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An isolated jaw fragment from the Late Cretaceous (Cenomanian) Cambridge Greensand Member of the West Melbury Marly Chalk Formation previously identified as a cestraciontid shark fin spine is referred to the pterosaur clade Azhdarchoidea on account of its lateral and occlusal foramina and edentuly. The specimen differs from the azhdarchoid Ornithostoma sedgwicki from the same deposit in having flat lateral surfaces and an acute dorsal/ventral apex. The specimen is similar in overall morphology to CAMSM B40085 from the same horizon and probably represents the corresponding jaw but from a different individual. Likely these specimens represent a new taxon but are considered too fragmentary to diagnose at present. A remarkably similar and distinctive morphology is found in unnamed pterosaur jaws from the Kem Kem Group (?Albian-Cenomanian) of Morocco, supporting the idea of faunal similarity between these two distant localities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Newly discovered dinosaur footprints from the Lower Cretaceous (Albian) Folkestone Formation (Lower Greensand Group) of Kent in S.E. England can be referred to theropod, ornithopod and possibly ankylosaur dinosaurs. The occurrence of dinosaur footprints, together with fossil wood and oysters in a matrix of well-rounded quartz grains indicates a coastal depositional environment of an extremely shallow depth, perhaps with short periods of subaerial exposure. This is the first record of dinosaur footprints from the Folkestone Formation, and it represents the youngest association of dinosaur footprints from England. The moderately diverse dinosaur ichnoassemblage of theropods, ornithopods, ankylosaurs and previously documented fossils indicate deposition on a sandy beach setting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Early Cretaceous Wealden Group of Swanage Bay, Dorset, southern England, comprises two formations, a lower Wessex Formation and an overlying Vectis Formation. Presently only part of the former is exposed and here its stratigraphy, sedimentology and palaeontology are redescribed. Recent work on the Wealden Group of the Wessex Sub-basin has focused either on the Barremian – earliest Aptian of the Isle of Wight, or on the Wealden Group of Dorset in a broader context. Consequently, the Wealden Group of Swanage Bay lacks detailed analysis and description. In the 200 years since the first account of the geology and stratigraphy of Swanage Bay, slumping and vegetation growth have dramatically concealed the upper part of the Group at this previously well-known locality. A stratigraphical framework with assigned marker beds is established here for the first time allowing for the precise placement of new palaeontological discoveries. Analysis of the palaeobotanical and microvertebrate remains recovered from the recorded section permits a more accurate reconstruction of the Early Cretaceous Wessex Formation ecosystem of east Dorset. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A partial distal left metacarpal IV of a pterodactyloid pterosaur is notable for its size. The specimen, from the Early Cretaceous (Barremian) Wessex Formation exposed on the southwest coast of the Isle of Wight, southern England is identified as an ornithocheirid, perhaps close to the Ornithocheirus , Coloborhynchus , Caulkicephalus , Anhanguera complex. A morphometric analysis suggests an original wing span of approximately 5.6 m. With an early Barremian age, this pterosaur would have been a giant for its time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Documented here is a variation of the widely used resin transfer technique, allowing for the preparation of fragile articulated fossil arthropod material preserved in laminated limestone. The extensive use of the resin transfer technique in palaeontology has traditionally been restricted to palaeobotany and vertebrate palaeontology. The parameters discussed here allow for its application to three-dimensional arthropod fossils preserved in acid resistant minerals (e.g. iron oxides such as goethite, the sulphides pyrite and marcasite, and silica) in laminated limestone. In the experiments described here we have utilised fossils from the Lower Cretaceous (Aptian) Crato Lagerstätte of north-east Brazil. The equipment and methodology are outlined, along with cautions and concerns when using this technique. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Eutherian mammals (Placentalia and all mammals phylogenetically closer to placentals than to marsupials) comprise the vast majority of extant Mammalia. Among these there is a phenomenal range of forms and sizes, but the origins of crown group placentals are obscure. They lie within the generally tiny mammals of the Mesozoic, represented for the most part by isolated teeth and jaws, and there is strongly conflicting evidence from phenomic and molecular data as to the date of origin of both Eutheria and Placentalia. The oldest purported eutherians are Juramaia from the Upper Jurassic of China, and Eomaia and Acristatherium from the Lower Cretaceous, also of China. Based on dental characters and analyses of other morphological and molecular data, doubt has recently been cast on the eutherian affinities of the Chinese taxa and consequently on the date of emergence of Eutheria. Until now, the only tribosphenic mammal recorded from the earliest Cretaceous (Berriasian) Purbeck Group of Britain was the stem tribosphenidan Tribactonodon. Here we document two new tribosphenic mammals from the Purbeck Group, Durlstotherium gen. nov. and Durlstodon gen. nov., showing highly derived eutherian molar characters that support the early emergence of this clade, prior to the Cretaceous. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fossil insects from the Lower Cretaceous (Aptian) Crato Formation of north-east Brazil are preserved as goethite replacements in laminated limestones of lacustro-lagoonal origin. They display remarkable degrees of morphological detail down to the macromolecular level in some examples. We document the fidelity of preservation and reveal an astonishing variety of morphological detail comparable in some instances with that found in amber inclusions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: A partial skull comprising fused maxilla/premaxilla and palate of a ctenochasmatoid pterosaur from the Santana Formation of the Araripe Basin in NE Brazil is named as the new genus and species Unwindia trigonus gen. et sp. nov. on account of its long slender rostrum, isodonty with raised dental alveoli and dentition of seven tooth pairs restricted to the portion of the rostrum anterior to the nasoantorbital fenestra. Unwindia is assigned to the Ctenochasmatoidea, and is probably basal within the clade. