Crocodylomorph eggs and eggshells from the Lourinhã Fm. (Upper Jurassic), Portugal

We here present fossil crocodylomorpha eggshells from the Late Jurassic Lourinhã Formation of Portugal, recovered from five sites: one nest from Cambelas and various fragments from Casal da Rola, Paimogo I, Paimogo II, and Peralta. The nest is composed of 13 eggs and is the only sample not found in association with dinosaur egg material. Our research reveals that on a micro- and ultrastructural analysis, all our samples present the typical characters consistent with crocodiloid eggshell morphotype, such as the shell unit shape, the organization of the eggshell layers, and the triangular blocky extinction observed with crossed nicols. We assign the material from the Lourinhã Formation to the oofamily Krokolithidae, making it the oldest crocodylomorph eggs known so far, as well as the best record for eggs of non-crocodylian crocodylomorphs. Furthermore, our study indicates that the basic structure of crocodilian eggshells has remained stable since at least the Late Jurassic

História da descoberta do anquilossauro Dracopelta zbyszewskii (Jurássico Superior), com novos dados sobre o espécime tipo e a sua localidade

Abstract: Dracopelta zbyszewskii is a poorly known ankylosaur dinosaur from the Upper Jurassic of Portugal. Even its early history has hitherto remained problematic, mostly due to scarce recorded information. By reviewing published literature, unpublished photos and notes, and field observations, we identify the type locality as a roadcut 400 m Southeast of Praia da Assenta Sul, approximately 1 km West of Barril, Mafra. Western Portugal, and date the discovery to early 1964 and the excavation to December 1964. This improves the existing records and allows to trace the early history of the holotype, providing important historical context on one of the most complete ankylosaurs from Europe. Furthermore, we preliminarily identify additional holotype material, i.e., putative pelvic elements, right hindlimb elements (distal femur, tibia, and fibula), one ungual, ribs, and osteoderms, which will help ascertain its position within Ankylosauria. We also propose that a single repository number be used for the specimen.Resumo: Dracopelta zbyszewskii é um dinossauro anquilossauro pouco conhecido do Jurássico Superior de Portugal. Mesmo a história da sua descoberta tem permanecido problemática até aqui, em grande parte devido à escassa informação registada. Revendo literatura publicada, fotografias e notas inéditas, e observações de campo, identificamos aqui a localidade tipo como um corte de estrada, cerca de 400 m a Sudeste da Praia da Assenta Sul, aproximadamente 1 km a Oeste de Barril, Mafra, Costa Oeste de Portugal, e datamos a descoberta ao início de 1964 e a escavação a dezembro de 1964. Esta informação melhora os registos existentes e permite clarificar a história inicial do holótipo, fornecendo contexto histórico importante para um dos mais completos anquilossauros da Europa. Além disso, identificamos preliminarmente material adicional pertencente ao holótipo, i.e., putativos elementos pélvicos, elementos do membro posterior direito (fémur distal, tíbia e fíbula), uma ungual, costelas e osteodermes, o que ajudará a determinar a sua posição dentro dos Ankylosauria. Propomos também que um único número de inventário seja utilizado para o espécime.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

A Turiasaurian (Dinosauria, Sauropoda) Tooth from the Pliensbachian Hasle Formation of Bornholm, Denmark, Shows an Early Jurassic Origin of the Turiasauria

Publisher Copyright: © 2023 by the authors. This research received no external funding. We are grateful to the amateur collector Mette Agersnap Grejsen Hofstedt, who found the tooth and brought it to our attention, and to Sten Lennart Jakobsen for providing photos of the tooth. We thank the two anonymous reviewers whose input greatly contributed to the article.Turiasauria is a clade of basal sauropod dinosaurs hitherto only known from the Middle Jurassic (Bathonian) to the Lower Cretaceous (Valanginian). A new find of a shed tooth crown from the Lower Jurassic (Pliensbachian), Halse Formation of Bornholm, Denmark, is spoon-like, asymmetrical, and heart-shaped, which identifies the tooth as turiasaurian, pushing the origin of the Turiasauria some 17 My back into the Lower Jurassic. This suggests a North Pangean/Laurasian origin of the turiasaurian clade, which then, during the Middle to Late Jurassic, dispersed through Europe, India, and Africa, with their latest representatives found in the Early Cretaceous of England and North America. Furthermore, this is the first record of a sauropod from the Pliensbachian in Europe.publishersversionpublishe

