Sciences, Vertebrate Evolution and Palaeoenvironnements, Marrakech, Morocco
| | | | - Damien Germain
- CNRS UMR 7207, Département Histoire de la Terre, Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, Paris, France
| | - Olivier Lambert
- Institut Royal des Sciences Naturelles de Belgique, Département de Paléontologie, Bruxelles, Belgium
| | - Mbarek Amaghzaz
- Office Chérifien des Phosphates, Centre Minier de Khouribga, Khouribga, Morocco
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10
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Abstract
AbstractA global comparison of coeval Maastrichtian marine reptiles (squamates, plesiosaurs, chelonians and crocodyliformes) of Europe, New Jersey, northwestern Africa and Middle-East has been performed. More than twenty outcrops and fifty species (half of them being mosasaurids) have been recorded. PEA and Cluster Analysis have been performed using part of this database and have revealed that marine reptile faunas (especially the mosasaurid ones) from the Mediterranean Tethys are clearly segregated into two different palaeobiogeographical provinces: 1) The northern Tethys margin province (New Jersey and Europe), located around palaeolatitudes 30-40°N and developping into warm-temperate environments, is dominated by mosasaurid squamates and chelonioid chelonians; it is characterized by the mosasaurid association of Mosasaurus hoffmanni and Prognathodon sectorius. 2) The southern Tethys margin province (Brazil and the Arabo-African domain), located between palaeolatitudes 20°N-20°S and developping into intertropical environments, is dominated by mosasaurid squamates and bothremydid chelonians; it is characterized by the mosasaurid association of Globidens phosphaticus as well as by Halisaurus arambourgi and Platecarpus (?) ptychodon (Arabo-African domain). These faunal differences are interpreted as revealing palaeoecological preferences probably linked to differences in palaeolatitudinal gradients and/or to palaeocurrents.On a palaeoecological point on view and concerning mosasaurids, the mosasaurines (Prognathodon, Mosasaurus, Globidens and Carinodens) prevail on both margins but with different species. The ichthyophageous plioplatecarpines Plioplatecarpus (Northern margin) and Platecarpus (?) ptychodon (Southern margin) characterise respectively each margin. The halisaurine Halisaurus is present on both margins but with different species. Of importance, the tylosaurines remain currently unknown on the southern Tethys margin and are restricted to higher palaeolatitudes. Chelonians (bothremydids and chelonioids) are respective of each margin, which probably indicates lower dispersal capabilities compared to mosasaurids. The relative scarcity of plesiosaurs and crocodyliformes could be linked to different ecological preferences. The noteworthy crocodyliforme diversity increase in the Palaeogene is probably linked to mosasaurid extinction during the biological crisis of the K/Pg boundary.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nathalie Bardet
- CNRS UMR 7207, Département Histoire de la Terre, Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, CP 38, 8 rue Buffon, 75005 PARIS, France.
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11
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Polcyn MJ, Lindgren J, Bardet N, Cornelissen D, Verding L, Schulp AS. Description of new specimens of Halisaurus arambourgi Bardet & Pereda Suberbiola, 2005 and the relationships of Halisaurinae. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2012. [DOI: 10.2113/gssgfbull.183.2.123] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/10/2022]
Abstract
Abstract
Halisaurine mosasaurs are poorly known, represented by a small number of specimens from the Santonian-Maastrichtian (~86 Ma – ~66 Ma), but enjoyed broad palaeobiogeographic distribution during that time. They are important for understanding mosasaur evolution because certain aspects of their morphology retain the relatively plesiomorphic or minimally modified squamate conditions; however, existing material is limited and certain anatomical details are lacking. We report here two new specimens of Halisaurus arambourgi including a well-preserved, nearly complete skull and postcranial skeleton, and a partial skull that preserves details of the braincase and quadrate. We focus our description on morphology that augments the original description of this species and provides comparisons with other halisaurines. Braincase and temporal arcade characters confirm the plesiomorphic nature of Halisaurus, supporting a relatively basal position of Halisaurinae within Mosasauridae. Comparisons of