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A new mass estimate for the dodo (Raphus cucullatus), based on the lengths of the femur, tibiotarsus and tarsometatarsus, is attempted. The obtained mean mass is 10.2 kg, which is less than previous estimates based on other methods, which ranged from 10.6 to 21.1 kg, and much lower than the 50 lbs reported by a seventeenth-century eyewitness. The new estimated mass, which is similar to that of a large wild turkey, seems more realistic than previous ones and supports the hypothesis that contemporary illustrations of extremely fat dodos were either exaggerations, or based on overfed specimens. Pictures of "fat" dodos may also have been based on individuals exhibiting a display behaviour with puffed out feathers.

Hitherto unpublished remains of non-avian and avian theropods from the Late Cretaceous (Formation Csehbanya, Santonian) Iharkut locality (western Hungary) are described. Non-avian theropod remains include an abelisaurid femur, which confirms the presence of this theropod family at Iharkut, and a metacarpal and a tibiotarsus from a paravian which may belong to Pneumatoraptor fodori , previously described from Iharkut. Birds are represented by two femora which clearly belong to enantiornithines, possibly to Bauxitornis , previously described from Iharkut. The abelisauroid record from the Cretaceous of Europe is reviewed.

A new taxon of ornithopod dinosaur is described as Siamodon nimngami nov. gen, nov. sep., on the basis of a well-preserved maxilla from the Khok Kruat Formation (Aptian) of northeastern Thailand. An isolated tooth and a braincase are referred to this taxon, and the status of other ornithopod specimens from Thailand and Laos is discussed. S. nimngami nov. gen, nov. sep. is considered as an advanced iguanodontian, apparently close to Probactrosaurus, from which it differs by various characters of the maxilla. Siamodon is an addition to the already long list of advanced iguanodontian taxa from the late Early Cretaceous of Asia. The diversity and abundance of these forms may suggest that advanced iguanodontians first appeared in Asia, before spreading to other parts of the world.

The fragmentary pterosaur material from the Campanian Grünbach Formation (Gosau Group) of Muthmannsdorf (Austria), previously identified as Ornithocheirus buenzeli Bunzel, 1871, is revised. A lower jaw fragment shows a helical type of articulation, which is known in several families of pterosaurs, and cannot be identified with great accuracy. The proximal part of a humerus shows distinctive features that allow it to be referred to as a member of the family Azhdarchidae, which is widespread in the Late Cretaceous Period of Europe. Ornithocheirus buenzeli is considered a nomen dubium. The pterosaur material from the Grünbach Formation cannot be used as evidence for the presence of ornithocheirids in the Late Cretaceous of Europe.

A new sauropod dinosaur, Liubangosaurus hei gen. et sp. nov., is erected based on a specimen represented by five articulated middle-caudal dorsal vertebrae, which was discovered in the Lower Cretaceous Napai Formation of Guangxi Province, southern China. This new taxon is diagnosed by a unique combination of derived features: prezygapophysis closely contacts with parapophysis, with the prdl and prpl absent; presence of cavity on the dorsal surface of the diapophysis; neural spine very low, with its distal end level with that of diapophysis; distal end of the neural spine strongly expanded laterally to form a platform; marked fossa formed between the infradiapophyseal lamina and the parapophysis; broad, flat area of featureless bone on lateral surface of neural arch; vertically directed infradiapophyseal lamina expands or bifurcates ventrally to form a inverted “Y”; highly positioned parapophyses large and tear-drop in shape. The discovery of this new taxon increases the diversity of sauropods in China during the Early Cretaceous.

Gargantuavis philoinos was described as a giant terrestrial bird on the basis of various postcranial elements (synsacrum and pelvis, femur) from Late Cretaceous (Campanian-Maastrichtian) localities in Southern France. It has recently been suggested that these remains in fact belong to giant pterosaurs. A detailed comparison between bones referred to Gargantuavis and the corresponding skeletal elements of pterosaurs reveals considerable differences and confirms the avian nature of Gargantuavis . The broad pelvis of Gargantuavis is similar to that of various extinct graviportal terrestrial birds.