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Pipe-like structures filled with massive and brecciated Fe-rich dolomites occur within a 5–6m sequence of otherwise horizontal, millimetre-laminated limestones of the Nova Olinda Member of the Crato Formation (Aptian, Lower Cretaceous) of north east Brazil. The pipe-fills predate compaction, contain hydro-brecciated host strata, developed penecontemporaneously with a carbonate laminite, and may represent methane seeps. Such seeps may have developed above buried topographic highs as fluids emanating from deeper strata migrated along buried discontinuities such as the basement/Cretaceous unconformity and buried faults in the basement. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Fragmentary pterosaur remains from the Early Cretaceous Quebrada Monardes Formation of northern Chile are assigned to Ctenochasmatidae. Although not immediately referable to recognised genera, they differ from other South American occurrences of ctenochasmids and appear to share features of the dentition with Ctenochasma and Gnathosaurus from Late Jurassic deposits in Europe. A slightly spatulate rostrum may hint at affinities with the gnathosaurine ctenochasmatid Gnathosaurus. The presence of a possible gnathosaurine in South America is further evidence for a Hispanic corridor allowing faunal interchange between South America and Eurasia during the Late Jurassic and Early Cretaceous. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Two new genera and four new species of Palaeontinidae (Cicadomorpha), Baeocossus finchae gen. et sp. nov., Colossocossus loveridgei gen. et sp. nov., C. rugosa gen. et sp. nov. and Parawonnacottella penneyi sp. nov. are described from the Nova Olinda Member of the Upper Aptian (Lower Cretaceous) Crato Formation of Ceará, northeast Brazil. The diagnosis of the genus Parawonacottella Ueda is revised. The new taxa form a natural group with other Early Cretaceous forms including Cratocossus magnus Martins-Neto, also from the Crato Formation, and the “Ilerdocossus-complex” from the Berriasian–Valanginian of Montsec, Spain (Ilerdocossus Gomez-Pallerola= Wonnacottella Whalley and Jarzembowski) and the ?Hauterivian–Barremian of Liaoning and Hebei, China (Ilerdocossus = Liaocossus Ren, Yin and Duo, syn. nov.). Preliminary analysis of geographical distribution and relationships suggests that this group originated in Central or East Asia in the Middle Jurassic before spreading into Western Europe and South America. The distribution of the “Ilerdocossus-complex” supports a Late Jurassic exodus from Asia. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: A new pterosaur specimen comprising a partial skull and associated postcranial elements from the Lower Cretaceous Wessex Formation of Yaverland, Isle of Wight, southern England, is assigned to a new genus and species of ornithocheirid pterosaur, Caulkicephalus trimicrodon gen. et sp. nov., based on several unique features including a heterodont dentition in which the fifth, sixth and seventh teeth are reduced in size compared with those at positions 1–4 and 8–9; the presence of a frontoparietal crest and maxillopremaxillary crest that do not unite over the antorbital fenestra or cranium; a palatal ridge that extends no further forward than the eighth to ninth tooth pairs. The new taxon is the second species of pterosaur from the Wealden Group of the Wessex Basin. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: A single brachiosaurid sauropod cervical vertebra from the Wessex Formation (Barremian, Early Cretaceous) of the Isle of Wight is remarkable for its size. With a partial centrum length (i.e., excluding evidence of the anterior condyle) of 745mm it represents the largest sauropod cervical reported from Europe and is close in size to cervical vertebrae of the giant brachiosaurid Brachiosaurus brancai from Late Jurassic Tanzania. The complete animal probably exceeded 20m in total length. The specimen shares important morphological characters with Sauroposeidon proteles from Early Cretaceous USA, including extensive lateral fossae and well-developed posterior centroparapophyseal laminae, indicating that it is part of a Brachiosaurus–Sauroposeidon clade, and in some characters is intermediate between the two. Owing to the complexities of Isle of Wight sauropod taxonomy the specimen is not attributed to a named taxon. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Internal moulds of rudist bivalves from the basal Exu Formation of the western Araripe Basin, northeastern Brazil, are identified as the Early Cretaceous (Barremian to Aptian) radiolitidin caprinuloideid genus cf. Amphitriscoelus Harris and Hodson. The rudists occur as part of a sparse assemblage of remané fossils in the Exu Formation, a fluvial sandstone resting disconformably on the Santana Formation of the Araripe Group and are likely to have been derived from the shallow marine upper parts of that formation. The presence of caprinuloideid rudists in the Exu Formation suggests that the underlying Santana Formation can be no younger than lower Aptian. These are the first rudist bivalves found in Brazil and are the furthest south occurrence of caprinuloideid rudists, confirming suspected faunal links for the Araripe Basin with the Caribbean province of the Tethyan realm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An isolated, partial premaxilla from the Lower Cretaceous (Barremian) Wessex Formation of Yaverland, Isle of Wight, UK is identified as pterosaurian on account of its overall morphology and thin bone walls. It is regarded as a tapejarid on account of it unique downturned tip with a unique pattern of slit-like foramina on its occlusal surface, while a combination of sensory foramina and lateral outline identify it as a new genus and species, Wightia declivirostris gen. et sp. nov. The downturn of the occlusal margin lies beyond the anterior margin of the nasoantorbital fenestra suggesting affinities with Sinopterus from China rather than South American tapejarids such as Tapejara , Tupandactylus and Caiuajara. This specimen is the first record of Tapejaridae in the Wessex Formation, and is amongst the oldest record of the Tapejaridae outside of China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]