Dacentrurine stegosaurs (Dinosauria): A new specimen of Miragaia longicollum from the Late Jurassic of Portugal resolves taxonomical validity and shows the occurrence of the clade in North America

The stegosaur species Miragaia longicollum was erected based on a partial anterior skeleton from the Upper Jurassic of Portugal. Until then, almost all stegosaur specimens in Portugal and Spain had been identified as Dacentrurus armatus, the sister taxon of M. longicollum and only other member of the clade Dacentrurinae. The holotypes of the two species have little overlap, since the holotype of D. armatus is mostly a posterior skeleton, so the classification of other specimens to either species is unclear and the validity of M. longicollum has been questioned and debated. Here we describe a largely complete specimen of M. longicollum discovered in 1959 in Atouguia da Baleia, Peniche, Portugal, consisting of both anterior and posterior portions of the skeleton. Comparisons to the holotypes of dacentrurines and other stegosaurs shed light on the convoluted relationships of this group. We conclude that M. longicollum is valid and rather different from D. armatus, and provide a revised diagnosis of M. longicollum, as well as revised diagnoses for D. armatus, Dacentrurinae, and the first diagnosis of the genus Miragaia, granting stability to these taxa and allowing new considerations to be given on the classification of other Iberian stegosaurs. This new specimen is, to date, the most complete dinosaur described from Portugal and the most complete stegosaur described from Europe. Miragaia shared anatomical features that show a close affinity to Alcovasaurus longispinus, confirming this to be the first known dacentrurine stegosaur in America, coherent with the hypothesis of an ephemeral land bridge between North America and Iberia that allowed faunal exchange.publishe

Os espécimes-tipo por si só têm uma forte correlação com o registo de táxones por época geológica: o estudo de caso dos vertebrados fósseis nomeados a partir de tipos portugueses

ABSTRACT: Type specimens (holotypes, neotypes, syntypes, etc.) are of crucial importance because they are the only tangible evidence of the nomenclatural act that supports the understanding of paleobiodiversity. The list of the vertebrate species whose type specimen is based on fossils from Portugal is presented here. We counted 206 species, of which there are 45 bony fishes, 39 Late Jurassic Mammaliamorpha, 33 Cenozoic mammals, 28 non-avian dinosaurs, 25 non-dinosaur reptiles, 11 Cenozoic Aves, 22 Chondrichthyes and three other vertebrates. Except for the Quaternary fossil record, the type specimens can be used as a shortcut for measuring the fossil record and paleobiodiversity through geological time and rock units because they correlate in 95% with the fossil record by epoch in the case-study of fossil vertebrates of Portugal.RESUMO: Os espécimes tipo (holótipos, neótipos, sintipos, etc.) são de importância crucial porque são a única evidência tangível do ato nomenclatural que apoia a compreensão da paleobiodiversidade. É apresentada aqui uma lista de vertebrados cujo espécime-tipo se baseia em fósseis de Portugal. Contamos 206 taxa, das quais há 45 peixes ósseos, 39 mamíferos e parentes do Jurássico superior, 33 mamíferos cenozóicos, 28 dinossauros não avianos, 25 répteis não dinossauros, 11 aves cenozóicas, 22 Chondrichthyes e três vertebrados doutros tipos. Exceto para o registo fóssil quaternário, os espécimes-tipo podem ser usados como um atalho para medir o registo fóssil e a paleobiodiversidade através do tempo geológico e unidades de rocha porque eles se correlacionam em 95% com o registo fóssil por época no estudo de caso de vertebrados fósseis de Portugal.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Novel record of placodont remains including a Henodus cranium from the Upper Triassic Silves Group of the Algarve, southern Portugal