An ichthyosaur skull discovered in the Upper Jurassic of Svalbard is described for the first time. It is mainly characterised by a relatively long snout and numerous small teeth, which are characters also found in the Late Jurassic ichthyosaur genera Brachypterygius and Aegirosaurus. On the basis of more detailed comparisons, the specimen is referred to Brachypterygius. This find extends the geographical distribution of that ichthyosaur genus, hitherto known from England, to the high latitudes of the Late Jurassic, and suggests that ichthyosaurs could withstand relatively low water temperatures.

A fragmentary bone from the Dinosaur Park Formation (Campanian) of Dinosaur Provincial Park (Alberta, Canada), originally described as a pterosaur tibiotarsus, is reinterpreted as the distal end of the tibiotarsus of a basal bird, probably an enantiornithine, on the basis of several distinctive characters. It is the first report of such a bird from the Dinosaur Park Formation and shows that this group was present, together with various more derived ornithurines, in the relatively high-latitude environments of Late Cretaceous western Canada.

A dinosaur vertebra found in the course of road works in the “Chevain Marls” (marine Callovian) of the Vermont outlier, near the village of Bethon (Sarthe, Pays-de-la-Loire, western France) is described and referred to a stegosaur (cf. Lexovisaurus). It is the first record of a dinosaur in the Middle Jurassic of that area. The specimen was probably derived from the floating carcass of an animal that had lived on the emerged areas of the Armorican Massif, near which the Chevain Marls were deposited. This fossil is an addition to the short list of stegosaur remains reported from France.

An isolated fossil bone visible in cross-section in the wall of a cave near Palermo (Sicily) is described. The limestone containing the bone is late Cenomanian in age and was deposited in a backreef-lagoon environment from the Panormide carbonate platform. A histological study of the bone, which has a hollow shaft, shows a fibrolamellar structure and indicates that it belongs to a dinosaur, in all likelihood to a theropod. This is the first report of a dinosaur from Sicily. The occurrence of this bone shows that at certain times during the Cretaceous the Panormide platform was at least partly emergent and suggests that it may have formed a peninsula protruding from the northern margin of the African continent.

Since the first discovery of dromaeosaurid remains from the Late Cretaceous of southern France, two genera and species, Variraptor mechinorumLe Loeuff & Buffetaut, 1998, and Pyroraptor olympiusAllain & Taquet, 2000, have been erected. Their validity and possible synonymy have been debated. New remains of Dromaeosauridae from Late Campanian – Early Maastrichtian localities near Cruzy (Hérault) and Fox-Amphoux (Var) are described. A sacrum from Hérault is remarkably comparable to that of Variraptor. An ilium from Fox-Amphoux and the holotype sacrum of Variraptor mechinorum probably belong to the same individual. Shared elements between Variraptor and Pyroraptor do not show any diagnostic characters. The question of the synonymy between Variraptor and Pyroraptor is still unresolved on the basis of these new specimens. Nevertheless, the available evidence suggests that these two species may be valid. The specimens from Cruzy suggest that faunal interchange between Europe and Asia lasted longer than that between Europe and North America, and that European dromaeosaurids evolved on their own during the Late Cretaceous isolation of Europe.

Phosphatic remains (tooth enamel, turtle shell fragments and fish scales) of continental vertebrates (freshwater fish, crocodilians, turtles, and theropod and sauropod dinosaurs) recovered from eight localities of NE Thailand ranging in age from the Late Jurassic to the late Early Cretac- eous have been analysed for their oxygen isotopic compositions (d 18 Op). From these preliminary data, local meteoric water d 18 Ow values estimated using d 18 Op values of crocodilians and turtles range from 24.1+ 2‰ at the end of the Jurassic to 28.3+ 2‰ during the Early Cretaceous, suggesting a transition from dry to wetter climates with increasing amount of seasonal precipitation from several hundred millimetres per year to several thousand millimetres. Measurable offsets in d 18 Op values observed between dinosaur taxa (the spinosaurid theropod Siamosaurus, other ther- opods and nemegtosaurid sauropods) are interpreted in terms of differences in water strategies, and suggest that Siamosaurus had habits similar to those of semi-aquatic vertebrates such as crocodi- lians or freshwater turtles.

