We report a new specimen of the plesiosaur Cardiocorax mukulu that includes the most complete plesiosaur skull from sub-Saharan Africa. The well-preserved three-dimensional nature of the skull offers rare insight into the cranial anatomy of elasmosaurid plesiosaurians. The new specimen of Cardiocorax mukulu was recovered from Bentiaba, Namibe Province in Angola, approximately three meters above the holotype. The new specimen also includes an atlas-axis complex, seventeen postaxial cervical vertebrae, partial ribs, a femur, and limb elements. It is identified as Cardiocorax mukulu based on an apomorphy shared with the holotype where the cervical neural spine is approximately as long anteroposteriorly as the centrum and exhibits a sinusoidal anterior margin. The new specimen is nearly identical to the holotype and previously referred material in all other aspects. Cardiocorax mukulu is returned in an early-branching or intermediate position in Elasmosauridae in four out of the six of our phylogenetic analyses. Cardiocorax mukulu lacks the elongated cervical vertebrae that is characteristic of the extremely long-necked elasmosaurines, and the broad skull with and a high number of maxillary teeth (28–40) which is characteristic of Aristonectinae. Currently, the most parsimonious explanation concerning elasmosaurid evolutionary relationships, is that Cardiocorax mukulu represents an older lineage of elasmosaurids in the Maastrichtian.

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Portugal is ranked within the ten countries with more dinosaur taxa and the Lourinhã Formation is known
by the Late Jurassic findings of dinosaurs and other fossils. Often, studies of the external morphological
characteristics of the fossils are not sufficient and, observations of internal structures, using non-
destructive techniques, are required. The fossils here presented belong to the Museum da Lourinhã
(Portugal) and comprise a lower jaw of a basal crocodilian (possibly a Tomistomidae), eggshells and
several vertebrae from the exceptionally well preserved in ovo remains of Late Jurassic theropod dinosaur
Lourinhanosaurus. Neutron Tomography (NT) experiments with this material has been carried out at the
Geesthacht Neutron Facility in Germany. Additionally, eggshell fragments and several vertebrae have
been studied by Synchrotron-Radiation based Micro-Computed Tomography (SRμCT) at the HARWI II and
BW2 beamlines, respectively. These beamlines are operated by the Helmholtz-Zentrum Geesthacht at the
storage ring DORIS III at the Deutsches Elektronen–Synchrotron DESY in Hamburg, Germany. In both cases
(NT and SRμCT) complete 3D recordings have been obtained using a non-destructive procedure. The high-
quality tomographic datasets can be effectively studied through interactive digital visualization. Hence,
these visualization methods provide precious information about the 3D internal micro morphology of
fossils, like the network of the eggshell pores, often invisible in more traditional techniques, and provide a
direct window into the evolutionary history of organisms.

The taxonomy, chronology and dispersal patterns of hippopotamuses in Western Europe are still a matter of debate, despite the long history of researchers on these topics. In this framework, the Portuguese material has never been investigated or recently revised, and it can contribute to increasing our comprehension about Quaternary hippopotamuses. The material considered in this work, collected from sites dated between 1 Ma and 0.13 Ma, is compared with fossil Pleistocene hippopotamuses from the Iberian Peninsula, Italy, Germany and Greece, in order to contribute into the discussion on evolutionary and dispersal patterns of these large semi-aquatic mammals in Europe during the Pleistocene. Portugal deposits recorded the presence of H. antiquus, starting from 1 Ma up to 0.4 Ma, and H. cf. amphibius during the late Middle Pleistocene. In particular, the occurrence of H. antiquus in Condeixa, dated around 0.4 Ma, can be considered as the LAD of this species in Europe. The paleobiogeography and dispersal patterns of European hippopotamuses are further discussed.

