The record of ornithischian dinosaurs from Portugal is substantial but incomplete in terms of our understanding of taxonomic composition and details of the anatomy of many forms. New data and reinterpretation of these forms are provided. The basal thyreophoran from the Lower Jurassic (the nomen dubium “Lusitanosaurus liasicus”) is the most primitive dinosaur from Iberia. Concerning the Late Jurassic, new material from the Lourinhã Formation (Kimmeridgian/Tithonian) referable to the stegosaur Dacentrurus provides additional information on the systematic position and osteology.
The new material shows two rows of paired triangular plates, with a notch in the anterior rim. A maxillary of an ankylosaur from the Vale Frades (Lourinhã Fm.) is here reported, but cannot be referable to Dracopelta, the only ankylosaur genus currently known from Portugal. The ornithopod Alocodon kuehnei reported as Middle Jurassic (Callovian) is probably Oxfordian in age. A right dentary (ML768 from Zimbral) from the Lourinhã Formation, Kimmeridgian/Tithonian, and shares affinities with Dryosaurus but possesses more denticulation and no secondary ridges, suggesting the occurrence of a new or unreported species for the Late Jurassic of Portugal, which is here tentatively ascribed to aff. Dryosaurus sp. In summary, the Late Jurassic ornithischians species/genera from Portugal include Dacentrurus armatus, Stegosaurus cf. ungulatus, Dracopelta zbyszewskii, Phyllodon henkeli, Hypsilophodon sp., Alocodon kuehnei, Trimucrodon cuneatus, aff. Dryosaurus and Draconyx loureiroi. The Lower Cretaceous (Hauterivian / Barremian) of Praia das Aguncheiras, in Cabo Espichel, provided a partial left maxillary (CPGP.1.99.7) of a basal iguanodontian that shows affinities with Camptosaurus, and is tentatively assigned to this genus. The maxillary teeth denticles differ from Iguanodon or other Iguanodontoidea because not show mammillations. More material is necessary to validate but, to be true, that would confirm the presence of this genus in the lower Cretaceous. The Iguanodon has been well reported in the Lower Cretaceous of Cabo Espichel.

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Although nonavian theropod have received considerable interest in the last years, their ontogeny still remains poorly understood, especially the ontogenetical changes affecting their skull (Rauhutand Fechner, 2005). The quadrate, for instance, is preserved in several embryos and juvenile specimens belonging to many clades of theropods such as the Tyrannosauridae (Carr, 1999), Compsognathidae (Dal Sasso and Maganuco, 2011), Therizinosauroidea (Kúndrat et al., 2007), Oviraptoridae (Norell et al., 1994; Norell et al., 2001; Weishampel et al., 2008) and Troodontidae (Varrichio et al., 2002) but very little is usually said about the anatomy of this bone and no one has ever investigated ontogenetical variation in the nonavian theropod quadrate. The discovery of two quadrates belonging to embryos of the sinraptorid Lourinhanosaurus antunesi from Portugal and five isolated quadrates pertaining to juvenile, subadult and adult specimens of Spinosauridae from Morocco fills this gap and allows some ontogenetic information to be drawn for this bone in these two specific clades of Theropoda.

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Recent excavations at the Maastrichtian locality of Bentiaba, Namibe Province, in the southern part of Angola, have yielded high quality and partially articulated plesiosaur specimens that indicate at least three taxa were present. A new elasmosaurid is the most abundant and well-preserved plesiosaur taxon at Bentiaba. It is known from a complete articulated paddle and other elements of the skeleton, many of which remain to be collected. The most diagnostic elements so far recovered are the complete pelvic and pectoral girdles, which indicate that the Bentiaba elasmosaurid is probably a new genus because it bears an asymmetrical ventral process of the coracoids, a complete cordiform posterior coracoid vacuity, and pronounced excavation of the anterior border of the coracoids, among other characters. A polycotylid is [...]