A new skeleton of a sauropod dinosaur has been discovered in the Early Cretaceous Sao Khua Formation at Ban Na Khrai in Changwat Kalasin (NE Thailand). All sauropod bones from Ban Na Khrai share all their characteristics with the type specimen of Phuwiangosaurus sirindhornae Martin, Buffetaut & Suteethorn 1994. The 60% complete skeleton is very well preserved and includes cranial elements (a tooth, a frontal, a postorbital, a squamosal, both quadrates, and the braincase), whereas the type specimen is only 10% complete and consists of postcranial bones only. The material from Ban Na Khrai belongs to a single subadult individual of Phuwiangosaurus , as attested by the unfused neurocentral sutures of the vertebrae, which are firmly fused and larger in size in the holotypic specimen.

Over the last 25 years, rich vertebrate assemblages have been discovered in three distinct formations of the Late Jurassic and Early Cretaceous of Thailand. This work aims to compare the taxonomic assemblages of SE Asia within their palaeogeographical context in Asia. Occurrences of 477 taxa in 94 Regional Faunal Assemblages (RFA) have provided the rawmaterialforproducinga dissimilaritymatrixbasedontheRaup& Crickindex.Thesedistances havebeeninvestigated statistically toinferrelationships betweenthediverse faunalassemblagesin space andtime. Ourresultsshowthat theThai formations are moresimilartoeach otherthan toany other formations, suggesting a strong provincialism. The relationship of SE Asian RFAs with other Asian RFAs is more influenced by the presence of freshwater or near-shore taxa than by strictly terrestrial ones. Our analysis shows that the faunal interchange between RFAs was rather low from the Late Jurassic to the end of the Early Cretaceous. However, faunal dispersals dramatically decreased during the mid-Early Cretaceous in Asia. The faunas show an overall stronger provin- cialism during the mid-Early Cretaceous, indicating the role of possible geographical barriers. This event is characterized by the absence of ornithischian dinosaurs in the Sao Khua Formation although they are present in the under- and overlying formations. Taxonomic diversity and exchanges between faunal assemblages recovered rapidly as early as the Aptian in Asia, but the fauna of SE Asia still retained a strong biogeographical signature.

Postcranial remains of a small theropod dinosaur, including vertebrae, incomplete pubes, tibiae, an incomplete fibula, metatarsals and phalanges, from the Early Cretaceous Sao Khua Formation of Phu Wiang, Khon Kaen Province, NE Thailand, are described as a new taxonofornithomimosaur, Kinnareemimus khonkaenensis,gen.etsp.nov.Thisearly'ostrichdino- saur' is characterized by a fairly advancedmetatarsus, in which metatarsal III, although still visible proximally between metatarsals II and IV in cranial view, is markedly 'pinched' more distally and becomes triangular in cross-section. The condition of its metatarsus shows that Kinnareemimus khonkaenensis is more derived than the geologically younger primitive ornithomimosaurs Harpy- mimus and Garudimimus, but less derived than Archaeornithomimus. Its occurrence in the Early Cretaceous of Thailand suggests that advanced ornithomimosaurs may have originated in Asia.

