The skull-bone quadrate in nonavian theropods is very diverse morphologically alongside the disparity of the group as a whole. However this disparity has been underestimated for taxonomic purposes. In order to evaluate the phylogenetic potential and investigate the evolutionary transformations of the quadrate, we conducted a Catalano-Goloboff phylogenetic morphometric analysis as well as a cladistic analysis using 98 discrete quadrate related characters. The cladistic analysis provides a fully resolved tree mirroring to some degree the classification of nonavian theropods. The quadrate morphology by its own provides a wealth of data with strong phylogenetic signal and allows inference of major trends in the evolution of this bone. Important synapomorphies include: for Abelisauroidea, a lateral ramus extending to the ectocondyle; for Tetanurae, the absence of the lateral process; for Spinosauridae, a medial curvature of the ventral part of the pterygoid ramus occurring just above the mandibular articulation; for Avetheropoda, an anterior margin of the pterygoid flange formed by a roughly parabolic margin; and for Tyrannosauroidea, a semi-oval pterygoid flange shape in medial view. The Catalano-Goloboff phylogenetic morphometric analysis reveals two main morphotypes of the mandibular articulation of the quadrate linked to function. The first morphotype, characterized by an anteroposteriorly broad mandibular articulation with two ovoid/subcircular condyles roughly subequal in size, is found in Ceratosauria, Tyrannosauroidea and Oviraptorosauria. This morphotype allows a very weak displacement of the mandible laterally. The second morphotype is characterized by an elongate and anteroposteriorly narrow mandibular articulation and a long and parabolic/sigmoid ectocondyle. Present in Megalosauroidea, Carcharodontosauridae and Dromaeosauridae, this morphotype permits the lower jaw rami to be displaced laterally when the mouth opened.

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We report a new chelonioid turtle on the basis of a nearly complete skull collected in lower Paleocene, shallow marine deposits, equivalent to the offshore Landana Formation, near the town of Landana in Cabinda Province, Angola. Chelonioid material previously reported from this locality is likely referable to this new taxon. The well-preserved skull is missing the left quadrate, squamosal, and prootic, both opisthotics, and the mandible. The skull possesses a rod-like basisphenoid rostrum, which is a synapomorphy of Chelonioidea, but it differs from other chelonioid skulls in that the contact between the parietal and squamosal is absent, and the posterior palatine foramen is present. Phylogenetic analysis recovers the new taxon as a basal chelonioid. The Paleocene– Eocene strata near Landana have produced a wealth of turtle fossils, including the holotype of the pleurodire Taphrosphys congolensis. A turtle humerus collected from the Landana locality differs morphologically from the humeri of chelonioids and Taphrosphys, indicating the presence of a third taxon. Chelonioid fossil material in the Landana assemblage is rare compared to the abundant fragmentary remains of Taphrosphys that are found throughout the stratigraphic section. This disparity in abundance suggests the new chelonioid taxon preferred open marine habitats, whereas Taphrosphys frequented nearshore environments.

We report a new chelonioid turtle on the basis of a nearly complete skull collected in lower Paleocene, shallow marine deposits, equivalent to the offshore Landana Formation, near the town of Landana in Cabinda Province, Angola. Chelonioid material previously reported from this locality is likely referable to this new taxon. The well-preserved skull is missing the left quadrate, squamosal, and prootic, both opisthotics, and the mandible. The skull possesses a rod-like basisphenoid rostrum, which is a synapomorphy of Chelonioidea, but it differs from other chelonioid skulls in that the contact between the parietal and squamosal is absent, and the posterior palatine foramen is present. Phylogenetic analysis recovers the new taxon as a basal chelonioid. The Paleocene– Eocene strata near Landana have produced a wealth of turtle fossils, including the holotype of the pleurodire Taphrosphys congolensis. A turtle humerus collected from the Landana locality differs morphologically from the humeri of chelonioids and Taphrosphys, indicating the presence of a third taxon. Chelonioid fossil material in the Landana assemblage is rare compared to the abundant fragmentary remains of Taphrosphys that are found throughout the stratigraphic section. This disparity in abundance suggests the new chelonioid taxon preferred open marine habitats, whereas Taphrosphys frequented nearshore environments.