Funding Information: We would like to thank anonymous reviewers for providing a detailed and very constructive review, contributing to the enhancement of the manuscript. We express our great gratitude to J. Graça for donating the skull ML. A9182 to the Museu Municipal de Loulé, making this study possible. Without this donation our knowledge of placodont material from the Algarve would be much poorer. We want to thank Geoparque Algarvensis for the support and promotion of this work. We want to thank Dinopark Lourinhã for enabling access to Dinopark’s preparatory lab, helping in the process of preparation of the fossil material. We thank S. Mateus, J. Marinheiro, and V. López Rojas for support during the preparation in Dinopark Lourinhã as well as Nathalie Rodrigues for assistance in the preparation of armor plate material at the Museum of Lourinhã. We would also like to thank C. Pessoa for helping with XRF analysis at the Departamento de Ciências da Terra of Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia of Universidade Nova de Lisboa. We are also grateful to J. Kowalski and P. Janecki for providing illustration of Henodus. IW was funded by Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (grant: WE5440/6-1) as well as by E. and W. Datz-Stiftung. Publisher Copyright: © 2025. Maciej Ruciński, Hugo Campos, Octávio Mateus, Ingmar Werneburg.Recent fieldwork in the Upper Triassic deposits of the Silves Group in the Algarve, southern Portugal revealed novel cyamodontid placodont material. The collection includes a partial skull and numerous isolated armor plates from four localities in Silves and Loulé municipalities. The skull shows a strong affinity to henodontid placodonts, especially to Henodus chelyops from Tübingen-Lustnau in Germany. It shares features such as a rectangular outline of the cranium, occurrence of a broad spatulate rostrum, and toothless maxillae with curved longitudinally extending grooves. The only unambiguous difference observed pertains to the more robust and convex snout shape of the new specimen. Based on these multiple similarities, the specimen is identified as Henodus sp., but poor preservation prevents species-level identification. The new specimen from Portugal represents the second record of Henodus and illustrates a wider geographic distribution of that genus, extending beyond the Germanic Basin and reaching coastal areas near the westernmost branch of the Neotethys. The age of the deposits where the cranium was found is not well-established but refers to a time interval within the upper Carnian–Rhaetian, suggesting the specimen may be younger than other henodontid records. The novel Henodus material found in the continental, but likely the near-coastal depositional setting, concurs with the known records of brackish to the freshwater habitat of the other henodontid placodonts. The occurrence of abundant armor plates assigned to Cyamodontidae at multiple sites and stratigraphic horizons indicates that placodonts were common in the south Iberian margin.publishersversionpublishe

New information on ornithopod dinosaurs from the Late Jurassic of Portugal

Funding Information: We would like to thank the Museu da Lourinhã for providing specimens and facilities, especially: Carla-Alexandra Tomás, Bruno Pereira, Alexandre Audigane, and Carla Abreu. To Jesper Milàn (Geomuseum Faxe, Denmark) and Micael Martinho (ML) who found and prepared some of the specimens. We also thank the Sociedade de Historia Natural (Torres Vedras, Portugal) and in particular Bruno Camilo Silva and Joana Ferreira for providing access and assistance to the holotype of Eousdryosaurus nanohallucis. Cristiano Dal Sasso (Museu di Storia Naturale di Milano, Italy) provided comparison material and William Harcourt-Smith (American Museum of Natural History, New York City, USA) for helping with the morphometric analysis. We also thank all the members of the Lourinhã Paleoteam for their inputs in earlier versions of this manuscript. We thank the editor Stephen Brusatte (School of GeoSciences, The University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK) and the reviewers Tom Hübner (Stiftung Schloss Friedenstein Gotha, Germany) and Peter Galton (University of Bridgeport, Connecticut, USA) for their comments, which greatly improved the quality of this manuscript. A special thanks to Vincent J. Cheng (ML) who proof-read this manuscript. FMR is supported by the Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, Portugal (Grant SFRH/BD/146230/2019). MMA is supported by the Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, Portugal (Grant SFRH/BPD/113130/2015). The research here presented has been supported by grants (GeoBioTec-NOVA and UIDB/04035/2020).Ornithopods are one of the most speciose group of herbivorous dinosaurs, rising during the Jurassic and getting extinct at the Cretaceous Paleogene boundary. However, most of the attention has been given to derived forms (hadrosaurids). Herein, cranial and post-cranial ornithopod material from the Upper Jurassic Lourinhã Formation and housed at Museu da Lourinhã is described and discussed. Comparison and phylogenetic analyses has allowed the attribution of the material either to Dryosauridae or to Ankylopollexia. The large-sized taxa conservatively ascribed to Ankylopollexia, resemble more closely Early Cretaceous styracosternans than Late Jurassic taxa. Due to the lack of autapomorphic characters, it was not possible to assign the material to any of the two valid Jurassic ornithopod Portuguese species, Draconyx loureiroi and Eousdryosaurus nanohallucis, although phylogenetic analyses hint a close relationship between the Lourinhã dryosaurid material and E. nanohallucis. Principal Component Analysis plotting limb bones proportions indicates a not fully mature ontogenetic stage for the Portuguese specimens. Comparing the Portuguese ornithopod fauna with the one in Morrison Formation and Kimmeridge Clay Formation, it is remarked the key-role of Portugal to understand biogeographic patterns in the distribution of iguanodontians.publishersversionpublishe