An isolated dentary bone from the Triassic ofTosˇko Cˇelo, near Ljubljana (Slovenia) is referred to the genusCyamodus. It is the first record of a placodont from Slovenia.The specimen is late Ladinian or early Carnian in age, and isthus among the latest known representatives of the genusCyamodus. The late survival of Cyamodus in the southernAlpine domain, while it disappeared from the Germanic Basinin the early Ladinian, is probably linked to the persistence offully marine conditions in the southern part of its range, afterenvironments had become less favourable to placodonts in theGermanic Basin with the advent of the Keuper facies. Key words: Placodontia, Cyamodus, Triassic, Slovenia, Pal-aeobiogeography.O nly a few occurrences of Triassic reptiles have beenreported from Slovenia. They include the posterior partof the body of the small sauropterygian Neusticosaurus,from Carnian beds on the northern slope of Mt. Storzˇicˇ(Rieppel 1997), a large ichthyosaur vertebra from the Car-nian of the Mezˇica area of the Northern KaravankeMountains (Jurkovsˇek 1978; Jurkovsˇek et al. 2002) andfootprints apparently left by a bipedal archosaur at God-ovicˇ (Pavsˇicˇ 1995). In the present paper, we describe adentary bone from the Ljubljana region which clearlybelongs to a placodont and is the first record of thatgroup of reptiles from Slovenia.

The new species Acynodon adriaticus is described on the basis of remains from the Santonian-Campanian of Villaggio del Pescatore (Trieste, NE Italy). This species differs in several cranial features from Acynodon iberoccitanus, the only other Acynodon species whose cranial osteology is known in detail. The absence of maxillary and dentary canin- iform teeth coupled with the presence of enlarged molari- form teeth suggests that Acynodon probably fed on slowly moving hard-shelled prey. Moreover, the new materials reveal for the first time the morphology of some postcranial elements of Acynodon: in particular, medial-most paraverte- bral osteoderms that are characterized by two keels. A new cladistic phylogenetic analysis resolves the previously reported polytomy among the basal Globidonta: Acynodon is recognized as the most primitive globidontan. This genus may represent the geologically oldest known globidontan. The fact that Acynodon has been found only in Europe and that the outgroup of Globidonta, the Diplocynodontinae, is mainly known from Europe, suggests that globidontans may have originated in Europe and not in North America as pre- viously supposed.

A theropod tibia from the Phu Kradung Formation of Mukdahan Province, northeastern Thailand, is described and referred to the family Sinraptoridae, previously known only from the Jurassic of China (Xinjiang and Sichuan). This find confirms the affinities of the vertebrate assemblage from the Phu Kradung Formation with Late Jurassic faunas from China. The Late Jurassic age suggested by fossil vertebrates for the Phu Kradung Formation is not in good agreement with an attribution to the Early Cretaceous based on palynomorphs.

We review historical approaches to the systematics of Enantiornithes, the dominant birds of the second half of the Mesozoic, and describe the forelimb remains of a new Cretaceous euenantiornithine. This taxon is known on the basis of fossil specimens collected from southern France, Argentina and the United States; such a wide geographical distribution is uncharacteristic for Enantiornithes as most taxa are known from single localities. Fossils from the Massecaps locality close to the village of Cruzy (Hérault, southern France), in combination with elements from New Mexico (USA) and from the Argentine locality of El Brete (Salta Province) testify to the global distribution of large flighted euenantiornithine birds in the Late Cretaceous. We discuss the systematics and taxonomy of additional isolated bones of Enantiornithes that were collected from the Argentine El Brete locality in the 1970s; the presence of these flying birds in Cretaceous rocks on both sides of the equator, in both northern and southern hemispheres, further demonstrates the ubiquity of this avian lineage by the latter stages of the Mesozoic.

Jaw fragments bearing teeth from the Barremian of Boca do Chapim (Lisboa e Setubal Province, Portugal), originally considered as crocodilian and identified asSuchosaurus girardiby Sauvage, are redescribed and referred to the spinosaurid dinosaurBaryonyx, on the basis of comparison withBaryonyx walkeri, from the Barremian of England. This extends the geographical distribution of this unusual theropod genus to Portugal.Baryonyxappears to have been a frequent component of Early Cretaceous dinosaur assemblages in the Iberian region, which may have formed a biogeographical ‘stepping-stone’ for baryonychine dispersal between Europe and Africa.

