The Late Triassic (ca. 237-201.5 million years ago) was a transitional interval in the evolution of terrestrial ecosystems, during which ‘modern’ clades such as archosaurs and mammals were radiating while ‘archaic’ groups such as temnospondyl amphibians and basal synapsids remained abundant. Little is known about the Triassic terrestrial (nonmarine) vertebrates of the Iberian Peninsula. The Algarve Basin of southern Portugal is an extensional rift basin formed during the breakup of Pangaea, which is filled with terrestrial, lacustrine, and marginal marine siliciclastics of the Grés de Silves Formation, interbedded with CAMP basalts that mark the end-Triassic extinction (radioisotopically dated to ~198-201.5 Ma). Since 2009, our field project in the Algarve has discovered numerous vertebrate specimens within the Grés de Silves, including a monodominant bonebed containing hundreds of specimens of metoposaurids, a peculiar group of temnospondyls that filled crocodile-like predatory niches in lacustrine and fluvial environments. These specimens appear to belong to a new species of Metoposaurus, similar to M. diagnosticus and M. krasiejowensis from central Europe but possessing several putative autapomorphies of the braincase and lower jaw. We also discovered a mandible of a phytosaur, the first specimen of these long-snouted, semi-aquatic archosauriforms from the Iberian Peninsula. These discoveries of characteristic Carnian Norian taxa indicate that the fossil-bearing portion of the Grés de Silves is Late Triassic in age, and provide further evidence that metoposaurids and phytosaurs commonly occurred together in low palaeolatitudes during this time.

ABSTRACTMetoposaurids are a group of temnospondyl amphibians that filled crocodile-like predatory niches in fluvial and lacustrine environments during the Late Triassic. Metoposaurids are common in the Upper Triassic sediments of North Africa, Europe, India, and North America, but many questions about their systematics and phylogeny remain unresolved. We here erect Metoposaurus algarvensis, sp. nov., the first Metoposaurus species from the Iberian Peninsula, based on several new specimens from a Late Triassic bonebed in Algarve, southern Portugal. We describe the cranial and pectoral anatomy of M. algarvensis and compare it with other metoposaurids (particularly other specimens of Metoposaurus from Germany and Poland). We provide a revised diagnosis and species-level taxonomy for the genus Metoposaurus, which is currently represented with certainty by three European species (M. diagnosticus, M. krasiejowensis, M. algarvensis). We also identify cranial characters that differentiate these three species, and may have phylogenetic significance. These include features of the braincase and mandible, which indicate that metoposaurid skulls are more variable than previously thought. The new Portuguese bonebed provides further evidence that metoposaurids congregated in fluvial and lacustrine settings across their geographic range and often succumbed to mass death events. We provide an updated paleogeographic map depicting all known metoposaurid occurrences, which shows that these temnospondyls were globally distributed in low latitudes during the Late Triassic and had a similar, but not identical, paleogeographic range as phytosaurs.http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:083C80C6-0AB6-49E1-A636-6A8BDBC06A47ABSTRACTMetoposaurids are a group of temnospondyl amphibians that filled crocodile-like predatory niches in fluvial and lacustrine environments during the Late Triassic. Metoposaurids are common in the Upper Triassic sediments of North Africa, Europe, India, and North America, but many questions about their systematics and phylogeny remain unresolved. We here erect Metoposaurus algarvensis, sp. nov., the first Metoposaurus species from the Iberian Peninsula, based on several new specimens from a Late Triassic bonebed in Algarve, southern Portugal. We describe the cranial and pectoral anatomy of M. algarvensis and compare it with other metoposaurids (particularly other specimens of Metoposaurus from Germany and Poland). We provide a revised diagnosis and species-level taxonomy for the genus Metoposaurus, which is currently represented with certainty by three European species (M. diagnosticus, M. krasiejowensis, M. algarvensis). We also identify cranial characters that differentiate these three species, and may have phylogenetic significance. These include features of the braincase and mandible, which indicate that metoposaurid skulls are more variable than previously thought. The new Portuguese bonebed provides further evidence that metoposaurids congregated in fluvial and lacustrine settings across their geographic range and often succumbed to mass death events. We provide an updated paleogeographic map depicting all known metoposaurid occurrences, which shows that these temnospondyls were globally distributed in low latitudes during the Late Triassic and had a similar, but not identical, paleogeographic range as phytosaurs.http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:083C80C6-0AB6-49E1-A636-6A8BDBC06A47

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Presacral vertebrae of a new Diplodocidae from the Late Jurassic Amoreira-Porto Novo Formation of Lourinhã, Portugal are described and figured. Dinheirosaurus lourinhanensis gen. et sp. is diagnosed by well developed accessory articulations derived from the hyposphene, exposed in lateral view; and by the smaller dorsoventral length of the lower section of the neural arch. It is considered that the organization of the dorsal neural arch of Dinheirosaurus is more derived than in Diplodocus, except in the dorsoventral development of the lower portion of it, which is higher (more derived) in the latter. Possibly the isolated geography of Portugal in the Late Jurassic gave rise to the distinct characters of this new genus.