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O sítio de Silveirinha é uma das localidades de mamíferos mais conhecidas da Paleontologia do Cenozoico de Portugal e da Europa em geral. Graças à sua rica e diversificada associação de mamíferos, com mais de 30 taxa, foi posicionado no Eocénico inferior (início do Ypresiano, MP7, ca. 55,8 M.a.), sendo o local mais antigo da Europa desta Época, devido à presença única de taxa típicos do Paleocénico superior, juntamente com outras espécies já características do Eocénico inferior. Este estudo irá rever o material de pequenos mamíferos deste sítio, conservado na coleção clássica da Universidade Nova de Lisboa, a fim de fazer uma actualização taxonómica à luz das publicações mais recentes.

Sauropods are often considered to have very limited mobility and reduced limb flexibility, mainly due to their giant size and consequent weight. In the Upper Jurassic Lourinhã Formation, central-west Portugal, deep vertical natural casts of sauropod manus tracks are often preserved as the infills of the original tracks. These manus tracks are vertical-walled, with marks of the striations of the skin scales, showing that the movement of the sauropod manus impacting and exiting the mud was totally vertical with no horizontal component of the stride. Some tracks are up to 66 cm deep, which is equivalent to the height of whole sauropod manus. This means that sauropods could lift their anterior feet in a complete vertical manner. Such movement is only possible if there is mobility at elbow and shoulder articulations in a higher degree than previously thought for sauropods. Our vision of sauropod limbs as inflexible columns has to be updated to a more dynamic model for limbs and body.

Sedimentological features of the Paimogo site, 6 km NNW of Lourinhã, western central Portugal are presented. More than one hundred theropod dinosaur eggs (some containing embryo bones) ascribed to Lourinhanosaurus antunesi Mateus 1998, three crocodilian eggs and some other fossils were found at the 32 m2 excavated area of the egg-bearing horizon (Mateus et al., 1998). The stratigraphic position of the site is the Praia Azul member (Lourinhã Formation), roughly corresponding to the Kimmeridgian-Tithonian boundary or, more likely lowermost Tithonian. The maximum flooding surface of the basinal transgressive event where the horizon is located corresponds to the base of the H depositional sequence defined by Pena dos Reis et al. (2000) and probably correlates to the base of sequence Ti1 identified within western European basins (Jacquin et al., 1998), dated as 150 Ma. Possibly during the normal river discharge, the theropods congregated in nesting colonies at the backswamp of an extensive flood plain with small meandering channels and freshwater ponds. There are no evidences that the nest was dug or the eggs buried. The eggs have probably been laid on a flat, shaded, muddy area near the bank of a large pond. It is probable that the eggs have not been actively incubated. The larger number of eggs suggest that they were laid near simultaneously by, at least, six females. The fossil record shows that crocodilians, mammals, gastropods and fish were also present. A flood event occurred when theropod embryos had attained a late stade of ontogenetic development, probably just before hatching. The overflow from a nearby channel flooded the plain, including the area where the eggs had been laid. The sheet flood flowing over the nest resulted into the scattering and breaking up of some dinosaur eggs. Eggshell and embryos skeletal parts fragments were displaced to an adjacent area where, due to hydrodynamic decline, the flow submerged other clutches and moderately dragged their eggs. The flooding caused the drowning of the embryos and covered the eggs with fine-grained sediment, hiding them from predators and scavengers. Hydrodynamic interpretation of the arrangement of the theropod eggs and egg-fragments suggests that the flow came from the NW. When the floodwaters receded, the fine-grained deposits became exposed to subaerial weathering. Although the sediment surface was often wet and small bodies of standing water may still have existed, the sediments were oxidized and plant remains have consequently been destroyed. Some carbonate cementation and redenning resulted from pedogenesis under alternating dry and moist conditions, in a semiarid/ sub-tropical climate under seasonal changing, contrasting conditions. The thick, stratigraphically above and below the nesting horizon mudrocks indicate a long persistence of periodic flooding, alternating with pedogenesis. During the early stages of diagenesis, vertical pressure crushed the eggs. Silt penetration into the inner part of each egg inhibited later flattening during the burial process.