A new taxon of a broad-snouted goniopholidid, Siamosuchus phuphokensis, gen. et sp. nov., was discovered in the Sao Khua Formation (ante-Aptian), northeastern Thailand. The specimen is described on the basis of an incomplete skeleton showing the premaxillae, maxillae, nasals, left lacrimal, frontal, left jugal, right postorbital, caudal part of the cranial table, most of the right part of the postcranial skeleton, and several heavily sculptured osteoderms. S. phuphokensis is distinguished from the other broad-snouted goniopholidids on the basis of the following characters: penetration of the nasals in the narial border; presence of a robust and high median ridge on the interorbital surface; lateral margin of the frontal forming the medial edge of the orbit; supraoccipital exhibiting a wide pentagonal shape. A phylogenetic analysis using 101 characters for 29 mesoeucrocodylian taxa and 3 outgroup taxa supports the monophyly of the family Goniopholididae. In addition, the Thai specimen forms a clade with the European Goniopholis. Based on our strict consensus tree, the generic name Goniopholis should be restricted to the European forms only.

International audience; We describe a new species of lungfish, Ferganoceratodus martini sp. nov. , based on a single specimen discovered in the Late Jurassic - Early Cretaceous of the Phu Nam Jun locality, north-eastern Thailand. The material comprises an almost complete skull roof with associated upper and lower jaws, as well as some postcranial remains. F. martini shows characters unexpected and/or unknown in other Mesozoic lungfishes, such as pieces of a 'hard snout'. The microstructure of the 'hard snout' provides support to the Bemis and Northcutt interpretation of the cosmine tissue of Palaeozoic lungfishes as homologous to the complex cutaneous vasculature of the living Neoceratodus . Because the homologies of the ossifications of the skull roof among lungfishes and among piscian sarcopterygians are unsatisfactorily understood, we use a topological nomenclature in the description of the specimen and in the discussion of post-Devonian dipnoan skull roof characters. We define a few characters for the cladistic analysis only, but these are regarded as less theory-laden. We propose a hypothesis of phylogenetic relationships for most of the post-Devonian forms known by skull remains. The main feature is the ancient dichotomy between the Neoceratodus lineage and most of the other Mesozoic forms, including the Lepidosirenids. The palaeobiogeographical pattern shows a series of vicariant events between Laurasia and Gondwana in the Late Triassic - Early Jurassic, followed by a vicariant event between Africa and South America

International audience; dagger Siamamia naga, gen. et sp. nov, is described on the basis of three partly articulated skulls and a collection of isolated ossifications from a continental Early Cretaceous Formation of northeastern Thailand. The new taxon is a dagger sinamiid halecomorph as demonstrated by the median parietal and other cranial characters. dagger Sinamiidae is hitherto known by two genera occurring in Early Cretaceous freshwater deposits in China. Although a complete revision of all species within the family is necessary, the Thai material shows characters justifying a new genus. It is the first dagger sinamiid found outside eastern Asia (South and North Chinese blocks, plus small Central Asian terranes), thus validating the close paleogeographical affinities between mainland Asia and SE Asia in the Early Cretaceous. A preliminary phylogenetic assessment of the new taxon with the data matrix of Grande and Bemis (1998) with the addition of data for dagger Siamamia and dagger Tomognathus provides a strict consensus tree similar to the phylogenetic hypothesis of Halecomorphi proposed by these authors, except the basal-most amiids which show a lower resolution in our hypothesis. The dagger Sinamiidae appear as a monophyletic clade, but the four taxa included in the analysis form a polytomy.