Forty partial fossil skulls belonging to beaked whales (Cetacea, Odontoceti, Ziphiidae) were collected by trawling and long-line fishing on Neogene (probably Late Early to Middle Miocene) layers of the Atlantic floor off the coasts of Portugal and Spain (Asturias and Galicia). e systematic study of the most diagnostic Iberian specimens, those preserving the rostrum and the dorsal part of the cranium, led to the recognition of two new genera (Globicetus n. gen. and Imocetus n. gen.) and four new species (Choneziphius leidyi n. sp., G. hiberus n. gen., n. sp., I. piscatus n. gen., n. sp., and Tusciziphius atlanticus n. sp.).
Based on the matrix of a previous work, the phylogenetic analysis places all the new taxa in the subfamily Ziphiinae Gray, 1850. More fragmentary specimens are tentatively referred to the genera Caviziphius Bianucci & Post, 2005 and Ziphirostrum du Bus, 1868. Among these new ziphiids, extremely bizarre skull morphologies are observed. In G. hiberus n. gen., n. sp. the proximal portion of the rostrum bears a voluminous premaxillary spheroid. In T. atlanticus n. sp. a medial premaxillary bulge is present on the rostrum; together with asymmetric
rostral maxillary eminences at the rostrum base, this bulge displays various degrees of elevation in different specimens, which may be interpreted as sexual dimorphism. Specimens of I. piscatus n. gen., n. sp. bear two sets of even crests: spur-like rostral maxillary crests and longitudinal maxillary crests laterally bordering a wide and long facial basin. A preliminary macroscopic observation of these elements indicates very dense bones, with a compactness comparable with that of cetacean ear bones. Questioning their function, the high medial rostral elements (the premaxillary spheroid of G. hiberus n. gen., n. sp. and the medial bulge of T. atlanticus n. sp.) remind the huge rostral maxillary crests of adult males of the extant Hyperoodon ampullatus (Forster, 1770). In the latter, the crests are very likely related to head-butting. However, they are made of much more spongy bone than in the fossil taxa studied here, and therefore possibly better mechanically suited for facing impacts. Other interpretations of these unusual bone specializations, related to deep-diving (ballast) and echolocation (sound reflection), fail to explain the diversity of shapes and the hypothetical sexual dimorphism observed in at least part of the taxa. e spur-like rostral maxillary crests and long maxillary crests limiting the large facial basin in I. piscatus n. gen., n. sp. and the excrescences on the maxilla at the rostrum base in Choneziphius spp. are instead interpreted as areas of origin for rostral and facial muscles, acting on the nasal passages, blowhole, and melon. From a palaeobiogeographic point of view, the newly described taxa further emphasize the differences in the North Atlantic (including Iberian Peninsula) and South African Neogene ziphiid faunal lists. Even if the stratigraphic context is poorly understood, leaving open the question of the geological age for most of the dredged specimens, these differences in the composition of cold to temperate northern and southern hemisphere fossil ziphiid faunas may be explained by a warm-water equatorial barrier.

Late Jurassic theropod tracks are very common both in North Africa and Europe. Two recently described ichnotaxa Megalosauripus transjuranicus and Jurabrontes curtedulensis from the Kimmeridgian of Switzerland show the coexistence of two apex predators in the same palaeoenvironment. Similar tracks can be found in tracksites from the Iberian Peninsula and from Morocco. Here, we further explore the similarities among the Swiss ichnotaxa and the other tracks from Germany (Kimmeridgian), Spain (Tithonian-Berriasian), Portugal (Oxfordian-Tithonian) and Morocco (Kimmeridgian) through novel three-dimensional data comparisons. Specimens were grouped in two morphotypes: 1) large and gracile (30 < Foot Length<50 cm) and 2) giant and robust (FL > 50 cm). The analyses show a great morphological overlap among these two morphotypes and the Swiss ichnotaxa (Megalosauripus transjuranicus and Jurabrontes curtedulensis, respectively), even despite the differences in sedimentary environment and age. This suggests a widespread occurrence of similar ichnotaxa along the western margin of Tethys during the Late Jurassic. The new data support the hypothesis of a Gondwana-Laurasia faunal exchange during the Middle or early Late Jurassic, and the presence of migratory routes around the Tethys.

A remarkably well-preserved, almost complete and articulated new specimen (GP/2E 9266) of Tupandactylus navigans is here described for the Early Cretaceous Crato Formation of Brazil. The new specimen comprises an almost complete skeleton, preserving both the skull and post-cranium, associated with remarkable preservation of soft tissues, which makes it the most complete tapejarid known thus far. CT-Scanning was performed to allow the assessment of bones still covered by sediment. The specimen can be assigned to Tupa. navigans due to its vertical supra-premaxillary bony process and short and rounded parietal crest. It also bears the largest dentary crest among tapejarine pterosaurs and a notarium, which is absent in other representatives of the clade. The new specimen is here regarded as an adult individual. This is the first time that postcranial remains of Tupa. navigans are described, being also an unprecedented record of an articulated tapejarid skeleton from the Araripe Basin.

The Late Triassic (Norian) outcrops of the Malmros Klint Formation, Jameson Land (Greenland) have yielded numerous specimens of non-sauropod sauropodomorphs. Relevant fossils were briefly reported in 1994 and were assigned to Plateosaurus trossingensis. However, continuous new findings of early non-sauropod sauropodomorphs around the globe facilitate comparisons and allow us to now revise this material. Here, the non-sauropod sauropodomorph Issi saaneq gen. et sp. nov. is described based on two almost complete and articulated skulls. The two skulls represent a middle-stage juvenile and a late-stage juvenile or subadult. Issi saaneq differs from all other sauropodomorphs by several unique traits: (1) a small foramen at the medial surface of the premaxilla; (2) an anteroposteriorly elongated dorsoposterior process of the squamosal; (3) a relatively high quadrate relative to rostrum height; (4) a well-developed posterodorsal process of the articular. These features cannot be explained by taphonomy, ontogeny, or intraspecific variation. Issi saaneq shows affinities to Brazilian plateosaurids and the European Plateosaurus, being recovered as the sister clade of the latter in our phylogenetic analysis. It is the northernmost record of a Late Triassic sauropodomorph, and a new dinosaur species erected for Greenland. Issi saaneq broadens our knowledge about the evolution of plateosaurid sauropodomorphs.