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The end-Triassic extinction event (ETE), considered one of the ‘Big Five’ mass extinctions, marks a dividing line between early Mesozoic vertebrate assemblages, typically including abundant temnospondyls, basal synapsids and basal archosaurs, and ‘typical’ Mesozoic faunas dominated by dinosaurs, pterosaurs, crocodylomorphs, turtles and mammaliaforms.
Recent geochemical work has provided strong evidence that the ETE is synchronous with, and likely caused by, the emplacement of the Central Atlantic magmatic province (CAMP).
However, stratigraphic sections containing both terrestrial vertebrates and CAMP basalts are scarce, complicating attempts to examine terrestrial faunal changes during this extinction event. The Triassic–Jurassic Algarve Basin, southern Portugal, is an extensional rift basin

to-marginal marine red beds (the ‘Grés de Silves’ Group) interbedded with CAMP basalts.

bonebed from the interval ‘AB1’ of the Grés de Silves. Preliminary excavations yielded at least nine well-preserved temnospondyl individuals represented by partial to nearly complete skulls and disarticulated postcranial elements of juvenile to adult ages. Nearly all material appears to represent a single species of metoposaurid referable to the genus Metoposaurus, well known from the late Carnian–early Norian of Germany and Poland. A number of characters of the occiput and mandible suggest that the Algarve material may represent a new species. This new material provides new data on the diversity and paleogeographical distribution of the metoposaurids, a highly autapomorphic and peculiar group composed of large aquatic carnivores with a unique elongated but brevirostral skull. This taxon also provides

Horizon may be within or close to the late Carnian–early Norian. Additional bone-bearing horizons within the ‘Grés de Silves’ provide a rare opportunity to examine terrestrial faunal change in the lead-up to the ETE.

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Portugal is rich on dinosaur remains (bones, eggs, and tracks) from Early Jurassic to Late
Cretaceous ages, but mainly from the Late Jurassic, in which dozen of tracksites have been reported.
Here are reported new or poorly known track localities:
1) Five tracksites share the preservation substrate (marine carbonated limestone), age (late Jurassic), geographic area (Leiria district of Portugal), kind of preservation (true tracks), and completeness (trackways of multiple individuals):
i) Praia dos Salgados includes eight trackways, mostly ornithopods and theropods, and one wide gauge sauropod, made in very soft sediment; some preserve the hallux impression.
ii) Serra de Mangues is mostly covered with vegetation but seems to include dozens of tracks comprising theropods, thyreophorans, ornithopods and sauropods.
iii) Sobral da Lagoa (Pedreira do Rio Real) include six trackways but poorly preserved;
and
iv) Serra de Bouro that preserves four sauropod trackways in one single layer.
v) Pedrógão, preserved, at least, one theropod trackway and several isolated tracks of
theropods and ornithopods were found in different layers in the Early Oxfordian.
2) The locality in Praia de Porto das Barcas yielded natural casts of stegosaur tracks
(including pes print with skin impression) and a very large sauropod pes print with about
1.2 m long pes.
3) A new pterosaur tracksite was found in the Late Jurassic of Peralta, Lourinhã (Sobral Member, Lourinhã Fm.; Late Kimmeridgian/Early Tithonian). More than 220 manus and pes tracks have been collected in about five square meters, all ascribed to pterosaurs. The tracks were produced in a thin mud layer that has been covered by sand which preserved them as sandstone mould infill (natural casts). The manus of the largest specimens is 13 cm wide and 5.5 cm long and the pes measures 14.5 cm in length and 9 cm in width. This shows the occurrence of very large pterosaurs in the Late Jurassic. Other pterosaur tracksites in the Late Jurassic of Portugal are: Porto das Barcas (Lourinhã Municipality), South of Consolação (Peniche Municipality), and Zambujal de Baixo (Sesimbra Municipality).

