Cranial anatomy of a newpliosaurid Acostasaurus pavachoquensis from the LowerCretaceous of Colombia, South America

IF 1.8 2区 地球科学 Q2 PALEONTOLOGY
M. Gómez-Pérez, L. Noè
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引用次数: 16

Abstract

Following the marine extinctions at the end of the Jurassic, only three clades of Plesiosauria passed into the Lower Cretaceous: Brachaucheninae (thalassophonean pliosaurids), Cryptoclididae, and Xenopsaria. However, these plesiosaur clades, and the Brachaucheninae in particular, are represented by a limited number of genera. The Berriasian to Albian thereby represents a considerable period of time (~45 Ma) lacking a plesiosaur-rich strata or Lagerstätte: a time period we here designate as the “Lower Cretaceous Gap” or LCG. One critical region for understanding LCG plesiosaurs is modern northern South America, which, during Early Cretaceous times acted as a crossover between the northern and southern hemispheres, and between the Pacific and protoAtlantic oceans, as Gondwana gradually divided. Colombia preserves one of the most complete Lower Cretaceous sedimentary successions in the world. These strata, deposited in an epicontinental sea on the margin of Gondwana, are well-exposed close to Villa de Leyva, central Colombia. From the lower Barremian Arcillolitas Abigarradas Member of the Paja Formation, we describe a new genus and species of pliosaurid, Acostasaurus pavachoquensis. Acid preparation has exposed an exceptionally well-preserved three-dimensional pliosaurid skull with superb anatomical detail, allowing thorough description of previously poorly known areas of the plesiosaur skull such as the olfactory wings, otic capsules, sclerotic plates, basicranium and mandibular symphysis. Acostasaurus displays a unique suite of characters: short preorbital rostrum, stepped maxilla contacting the nasal and parietal posteriorly, large nasal in contact with the parietal, frontal with small exposure dorsally, deep notch in the dorsal surface of orbital margin, sagittal crest formed from the parietal and squamosal, dentition markedly heterodont, four pairs of premaxillary teeth, and a mandibular symphysial region containing five-and-a-half tooth pairs, which together differentiate Acostasaurus from all the other Cretaceous pliosaurid genera. Based on analysis of morphological characters used in recent phylogenetic studies, Acostasaurus nests firmly within the increasingly inclusive Pliosauroidea and Pliosauridae, almost certainly within Thalassophonea, and with much less certainty within Brachaucheninae, assuming Acostasaurus does not represent part of a new clade passing into the Early Cretaceous. As a brevirostrine taxon, Acostasaurus is distinctly different from the generally longer-snouted Brachauchenine genera Brachauchenius, Kronosaurus, Megacephalosaurus, Makhaira and Stenorhynchosaurus. The presence of Acostasaurus, together with other as yet undescribed plesiosaurs in central Colombia, firmly establishes northern South America as a key region for understanding of the taxonomy and phylogeny of Lower Cretaceous Gap pliosaurids.
南美哥伦比亚下白垩纪新上龙科帕瓦乔克阿斯塔龙颅骨解剖
在侏罗纪末期的海洋物种灭绝之后,只有三个蛇颈龙分支进入了下白垩纪:brachacheninae (thalassophonean上龙类),Cryptoclididae和Xenopsaria。然而,这些蛇颈龙的分支,特别是短颈龙科,只有有限的几个属。因此,Berriasian到Albian代表了相当长的一段时间(~45 Ma)缺乏蛇颈龙丰富的地层或Lagerstätte:我们在这里将这段时间称为“下白垩纪间隙”或LCG。了解LCG蛇颈龙的一个关键区域是现代的南美洲北部,在白垩纪早期,当冈瓦纳逐渐分裂时,它充当了南北半球、太平洋和原大西洋之间的交叉点。哥伦比亚保存着世界上最完整的下白垩纪沉积序列之一。这些地层沉积在冈瓦纳(Gondwana)边缘的陆表海中,暴露在哥伦比亚中部的Villa de Leyva附近。本文从巴雷米亚盆地下巴雷米亚地层的阿比加拉达斯(archillolitas abigail arradas)描述了一种新的上龙属——pavachoquensis。酸处理暴露了一个保存非常完好的三维蛇颈龙头骨,具有极好的解剖细节,可以彻底描述蛇颈龙头骨以前鲜为人知的区域,如嗅觉翼、耳囊、硬化板、基颅和下颌联合。阿斯塔龙有一套独特的特征:眶前喙短,台阶状上颌后部与鼻和顶骨接触,大鼻与顶骨接触,额部背侧暴露小,眶缘背侧深凹,由顶骨和鳞片形成矢状嵴,牙列明显异位,上颌前牙4对,下颌联合区含5对半牙。它们共同将阿斯达龙与其他白垩纪上龙区分开来。根据最近系统发育研究中使用的形态特征分析,Acostasaurus坚定地栖息在日益广泛的上鸟科和上龙科中,几乎可以肯定是在thalassophonia中,而在brachacheninae中则不太确定,假设Acostasaurus不是进入早白垩纪的新分支的一部分。Acostasaurus作为一个短鼻目分类单元,与一般长鼻的brachachenius属、Kronosaurus、Megacephalosaurus、Makhaira和Stenorhynchosaurus明显不同。在哥伦比亚中部发现的阿斯达龙和其他尚未被描述的蛇颈龙,牢固地确立了南美洲北部是了解下白垩纪裂口上龙分类和系统发育的关键地区。
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来源期刊
CiteScore
3.80
自引率
3.70%
发文量
21
审稿时长
>12 weeks
期刊介绍: Palaeontographica Section A publishes peer reviewed results of studies on palaeozoology, paleoecology and biostratigraphy. Its large paper format provides sufficient space for large tables, illustrations, photographs and Palaeontographica’s renowned plates. Published contributions span all areas of palaeozoology, i.e., systematic, phylogenetic and ecological aspects. Careful peer review ensures the high quality of the papers, covering localities all over the world. Many landmark papers in palaeozoology and biostratigraphy were published in Section A of Palaeontographica. This includes numerous lavishly illustrated monographs of certain groups of fossils and stratigraphic ranges. These monographs, are typical for Paleontographica papers, characterised by numerous highest quality plates and are printed on special high quality paper for excellent reproduction of picture plates.
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