Publications in the Year: 2025

Journal Article

Jiangzuo, Q, Madurell-Malapeira J, Li X, Estraviz-López D, Mateus O, Testu A, Li S, Wang S, Deng T.  2025.  Insights on the evolution and adaptation toward high-altitude and cold environments in the snow leopard lineage. Science Advances. 11:eadp5243., Number 3 AbstractWebsite

How snow leopard gradually adapted to the extreme environments in Tibet remains unexplored due to the scanty fossil record in Tibet. Here, we recognize five valid outside-Tibet records of the snow leopard lineage. Our results suggest that the snow leopard dispersed out of the Tibetan Plateau multiple times during the Quaternary. The osteological anatomy of the modern snow leopard shows adaptation to the steep slope and, to a lesser extent, cold/high-altitude environment. Fossils and phylogeny suggest that the snow leopard experienced a gradual strengthening of such adaptation, especially since the Middle Pleistocene ( 0.8 million years). Species distribution modeling suggests that the locations of the fossil sites are not within most suitable area, and we argue that local landscape features are more influential factors than temperature and altitude alone. Our study underscores the importance of integrating morphology, fossil records, and species distribution modeling, to comprehensively understand the evolution, ecology, and inform conservation strategies for endangered species. Integrated morphology, fossil records, and SDM reveal the evolution and adaptation in the snow leopard lineage.

Rotatori, FM, Escaso F, Camilo B, Bertozzo F, Malafaia E, Mateus O, Mocho P, Ortega F, and MM-A.  2025.  Evidence of large-sized ankylopollexian dinosaurs (Ornithischia: Iguanodontia) in the Upper Jurassic of Portugal. Journal of Systematic Palaeontology. 23:2470789., Number 1: Taylor & Francis Abstractevidence_of_large-sized_ankylopollexian_dinosaurs__ornithischia__iguanodontia__in_the_upper_jurassic_of_portugal.pdfWebsite

The Upper Jurassic beds of the Lusitanian Basin in central Portugal yield diverse dinosaurian fauna, dated to the Kimmeridgian–Tithonian interval. Saurischian dinosaurs are, overall, more abundant than their ornithischian counterparts, in terms of both specimens collected and species recognized. Iguanodontians are so far represented by the styracosternan Draconyx loureiroi, the dryosaurid Eousdryosaurus nanohallucis and the enigmatic dryomorphan Hesperonyx martinhotomasorum. Here we aim to highlight the diversity of this clade in the Late Jurassic of Portugal, presenting evidence for yet another species of ankylopollexian iguanodontian dinosaur, represented by the specimen SHN.JJS.015, which is housed at the Sociedade de História Natural, Torres Vedras. Detailed comparisons rule out attribution to previously known taxa, and phylogenetic analyses that include SHN.JJS.015 indicate early-diverging ankylopollexian affinities for this specimen. As there is no robust diagnosis, we do not erect a new formal species for it at this stage. Nevertheless, this specimen represents a previously unreported taxon that highlights greater diversity than previously estimated among the iguanodontians of the Late Jurassic and highlights the importance of Europe in diversification and dispersal events of this clade. A series of smaller, isolated femora from the same sub-basin as SHN.JJS.015 may represent the same taxon, presenting evidence of thriving communities of ankylopollexians during the Kimmeridgian–Tithonian interval in Portugal.