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Here we describe a new species of the mosasaurine genus Prognathodon from the Maastrichtian of Namibe, Angola, on the basis of five specimens which represent most of the cranial skeleton including the diagnostic quadrate. Phylogenetic analysis shows this new taxon, P. kianda nov. sp., to be the sister taxon to all other species of Prognathodon. It is unique amongst Prognathodon in possessing a high marginal tooth count and relatively small pterygoid teeth. The tooth morphology in the new taxon is reminiscent of some species of the genus Liodon, allowing association of Liodon-like dentition with otherwise Prognathodon-like crania, and thus resolves the long-standing question of the phylogenetic affinities of Liodon.

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The quadrate in nonavian theropods is incredibly diverse morphologically; however this morphological disparity has been underestimated for taxonomic purposes. The quadrate topological homologies and anatomy, as well as the terminology, among nonavian theropod clades are reviewed. In order to evaluate the phylogenetic potential and investigate the evolutionary transformations of the quadrate, we conducted a Catalano-Goloboff phylogenetic morphometric analysis using 3 morphometric characters, a total of 28 landmarks coded for 23 taxa, as well as a cladistic analysis using 115 discrete quadrate-related characters coded for 43 taxa. The cladistic analysis provides a fully resolved tree mirroring the current classification of nonavian theropods. The quadrate morphology by its own provides a wealth of data with strong phylogenetic signal. Several unambiguous synapomorphies support nonavian theropod relationships and the resulting consensus tree allows inference of major trends in the evolution of this bone. Important synapomorphies include: for Abelisauridae, a lateral ramus extending to the ectocondyle; for Tetanurae, the absence of the lateral process; for Spinosauridae, a medial curvature of the ventral part of the pterygoid ramus occurring just above the mandibular articulation; for Neotetanurae, an anterior margin of the pterygoid flange formed by a roughly parabolic margin; and for Tyrannosauroidea, a semi-oval pterygoid flange shape in medial view. The Catalano-Goloboff phylogenetic morphometric analysis reveals two main morphotypes of the mandibular articulation of the quadrate linked to function. The first morphotype, characterized by an anteroposteriorly broad mandibular articulation with two ovoid/subcircular condyles roughly subequal in size, is found in Ceratosauria, Tyrannosauroidea and Oviraptorosauria. This morphotype allows a very weak displacement of the mandible laterally. The second morphotype is characterized by an elongate and anteroposteriorly narrow mandibular articulation and a long and parabolic/sigmoid ectocondyle. Present in Megalosauroidea, Allosauroidea and Dromaeosauridae, this morphotype permits the lower jaw rami to be displaced laterally when the mouth opened.

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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We report a new chelonioid turtle on the basis of a nearly complete skull collected in lower Paleocene, shallow marine deposits, equivalent to the offshore Landana Formation, near the town of Landana in Cabinda Province, Angola. Chelonioid material previously reported from this locality is likely referable to this new taxon. The well-preserved skull is missing the left quadrate, squamosal, and prootic, both opisthotics, and the mandible. The skull possesses a rod-like basisphenoid rostrum, which is a synapomorphy of Chelonioidea, but it differs from other chelonioid skulls in that the contact between the parietal and squamosal is absent, and the posterior palatine foramen is present. Phylogenetic analysis recovers the new taxon as a basal chelonioid. The Paleocenetextendash Eocene strata near Landana have produced a wealth of turtle fossils, including the holotype of the pleurodire Taphrosphys congolensis. A turtle humerus collected from the Landana locality differs morphologically from the humeri of chelonioids and Taphrosphys, indicating the presence of a third taxon. Chelonioid fossil material in the Landana assemblage is rare compared to the abundant fragmentary remains of Taphrosphys that are found throughout the stratigraphic section. This disparity in abundance suggests the new chelonioid taxon preferred open marine habitats, whereas Taphrosphys frequented nearshore environments.