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The paleontological richness of Morocco has been scientifically known since at least the early 20th century. The region of the Middle Atlas, more specifically the Boulemane area, has been however only sparsely studied since the 1960s when it provided vertebrate fossils from the Middle Jurassic. In September 2013, a Moroccan-Portuguese expedition to the village of Taghrout, Boulemane, made excavations in a Pleistocene fossil site that once was a small high-altitude sedimentary basin, uncharted in previous geological maps. The excavations yielded bone material from large mammals, the most common findings are elephants ascribed to Elephas, but artiodactyls, turtles, and in-situ Acheulean tools were also collected. This represents a new and important paleontological and archeological site. In addition to the discoveries of Taghrout, the expedition also retrieved Quaternary vertebrate material from a nearby cave and found new Jurassic localities, with arcosaur bones and dinosaur footprints, in El Mers.

The paleontological richness of Morocco has been scientifically known since at least the early 20th century. The region of the Middle Atlas, more specifically the Boulemane area, has been however only sparsely studied since the 1960s when it provided vertebrate fossils from the Middle Jurassic. In September 2013, a Moroccan-Portuguese expedition to the village of Taghrout, Boulemane, made excavations in a Pleistocene fossil site that once was a small high-altitude sedimentary basin, uncharted in previous geological maps. The excavations yielded bone material from large mammals, the most common findings are elephants ascribed to Elephas, but artiodactyls, turtles, and in-situ Acheulean tools were also collected. This represents a new and important paleontological and archeological site. In addition to the discoveries of Taghrout, the expedition also retrieved Quaternary vertebrate material from a nearby cave and found new Jurassic localities, with arcosaur bones and dinosaur footprints, in El Mers.

A partial chelonian was collected from the Langenberg Formation quarry of Oker (near Goslar, Lower Saxony, Germany). The amniotes from this formation include other chelonians (possible Plesiochelyidae), the sauropod Europasaurus holgeri, theropods (Velociraptorinae), crocodylomorphs (Atoposauridae, Theriosuchus pusillus, Goniopholis simus, Machimosaurus hugii, Steneosaurus brevirostris) and pterosaurs (Dsungapteridae, ?Ornithocheiroidea, ?Ctenochasmatidae).

The reported specimen, DFMMh/FV 296, includes a skull part (articulated quadrate, squamosal, basisphenoid, and pterygoid), a disarticulated 40 cm long partial carapace, plastron, and one cervical vertebra.

The carapace bears fontanelles, trapezoidal suprapygal with straight edges, small last neurals

[....]
a plicated longitudinal pattern in the proximal end of the costals originating on the posterior side of the scute sulci and dissipating posteriorly, wide central opening in the plastron, xiphiplastra with little or no contact between each other, and both the hyo- and hypoplastron have digit-form buttress projections.

The specimen has a central plastra fontanelle, which is regarded as a feature of the clade including [....], Santanachelys, and Thalassemys. DFMMh/FV 296 differs from
[....]

edges and xiphiplastron participation in the central fontanelle is autapomorphic for the Thalassemys genus. A large central fontanelle with hyo and hypoplastron polygonal medial
[....]
contact between xiphiplastra and reduced size of the two last neural plates is shared between T. hugii and the Oker specimen. DFMMh/FV 296 differs from this species due to the presence of plastral projections. The different shape of the plastron (no polygonal-like margins or hyo- and hypoplastron projections) suggests that T. moseri [....]
ent genus. Therefore, we can assign this specimen to Thalassemys sp.

