Search results for "Dinosaurs"
showing 5 items of 15 documents
A possible bridge between Adria and Africa: New palaeobiogeographic and stratigraphic constraints on the Mesozoic palaeogeography of the Central Medi…
2010
Abstract Dinosaur records in central and southern Italy testify to the occurrence of a diverse dinosaur fauna on the Apennine and Apulian carbonate platforms at least from the Tithonian to the Santonian. Most of the palaeogeographic reconstructions show these domains as topographically isolated areas, separated by deep pelagic basins and far from emerged continental areas. Thus, they hardly justify the long-lasting occurrence of these terrestrial vertebrates. Recent studies on the Mesozoic Panormide Carbonate Platform (western Sicily) yielded important stratigraphical and palaeontological data, which provide evidence for a convincing explanation of this unresolved problem. The recent discov…
Dinosaur bonebed amber from an original swamp forest soil
2021
AbstractDinosaur bonebeds with amber content, yet scarce, offer a superior wealth and quality of data on ancient terrestrial ecosystems. However, the preserved palaeodiversity and/or taphonomic characteristics of these exceptional localities had hitherto limited their palaeobiological potential. Here we describe the amber from the Lower Cretaceous dinosaur bonebed of Ariño (Teruel, Spain) using a multidisciplinary approach. Amber is found in both a root layer with amber strictly in situ and a litter layer namely composed of aerial pieces unusually rich in bioinclusions, encompassing 11 insect orders, arachnids, and a few plant and vertebrate remains, including a feather. Additional palaeont…
Revisión de la sección del yacimiento del Mas de la Chimenea Alta (Formación Arcillas de Morella, Castellón) y significado en el contexto paleoambien…
2012
Desde los primeros estudios estratigráficos y paleontológicos, que datan de principios del siglo XX, la Fm Morella se ha caracterizado por su coloración rojiza y su contenido fósil. La mayor parte de sus depósitos se han interpretado como continentales, aunque con intercalaciones locales de materiales marinos. En esta unidad se da la paradoja de que muchos de los lugares descritos con fauna de vertebrados continentales se encuentran en depósitos interpretados como ambientes marinos poco profundos y de transición. La sección del Mas de la Chimenea Alta es un ejemplo. Ésta contiene yacimientos con fósiles de vertebrados que son claramente alóctonos, pero también otros, con icnitas que permite…
A reappraisal of the purported gastric pellet with Pterosaurian bones from the Upper Triassic of Italy
2015
A small accumulation of bones from the Norian (Upper Triassic) of the Seazza Brook Valley (Carnic Prealps, Northern Italy) was originally (1989) identified as a gastric pellet made of pterosaur skeletal elements. The specimen has been reported in literature as one of the very few cases of gastric ejecta containing pterosaur bones since then. However, the detailed analysis of the bones preserved in the pellet, their study by X-ray microCT, and the comparison with those of basal pterosaurs do not support a referral to the Pterosauria. Comparison with the osteology of a large sample of Middle-Late Triassic reptiles shows some affinity with the protorosaurians, mainly with Langobardisaurus pand…
Biology of the sauropod dinosaurs: the evolution of gigantism
2010
The herbivorous sauropod dinosaurs of the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods were the largest terrestrial animals ever, surpassing the largest herbivorous mammals by an order of magnitude in body mass. Several evolutionary lineages among Sauropoda produced giants with body masses in excess of 50 metric tonnes by conservative estimates. With body mass increase driven by the selective advantages of large body size, animal lineages will increase in body size until they reach the limit determined by the interplay of bauplan, biology, and resource availability. There is no evidence, however, that resource availability and global physicochemical parameters were different enough in the Mesozoic to ha…