Turiasauria is a clade of basal sauropod dinosaurs hitherto only known from the Middle Jurassic (Bathonian) to the Lower Cretaceous (Valanginian). A new find of a shed tooth crown from the Lower Jurassic (Pliensbachian), Halse Formation of Bornholm, Denmark, is spoon-like, asymmetrical, and heart-shaped, which identifies the tooth as turiasaurian, pushing the origin of the Turiasauria some 17 My back into the Lower Jurassic. This suggests a North Pangean/Laurasian origin of the turiasaurian clade, which then, during the Middle to Late Jurassic, dispersed through Europe, India, and Africa, with their latest representatives found in the Early Cretaceous of England and North America. Furthermore, this is the first record of a sauropod from the Pliensbachian in Europe.

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The basal part of the Triassic-Jurassic (Rhaetian-Sinemurian) Kap Stewart Formation, exposed at Jameson Land, East Greenland, yields an extensive coprolite collection from black, parallel-laminated mudstone (“paper shale”), representing an open lacustrine system. Preliminary investigations show three different types of coprolites: elongated cylindrical masses, composed of irregularly wrapped layers; elongated cylindrical masses with constriction marks; and spirally-coiled specimens.

A large, well-preserved vertebrate coprolite was found in a lacustrine sediment in the Malmros Klint Formation of the Late Triassic Fleming Fjord Group in the Jameson Land Basin, central East Greenland. The size and internal and external morphology of the coprolite is consistent with that of crocodilian coprolites and one end of the coprolite exhibits evidence of post-egestion trampling. As the associated vertebrate fauna of the Fleming Fjord Group contains abundant remains of pseudosuchian phytosaurs, the coprolite is interpreted as being from a large phytosaur.

Sauropods were the largest animals ever to walk the earth, and evolved several specializations in their limbs in order to support their body mass. Their legs became columnar and their manual digits became reduced and encapsulated in tissue to form a single weight-bearing unit in the derived sauropods. A new three-dimensionally preserved cast of a sauropod manus, found in the Upper Jurassic Lourinhã Formation, Portugal, demonstrates not only the shape, but also the actual movements of the sauropod manus during the stride. The manus cast is 32 cm deep, and show the manus to be hoof-shaped and lacking any impressions of individual digits, except for digit I, the pollex. Well preserved striations from skin on the sides of the cast show that the manus was covered in rough, tubercular skin. The width of the manus cast is consistent from top to bottom, demonstrating that the manus was brought down and lifted vertically before any parasaggital movement of the upper limb took place.

Modern marine species populations are often evaluated in terms of bottom-up, resource limited structure, or top-down, predator controlled structure. In a larger timeframe, investiga- tion of physical drivers in marine tetrapod evolution relies on the recognition of patterns and the correlation in timing of physical events with biotic change. However, it has been dem- onstrated through the study of fossil cetaceans that a broader deep-time perspective within a top-down or bottom-up framework is informative. Here we examine the fossil record of &UHWDFHRXV PDULQH WHWUDSRGV LQ $QJROD WR GLVFHUQ SDWWHUQV WKDW PD\ UHÀHFW SK\VLFDO GULYHUV RI evolution, and that are also relevant to population structure. In modern marine ecosystems, GLVWULEXWLRQ SDWWHUQV UHÀHFWLQJ SULPDU\ SURGXFWLYLW\ DUH LQGLFDWLYH RI ERWWRP?XS FRQWURO? ,Q the fossil record, productivity-controlled distribution patterns can also be perceived. Physi- cal parameters resulting in environmental stability, sea-level change, oceanic anoxic events, paleoclimate, and paleogeography are examined in comparison with taxonomic diversity and life history patterns. Mosasaurs originated during a time of high global temperatures and shallow temperature gradients. As upper-trophic-level species of modest size and plesiopedal limb structure (capable of terrestrial locomotion), early mosasaurs were subject to both top- down and bottom up pressures. The attainment of larger size coupled with emigration and biogeographic distribution in areas of high primary productivity, and niche differentiation VKRZQ E\ 13C values, indicate bottom-up pressures. Productivity along the African coast since the formation of the Atlantic Ocean facilitated the co-occurrence of diverse marine tetrapods through time, and has culminated today in the Benguela large marine ecosystem. Just as the current Benguela ecosystem has tetrapod species populations dominated by both bottom-up (cetaceans) and top-down strategies (sea birds and pinnipeds), so too did the Cre- taceous community, with mosasaurs and plesiosaurs having predominantly bottom-up popu- lation structure, while sea turtles and pterosaurs were more subject to top-down pressures.