International audience; Abundant fragments from eggs laid by giant birds occur in the Palaeocene (Thanetian) and Eocene (Sparnacian) sedimentary deposits of southeastern France. In the Sparnacian, thick eggshell fragments, assigned to the oospecies Ornitholithus arcuatus, correspond to very large bird eggs that were most likely laid by Gastornis. The Thanetian thin eggshell fragments, assigned to Ornitholithus biroi, were presumably laid by a smaller, yet unidentified bird. In order to investigate ecology and environment of these egg-laying birds, stable carbon and oxygen isotope compositions of 125 fossil eggshell fragments were analyzed. After removing samples affected by diagenetic alteration of the calcitic shells, the measured range of δ13Cc values (− 11‰ to − 6‰ V-PDB) is interpreted as reflecting an herbivorous diet for these birds in a context of limited annual precipitation (≈ 500 mm y− 1). Stable oxygen isotope analysis of living ostrich eggshell calcite, along with that of the water extracted from their albumen and yolk, provided evidence to calculate isotopic fractionation factors between both calcite and body water (αcalcite–body water = 1.03041) and between body water and meteoric water (αbw–mw = 1.00399), using δ18O values of local meteoric waters identified as the source of the birds drinking water. Combined with the δ18O values of fossil eggshells, both isotopic fractionations provided calculated δ18O values of meteoric waters in the range − 9.5‰ to − 2.8‰ (V-SMOW) for the Thanetian, and in the range − 8.9‰ to − 1.7‰ (V-SMOW) for the Sparnacian. These large isotopic ranges likely reflect inter-annual temperature variations of the complete year, suggesting a year round egg-laying strategy. Corresponding Mean Air Temperatures (MAT) were comprised between 20 ± 4 °C and 22 ± 4 °C during the Thanetian, and between 23 ± 3 °C and 25 ± 3 °C during the Sparnacian. These giant birds likely lived under a warm and dry climate similar to that prevailing today in western Mediterranean islands."

During the cold Late Barremian–Early Albian interval, terrestrial environments in East Asia were populated by rich and diverse vertebrate faunas characterized by a strong provincialism. The latitudinal gradient of temperature and the existence of geographic barriers likely accounted for some aspects of this heterogeneous distribution of faunas. Other factors, however, such as local environmental conditions and interactions within vertebrate communities, which could have influenced their distribution, have not yet been fully identified and understood. Therefore, new and published oxygen and carbon isotope compositions of apatite from Chinese and Thai reptiles (dinosaurs, crocodilians and turtles) have been analyzed and interpreted in terms of ecology, local air temperature and precipitation amounts. Differences in carbon and oxygen isotope compositions between various groups of sympatric plant-eating dinosaurs (sauropods, ornithopods and ceratopsians) indicate food resources partitioning among them most likely to avoid competition. Mid-latitude environments, where the Jehol Biota flourished, were submitted to cool temperate climatic conditions with Mean Air Temperature (MAT) of 10 ± 4 °C and Mean Annual Precipitations (MAP) of about 600 mm/yr compatible with the existence of forest environments. By contrast, sub-tropical regions, characterized by MAT of about 20–25 °C were either submitted to high amounts of seasonal precipitations (of about 1200 mm/yr in Thailand) or to significant aridity (MAP of about 400 mm/yr in South China). This difference in precipitation regime between Thailand and South China may be attributed to the occurrence of the Coastal Cordillera extending along the East margin of the South China block. These mountain ranges likely prevented humid air masses from the Pacific to penetrate some parts of South China, thus generating a “rain shadow effect”. Mosaic environments characterizing East Asia during the Late Early Cretaceous may have acted as a cradle for the origination of advanced dinosaur taxa that subsequently radiated over Eurasia and North America during the Late Cretaceous.

International audience; Lizards are remarkable amongst amniotes, for they display a unique mosaic of reproduction modes ranging from egg-laying to live-bearing. Within this patchwork, geckoes are believed to represent the only group to ever have produced fully calcified rigid-shelled eggs, contrasting with the ubiquitous parchment shelled-eggs observed in other lineages. However, this hypothesis relies only on observations of modern taxa and fossilised gecko-like eggshells which have never been found in association with any embryonic or parental remains. We report here the first attested fossil eggs of lizards from the Early Cretaceous of Thailand, combining hard eggshells with exquisitely preserved embryos of anguimoph (e.g. Komodo dragons, mosasaurs). These fossils shed light on an apparently rare reproduction strategy of squamates, demonstrate that the evolution of rigid-shelled eggs are not an exclusive specialization of geckoes, and suggest a high plasticity in the reproductive organs mineralizing eggshells.