A survey of Hemidactylus turcicus L. (Reptilia, Gekkonidae) was carried out from March to October
of 1996, in temporally limited transects, using quadrats of 160x160 meters, in the World Heritage site
of Évora. Occasional observations were also made in 1995 and 1996. Hemidactylus turcicus is
common in the sampled area, occurring in 56% of the quadrats, and prefers quiet streets. The species
Tarentola mauritanica was not observed in Évora but it appears 10 Km to the Southwest of this town.
Diurnal activity and winter activity were not observed.

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Africa is the only continent that now straddles arid zones located beneath the descending limbs of both the northern and southern Hadley cells, and it has done so since it became a distinct continent in the Early Cretaceous. Since that time, Africa has drifted tectonically some 12 degrees north and rotated approximately 45 degrees counterclockwise. This changing latitudinal setting and position of the landmass under the relatively stable Hadley Cells is manifested as southward migration of climatic zones over the past 132 million years. Data from kerogen, X-ray diffraction analysis of sedimentary matrix, carbon isotopes from shell samples and tooth enamel,new 40Ar/39Ar radiometric dates, pollen and plant macrofossils, and fossil vertebrates indicate a productive upwelling system adjacent to a coastal desert since the opening of the South Atlantic Ocean; however, the position of the coastal desert has migrated southward as Africa drifted north, resulting in today's Skeleton Coast and Benguela Current. This migration has had a profound effect on the placement of the West African coast relative to areas of high marine productivity and resulting extensive hydrocarbon deposits, on the placement of arid zones relative to the continent especially the Skeleton Coast desert, on the climatic history of the Congo Basin (which shows a Late Cretaceous decrease in aridity based on the relative abundance of analcime in the Samba core), and in reducing the southern temperate region of Africa from 17% of continental area during the Cretaceous to 2% today. We show here that these related geographic and environmental changes drove ecological and evolutionary adjustments in southern African floras and faunas, specifically with respect to the distribution of anthropoid primates, the occurrence of modern relicts such as the gnetalean Welwitschia mirabilis, endemism as in the case of ice plants, and mammalian adaption to an open environment as in springhares. Africa's tectonic drift through climate zones has been a first-order environmental determinant since the Early Cretaceous.

Africa is the only continent that now straddles arid zones located beneath the descending limbs of both the northern and southern Hadley cells, and it has done so since it became a distinct continent in the Early Cretaceous. Since that time, Africa has drifted tectonically some 12 degrees north and rotated approximately 45 degrees counterclockwise. This changing latitudinal setting and position of the landmass under the relatively stable Hadley Cells is manifested as southward migration of climatic zones over the past 132 million years. Data from kerogen, X-ray diffraction analysis of sedimentary matrix, carbon isotopes from shell samples and tooth enamel,new 40Ar/39Ar radiometric dates, pollen and plant macrofossils, and fossil vertebrates indicate a productive upwelling system adjacent to a coastal desert since the opening of the South Atlantic Ocean; however, the position of the coastal desert has migrated southward as Africa drifted north, resulting in today's Skeleton Coast and Benguela Current. This migration has had a profound effect on the placement of the West African coast relative to areas of high marine productivity and resulting extensive hydrocarbon deposits, on the placement of arid zones relative to the continent especially the Skeleton Coast desert, on the climatic history of the Congo Basin (which shows a Late Cretaceous decrease in aridity based on the relative abundance of analcime in the Samba core), and in reducing the southern temperate region of Africa from 17{%} of continental area during the Cretaceous to 2{%} today. We show here that these related geographic and environmental changes drove ecological and evolutionary adjustments in southern African floras and faunas, specifically with respect to the distribution of anthropoid primates, the occurrence of modern relicts such as the gnetalean Welwitschia mirabilis, endemism as in the case of ice plants, and mammalian adaption to an open environment as in springhares. Africa's tectonic drift through climate zones has been a first-order environmental determinant since the Early Cretaceous.

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