The amniote eggshell functions as a respiratory structure adapted for the optimal transmission of respiratory gasses to and from the embryo according to its physiological requirements. Therefore amniotes with higher oxygen requirements, such as those that sustain higher metabolic rates, can be expected to have eggshells that can maintain a greater gas flux to and from the egg. Studies of extant amniotes have found that eggshells of reduced porosity impose a limit on the metabolic rate of the offspring. Here we show a highly significant relationship between metabolic rates and eggshell porosity in extant amniotes that predicts highly endothermic metabolic rates in dinosaurs. This study finds the eggshell porosity of extant endotherms to be significantly higher than that of extant ectotherms. Eggshell porosity values of dinosaurs are found to be significantly higherthan that of extant ectotherms, but not extant endotherms. Dinosaur eggshells are commonly preserved in the fossil record, and porosity may be readily identified and measured. This provides a simple tool to identify metabolic rates in extinct egg-laying tetrapods whose eggs possessed a mineralized shell

A survey of Hemidactylus turcicus (Reptilia, Gekkonidae) was carried out every 3 weeks from March to November of 1997, in nocturnal transects in the city of Évora, Portugal. In this country this species is strictly nocturnal with a mean daily activity peak at 2hOO A.M (UTC).A model that correlates Activity and Temperature of the air is given. H. turcicus prefers, as microhabitat, walls (78%) and doors (16%) of low used houses. The average height in which they were found is about 3 meters.

Portugal has been providing dinosaur remains since, at least, 1863. The 18th century tiles depicting the legend of Our Lady in Cabo Espichel are probably the oldest known dinosaur track illustration. To our knowledge, the first remains found in Portugal were theropod teeth collected near Porto das Barcas (Late Jurassic of Lourinhã) in June 20th, 1863 by the geologist Carlos Ribeiro (1813-1882). The first dinosaur paper was written by Henri Sauvage (1842-1917) published in 1896. All remains collected since 19th century were gathered in a work signed by Albert de Lapparent (1905-1975) and Georges Zbyszewski (1909-1999 ) titled Les Dinosauriens du Portugal (1957) that was a significant milestone in the Portuguese dinosaur paleontology and gives the state-of-the-art by the time. Several dinosaurs are named, described, depicted and mapped in that monograph. The first track record is given by Jacinto Pedro Gomes (1844-1916) in 1916. Concerning the non-scientific literature referring to dinosaurs, in 1884 the newspaper Occidente reports the Bernissart findings in Belgium. In the 1959 occurs the first visit to Portugal of Walter Kühne (1911-1991) from the Free University of Berlin. Further visits and work granted the access to the Guimarota Mine and other Late Jurassic deposits in the 1960’s, 70’s and 80’s with a high number of publications. In the 1980’s and early 1990’s starts a progressive era for dinosaur paleontology in Portugal with the works of Peter Galton, Miguel Telles Antunes, the Natural History Museum, the Museum of Lourinhã and the New University of Lisbon, Oliver Rauhut, and others.

Here we describe a new partial sauropod skeleton from the late Kimmeridgian (Late Jurassic) of the Lourinhã Formation, central west Portugal. The closely associated specimen comprises a complete tooth (with root), a fragment of cervical neural arch, an anterior chevron, and an almost complete right pectoral girdle and forelimb. The new sauropod, Zby atlanticus, n. gen. et sp., can be diagnosed on the basis of four autapomorphies, including a prominent posteriorly projecting ridge on the humerus at the level of the deltopectoral crest. Nearly all anatomical features indicate that Zby is a non-neosauropod eusauropod. On the basis of several characters, including tooth morphology, extreme anteroposterior compression of the proximal end of the radius, and strong beveling of the lateral half of the distal end of the radius, Zby appears to be closely related to Turiasaurus riodevensis from approximately contemporaneous deposits in eastern Spain. However, these two genera can be distinguished from each other by a number of features pertaining to the forelimb. Whereas previously described Late Jurassic Portuguese sauropods show close relationships with taxa from the contemporaneous Morrison Formation of North America, it appears that turiasaurians were restricted to Europe. All adult sauropods recovered in the Late Jurassic of Portugal thus far are very large individuals: it is possible that the apparent absence of small- or medium-sized adult sauropods might be related to the occupation of lower-browsing niches by non-sauropods such as the long-necked stegosaur Miragaia longicollum.

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Abstract: The paleontological collections of the Museum of Lourinhã, in Portugal, has a rich paleontological collection, particularly of Late Jurassic dinosaurs of the Lourinhã Formation (Kimmeridgian-Tithonian). Most salient highlights comprehend the following dinosaur holotype specimens: stegosaur Miragaia longicollum, theropod Lourinhanosaurus antunesi, sauropod Dinheirosaurus lourinhanensis, ornithopod Draconyx loureiroi, theropod Allosaurus europaeus, and, a mammal, Kuehneodon hahni. Other dinosaur specimens are referred including the nest and eggs and embryos of Lourinhanosaurus. Portugal is very productive in Late Jurassic vertebrates, being the seventh country bearing more dinosaur taxa.

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