cranial morphology support reconstruction of relationships within Halisaurinae, indicating that H. arambourgi is most closely related to H. platyspondylus, Phosphorosaurus (= H. ortliebi) is the sister taxon to those taxa, and Eonatator is the most basal described halisaurine. The proportions of the epipodials and the caudal vertebral centrum morphometrics indicate H. arambourgi is more derived than the Santonian to early Campanian Eonatator sternbergii but less derived than a Halisaurus sp. specimen from the mid-Maastrichtian of the Moreno Formation of California, USA. Moreover, vertebral morphometrics reveals that H. arambourgi possessed a downturned tail that likely supported a crescent-like fluke.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michael J. Polcyn
- Roy M. Huffington Department of Earth Sciences, Southern Methodist University, 3225 Daniel Avenue, Dallas, TX 75275, USA. E-mail:
| | - Johan Lindgren
- Department of Earth and Ecosystem Sciences, Lund University, Sölvegatan 12, SE-223 62 Lund, Sweden. E-mail:
| | - Nathalie Bardet
- CNRS UMR 7207, Département Histoire de la Terre, Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle, 8 rue Buffon, F-75005 Paris, France. E-mail:
| | - Dirk Cornelissen
- Natuurhistorisch Museum Maastricht, De Bosquetplein 6-7, NL-6211 KJ Maastricht, The Netherlands. e-mail: ; ;
| | - Louis Verding
- Natuurhistorisch Museum Maastricht, De Bosquetplein 6-7, NL-6211 KJ Maastricht, The Netherlands. e-mail: ; ;
| | - Anne S. Schulp
- Natuurhistorisch Museum Maastricht, De Bosquetplein 6-7, NL-6211 KJ Maastricht, The Netherlands. e-mail: ; ;
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12
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Abstract
AbstractTaking advantage of the venue in Paris of the Third Mosasaur Meeting (May 2010), the mosasaur collections of the Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle (MNHN) have been entirely checked and revised. The French holotypes have all been restored and most specimens kept at the MNHN have been placed in the Paleontology Gallery as part as a small exhibition organized especially for the meeting. The MNHN mosasaur collections include specimens from the 18th, 19th and 20th century from France, The Netherlands, Belgium, the United States of America, Morocco, Syria, Jordan, Egypt and Niger. Most of the mosasaur specimens discovered in France – including most holotypes – are kept in Paris. Besides the French types, the MNHN collections include several important historical specimens from abroad, the most famous being undoubtedly the Cuvier’s ‘Grand Animal Fossile des Carrières de Maestricht’, type specimen of Mosasaurus hoffmanniMantell, 1829, recognized as the first mosasaur to be named. This work aims to briefly present most of these specimens, with special focus on those found in France. The MNHN mosasaurid collections as a whole reflects the development of palaeontological researches in this Institution, from its foundation at the end of the 18th century up to the present time.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nathalie Bardet
- CNRS UMR 7207, Département Histoire de la Terre, Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, CP 38, 8 rue Buffon, 75005, Paris, France.
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13
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Bernard A, Lécuyer C, Vincent P, Amiot R, Bardet N, Buffetaut E, Cuny G, Fourel F, Martineau F, Mazin JM, Prieur A. Regulation of body temperature by some Mesozoic marine reptiles. Science 2010; 328:1379-82. [PMID: 20538946 DOI: 10.1126/science.1187443] [Citation(s) in RCA: 99] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/03/2022]
Abstract
What the body temperature and thermoregulation processes of extinct vertebrates were are central questions for understanding their ecology and evolution. The thermophysiologic status of the great marine reptiles is still unknown, even though some studies have suggested that thermoregulation may have contributed to their exceptional evolutionary success as apex predators of Mesozoic aquatic ecosystems. We tested the thermal status of ichthyosaurs, plesiosaurs, and mosasaurs by comparing the oxygen isotope compositions of their tooth phosphate to those of coexisting fish. Data distribution reveals that these large marine reptiles were able to maintain a constant and high body temperature in oceanic environments ranging from tropical to cold temperate. Their estimated body temperatures, in the range from 35 degrees +/- 2 degrees C to 39 degrees +/- 2 degrees C, suggest high metabolic rates required for predation and fast swimming over large distances offshore.