Titanosauriforms represent a diverse and globally distributed clade of neosauropod dinosaurs, but their inter-relationships remain poorly understood. Here we redescribe Lusotitan atalaiensis from the Late Jurassic Lourinhã Formation of Portugal, a taxon previously referred to Brachiosaurus. The lectotype includes cervical, dorsal, and caudal vertebrae, and elements from the forelimb, hindlimb, and pelvic girdle. Lusotitan is a valid taxon and can be diagnosed by six autapomorphies, including the presence of elongate postzygapophyses that project well beyond the posterior margin of the neural arch in anterior-to-middle caudal vertebrae. A new phylogenetic analysis, focused on elucidating the evolutionary relationships of basal titanosauriforms, is presented, comprising 63 taxa scored for 279 characters. Many of these characters are heavily revised or novel to our study, and a number of ingroup taxa have never previously been incorporated into a phylogenetic analysis. We treated quantitative characters as discrete and continuous data in two parallel analyses, and explored the effect of implied weighting. Although we recovered monophyletic brachiosaurid and somphospondylan sister clades within Titanosauriformes, their compositions were affected by alternative treatments of quantitative data and, especially, by the weighting of such data. This suggests that the treatment of quantitative data is important and the wrong decisions might lead to incorrect tree topologies. In particular, the diversity of Titanosauria was greatly increased by the use of implied weights. Our results support the generic separation of the contemporaneous taxa Brachiosaurus, Giraffatitan, and Lusotitan, with the latter recovered as either a brachiosaurid or the sister taxon to Titanosauriformes. Although Janenschia was recovered as a basal macronarian, outside Titanosauria, the sympatric Australodocus provides body fossil evidence for the pre-Cretaceous origin of titanosaurs. We recovered evidence for a sauropod with close affinities to the Chinese taxon Mamenchisaurus in the Late Jurassic Tendaguru beds of Africa, and present new information demonstrating the wider distribution of caudal pneumaticity within Titanosauria. The earliest known titanosauriform body fossils are from the late Oxfordian (Late Jurassic), although trackway evidence indicates a Middle Jurassic origin. Diversity increased throughout the Late Jurassic, and titanosauriforms did not undergo a severe extinction across the Jurassic/Cretaceous boundary, in contrast to diplodocids and non-neosauropods. Titanosauriform diversity increased in the Barremian and Aptian–Albian as a result of radiations of derived somphospondylans and lithostrotians, respectively, but there was a severe drop (up to 40%) in species numbers at, or near, the Albian/Cenomanian boundary, representing a faunal turnover whereby basal titanosauriforms were replaced by derived titanosaurs, although this transition occurred in a spatiotemporally staggered fashion.

Although diplodocoid sauropods from Africa and the Americas are well known, their European record remains largely neglected. Here we redescribe Dinheirosaurus lourinhanensis from the Late Jurassic of Portugal. The holotype comprises two posterior cervical vertebrae, the dorsal series and a caudal centrum. Redescription demonstrates its validity on the basis of three autapomorphies: (1) posteriorly restricted ventral keel on posterior cervical vertebrae; (2) three small subcircular fossae posterior to the lateral coel on posterior cervical neural spines; (3) accessory lamina linking the hyposphene with base of the posterior centrodiapophyseal lamina in middle-posterior dorsal vertebrae. Phylogenetic analysis places Dinheirosaurus as the sister taxon to Supersaurus, and this clade forms the sister taxon to other diplodocines. However, this position should be treated with caution as Dinheirosaurus displays several plesiomorphic features absent in other diplodocids (including unbifurcated presacral neural spines, and dorsolaterally projecting diapophyses on dorsal vertebrae) and only four additional steps are required to place Dinheirosaurus outside of Flagellicaudata. We identify Amazonsaurus as the basal-most rebbachisaurid and recover Zapalasaurus outside of the South American Limaysaurinae, suggesting the biogeographic history of rebbachisaurids is more complex than previously proposed. Review of the European diplodocoid record reveals evidence for the earliest known diplodocid, as well as additional diplodocid remains from the Late Jurassic of Spain. A Portuguese specimen, previously referred to Dinheirosaurus, displays strong similarities to Apatosaurus from the contemporaneous Morrison Formation of North America, indicating the presence of a second Late Jurassic Portuguese diplodocid taxon. Along with Dinheirosaurus, these Portuguese remains provide further evidence for a Late Jurassic palaeobiogeographic connection between Europe and North America. No dicraeosaurids are currently known from Europe, but rebbachisaurids are present in the Early Cretaceous, with weak evidence for the earliest known representative from the Late Jurassic of Spain; however, more complete material is required to recognize early members of this clade.