Geologia, Grutas e Fauna Subterrânea do Planalto das Cesaredas, Portugal

O Planalto das Cesaredas é predominantemente formado por calcários marinhos do Jurássico Inferior a Superior (Toarciano ao Titoniano, ~180 a 144 milhões de anos) e alberga várias cavidades naturais com condições propícias à vida subterrânea. Localizado a baixa altitude na transição entre o maciço de Montejunto e vale Tifónico das Caldas da Rainha, este afloramento cársico inclui-se no distrito bioespeleológico Lusitânico, unidade biogeográfica que inclui os maciços da Arrábida, Estremenho, Sicó-Condeixa-Alvaiázere, Outil-Cantanhede e os afloramentos calcários da Península de Lisboa. O interesse científico sobre a biologia das grutas das Cesaredas teve o seu despertar há sete décadas e investigações recentes revelaram que a sua fauna estritamente subterrânea é composta sobretudo por invertebrados: moluscos, aracnídeos, miriápodes, crustáceos e insetos. A descoberta de espécies endémicas, i.e., cuja única área de distribuição mundial se encontra confinada ao Planalto das Cesaredas, lança grandes desafios em termos de conservação e urge estabelecer medidas de proteção para salvaguardar a sua biodiversidade subterrânea. Este artigo oferece uma perspetiva sobre a geologia, a composição faunística e a ecologia das grutas das Cesaredas. The Cesaredas Plateau is formed by marine limestones from the Lower to Upper Jurassic (Toartian to Titonian, ~180 to 144 million years) and is the result of the later uplifted by a rich tectonic history mostly related to salt diapirism that raised the limestone and led to the typhonic valleys that border it. The result is a low altitude plateau that harbors several caves that may support modern subterranean biodiversity. Located in the transition between the Montejunto massif and the Typhonic valley of Caldas da Rainha, this karst outcrop is included in the Lusitanian bioespeleological district, together with the Arrábida, Estremenho, Sicó-Condeixa-Alvaiázere, and Outil-Cantanhede massifs, and the limestone outcrops of the Lisbon Peninsula. The scientific interest on the biology of the caves of Cesaredas awakened seven decades ago and recent investigations revealed that its subterranean fauna consists mainly of invertebrates: molluscs, arachnids, myriapods, crustaceans and insects. The discovery of endemic species, i.e., whose only world’s distribution area is confined to the Cesarean Plateau, poses major challenges in terms of conservation and it is urgent to establish protective measures to protect its subterranean heritage. This paper provides a perspective on the geology, the faunistic composition and ecology of the caves of Cesaredas.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Neuroanatomy of the crocodylomorph Portugalosuchus azenhae from the late cretaceous of Portugal

We present the first detailed braincase anatomical description and neuroanatomical study of Portugalosuchus azenhae, from the Cenomanian (Late Cretaceous) of Portugal. This eusuchian crocodylomorph was originally described as a putative Crocodylia and one of the oldest representatives of this clade; however, its phylogenetic position remains controversial. Based on new data obtained from high resolution Computed Tomography images (by micro-CT scan), this study aims to improve the original description of this taxon and also update the scarce neuroanatomical knowledge of Eusuchia and Crocodylia from this time interval, a key period to understand the origin and evolution of these clades. The resulting three-dimensional models from the CT data allowed a detailed description of its well-preserved neurocranium and internal cavities. Therefore, it was possible to reconstruct the cavities of the olfactory region, nasopharyngeal ducts, brain, nerves, carotid arteries, blood vessels, paratympanic sinus system and inner ear, which allowed to estimate some neurosensorial capabilities. By comparison with other crocodylomorphs, these analyses showed that Portugalosuchus, back in the Cenomanian, already displayed an olfactive acuity, sight, hearing and cognitive skills within the range of that observed in other basal eusuchians and crocodylians, including extant species. In addition, and in order to test its disputed phylogenetic position, these new anatomical data, which helped to correct and complete some of the original observations, were included in one of the most recent morphology-based phylogenies. The position of Portugalosuchus differs slightly from the original publication since it is now located as a "thoracosaurid" within Gavialoidea, but still as a crocodylian. Despite all this, to better contrast these results, additional phylogenetic analyses including this new morphological character coding together with DNA data should be performed