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Affiliation(s)
- Aurélien Bernard
- CNRS UMR 5125, Paléoenvironnements et Paléobiosphère, Université Lyon 1, Lyon, 2 Rue Raphaël Dubois, 69622 Villeurbanne Cedex, France
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14
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Bardet N, Houssaye A, Rage JC, Pereda Suberbiola X. The Cenomanian-Turonian (late Cretaceous) radiation of marine squamates (Reptilia): the role of the Mediterranean Tethys. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2008. [DOI: 10.2113/gssgfbull.179.6.605] [Citation(s) in RCA: 50] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/10/2022]
Abstract
AbstractDuring the Cenomanian-Turonian interval, marine squamates display a spectacular radiation in particular on the margins of the Mediterranean Tethys and, to a lesser extent, in the Interior Seaway of North America. In this span of time, three major groups diversified: the “hind-limbed” snakes (“pachyophiids”), the “dolichosaurids”, and the mosasauroids. “Hind-limbed” snakes, exhibiting all a pachyostotic bony structure, were small tropical inhabitants, known exclusively from the Cenomanian of the Mediterranean Tethys. “Dolichosaurids” and mosasauroids were rather mid latitude distributed groups, found in a wide range of palaeoenvironments of both the Mediterranean Tethys and the Western Interior Seaway. Whereas “dolichosaurids” remain of small size and become rare after the Cenomanian/Turonian (C/T) boundary, mosasauroids exhibit a notable size-increase and develop since the mid Turonian to become highly diversified and cosmopolitan large predators of the end of the Cretaceous. This important radiation of marine squamates is thus, except for derived mosasauroids (mosasaurids), restricted in time (Cenomanian-Turonian) and space (mostly the northern and southern margins of the Mediterranean Tethys). It is probable that: 1) the Mediterranean Tethys played an important role in both the radiation and the dispersion of these marine squamates during the Cenomanian-Turonian interval; 2) certain major geological and biological events that characterize this pivotal period (i.e., global high sea-level stand and warm sea-surface temperatures allowing the development of large carbonated platforms) could have permitted this radiation; and 3) conversely, other factors occurring at or just after the C/T boundary (OAE2, sea-level and sea-surface temperature drops, marine extinctions including the demise of carbonated platforms) as well as factors inherent to each of the groups (mainly the size and bone microstructure) could have had an effect on and insured the success of the mosasaurids with respect to the other groups, whereas thereafter the radiation of snakes succeeded only in continental environments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nathalie Bardet
- Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, UMR 5143 du CNRS, Département Histoire de la Terre, C.P. 38, 75005 Paris, France; E-mail: , ,
| | - Alexandra Houssaye
- Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, UMR 5143 du CNRS, Département Histoire de la Terre, C.P. 38, 75005 Paris, France; E-mail: , ,
| | - Jean-Claude Rage
- Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, UMR 5143 du CNRS, Département Histoire de la Terre, C.P. 38, 75005 Paris, France; E-mail: , ,
| | - Xabier Pereda Suberbiola
- Departamento de Estratigrafía y Paleontología, Facultad de Ciencia y Tecnología, Universidad del País Vasco/EHU, Apdo. 644, 48080 Bilbao, Espagne; E-mail:
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15
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Abstract
AbstractA large azhdarchid pterosaur is described from the Late Maastrichtian phosphatic deposits of the Oulad Abdoun Basin, near Khouribga (central Morocco). The material consists of five closely associated cervical vertebrae of a single individual. The mid-series neck vertebrae closely resemble those of azhdarchids Quetzalcoatlus and Azhdarcho in that they are elongate, with vestigial neural spines, prezygapophysial tubercles, a pair of ventral sulci near the prezygapophyses, and without pneumatic foramina on the lateral surfaces of the centra. The Moroccan pterosaur is referred to a new genus and species of Azhdarchidae: Phosphatodraco mauritanicus gen. et sp.nov. It is mainly characterized by a very long cervical vertebra eight, bearing a prominent neural spine located very posteriorly. Based on comparisons with azhdarchid vertebrae, the estimated wing span of Phosphatodraco is close to 5 m. This discovery provides the first occurrence of Late Cretaceous azhdarchids in northern Africa. Phosphatodraco is one of the few azhdarchids known from a relatively complete neck and one of the latest-known pterosaurs, approximately contemporaneous with Quetzalcoatlus.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xabier Pereda Suberbiola
- Universidad del País Vasco/Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea, Facultad de Ciencias, Departamento de Estratigrafía y Paleontología
Apartado 644, 48080 Bilbao, Spain
- UMR 8569 du CNRS, Muséum National d’Histoire naturelle, Département Histoire de la Terre
8 rue Buffon, 75005 Paris, France
| | - Nathalie Bardet
- UMR 8569 du CNRS, Muséum National d’Histoire naturelle, Département Histoire de la Terre
8 rue Buffon, 75005 Paris, France
| | - Stéphane Jouve
- UMR 8569 du CNRS, Muséum National d’Histoire naturelle, Département Histoire de la Terre
8 rue Buffon, 75005 Paris, France
| | - Mohamed Iarochène
- Ministère de l’Energie et des Mines, Direction de la Géologie
BP 6208, Rabat, Morocco
| | - Baâdi Bouya
- Office Chérifien des Phosphates, Centre Minier de Khouribga
Khouribga, Morocco
| | - Mbarek Amaghzaz
- Office Chérifien des Phosphates, Centre Minier de Khouribga
Khouribga, Morocco
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