The oldest plesiosaur (Reptilia, Sauropterygia) from Antarctica

Polar research

Pedro Romano¹  Helder de Paula²  Renato Ramos²  Orlando Grillo²  Gustavo Oliveira²  Alexander Wilhelm Armin Kellner²  Marcelo Carvalho²  Tiago Rodrigues Simões³  Taissa Rodrigues⁴  Douglas Riff⁵  Juliana Sayão⁶ 

[1] Departamento de Biologia Animal, Museu de Zoologia João Moojen, Universidade Federal de Viçosa Campus Universitário (s/n)Viçosa Minas Gerais 36570-000, Brazil;Departamento de Geologia e Paleontolgia, Museu Nacional, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Quinta da Boa Vista (s/n) , Rio de Janeiro 20940-040, Brazil;Departamento de Geologia e Paleontolgia, Museu Nacional, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Quinta da Boa Vista (s/n) , Rio de Janeiro 20940-040, Brazil Correspondence;Departamento de Medicina Veterinária, Centro de Ciências Agrárias, Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo Caixa Postal 16Alegre, Espírito Santo, 29500-000, Brazil;Instituto de Biologia, Universidade Federal de Uberlândia Campus Umuarama (s/n) Bloco 2DUberlândia, Minas Gerais, 38400-902, Brazil;Núcleo de Ciências Biológicas, Centro Acadêmico de Vitória, Universidade Federal de Pernambuco Rua do Alto Reservatório (s/n)Vitória de Santo Antão, Pernambuco, 55608-680, Brazil

关键词: James Ross Island;    Antarctica;    plesiosauria;    Late Cretaceous;    Museu Nacional;    oldest;   

DOI  :  10.3402/polar.v30i0.7265

学科分类：自然科学（综合）

来源: Co-Action Publishing

【 摘 要 】

Antarctic plesiosaurs are known from the Upper Cretaceous López de Bertodano and Snow Hill Island formations (Campanian to upper Maastrichtian), which crop out within the James Ross Basin region of the Antarctic Peninsula. Here we describe the first plesiosaur fossils from the Lachman Crags Member of the Santa Marta Formation, north-western James Ross Island. This material constitutes the stratigraphically oldest plesiosaur occurrence presently known from Antarctica, extending the occurrence of plesiosaurians in this continent back to Santonian times (86.3–83.5 Mya). Furthermore, MN 7163-V represents the first plesiosaur from this region not referable to the Elasmosauridae nor Aristonectes, indicating a greater diversity of this group of aquatic reptiles in Antarctica than previously suspected.

【 授权许可】

CC BY-NC