The vertebrate-bearing beds of the Laño quarry (Condado de Treviño) are among the most relevant sites from the Late Cretaceous of Europe. Geologically, Laño and the adjacent region are set on the southern limb of the South-Cantabrian Synclinorium (SE Basque-Cantabrian Region, northern Iberian Peninsula). The Laño sites were discovered in 1984; thousands of bones and teeth, including microfossils, have been collected during the prospection in the field and excavation campaigns. The vertebrate remains occur at two different stratigraphic horizons within a continental to shallow marine succession of Late Campanian-Maastrichtian age. The lower horizon contains the Laño 1 and Laño 2 sites, whereas the upper horizon contains the Albaina site. In the Laño sites, three fossiliferous beds (called L1A, L1B and L2) are known within an alluvial system composed mainly of fluvial sands and silts. The sedimentary structures are consistent with channel areas within an extensive braided river system. Based mainly on stratigraphic correlations, the fluvial beds of Laño are regarded as Late Campanian to Early Maastrichtian in age. These deposits have yielded a very diverse vertebrate assemblage, which consists of nearly 40 species, including actinopterygians, lissamphibians, lepidosaurs, turtles, crocodyliforms, dinosaurs, pterosaurs, and mammals. Seven genera and ten species have been erected to date in Laño. With reference to the marine vertebrate association of Albaina, it consists of at least 37 species, including sharks and rays, actinopterygians, mosasaurids, and plesiosaurs. Two genera and species of rhinobatoids (family indet.) and two new species of rhinobatids have been erected in Albaina. The fossil association indicates a Late (but not latest) Maastrichtian age. Recently, isolated turtle and dinosaur fossils have been discovered in the sublittoral beds of Albaina. The Laño quarry is one of the most noteworthy Campanian-Maastrichtian vertebrate localities of Europe by its taxonomic diversity, and provides useful information about the composition and affinities of both continental and marine vertebrate faunas from the latest Cretaceous of southwestern Europe, Los niveles con fósiles de vertebrados de la cantera de Laño (Condado de Treviño) se cuentan entre los más importantes del Cretácico Superior de Europa. Desde un punto de vista geológico, Laño y la región adyacente forman parte del flanco sur del Sinclinorio Subcantábrico (SE de la Región Vasco-Cantábrica). El descubrimiento de los niveles fosilíferos remonta a 1984; las prospecciones de campo y las campañas de excavación han proporcionado miles de huesos y dientes, incluyendo microfósiles. Los restos de vertebrados aparecen en dos horizontes estratigráficos diferentes formando parte de una sucesión continental a marina litoral de edad Campaniense superior a Maastrichtiense. El horizonte inferior contiene los yacimientos de Laño 1 y Laño 2, mientras que el superior contiene solo uno: Albaina. En los yacimientos de Laño, se reconocen tres niveles fosilíferos (llamados L1A, L1B y L2) formados en el seno de un sistema aluvial compuesto por arenas y limos fluviales. Las estructuras sedimentarias indican áreas de canal dentro de un sistema trenzado muy extendido. Según las correlaciones estratigráficas, los depósitos fluviales de Laño son de edad Campaniense superior a Maastrichtiense inferior. Estos depósitos han proporcionado una asociación muy diversa de vertebrados, que consiste en cerca de 40 especies, incluyendo actinopterigios, lisanfibios, lepidosaurios, tortugas, cocodrilos, dinosaurios, pterosaurios y mamíferos. En Laño se han definido hasta el momento siete géneros y diez especies. Por lo que respecta a la asociación de vertebrados marinos de Albaina, se han reconocido al menos 37 especies, que incluyen tiburones y rayas, actinopterigios, mosasaurios y plesiosaurios. Hasta la fecha se han definido en Albaina cuatro nuevos rinobatoideos: dos especies de rinobátidos y dos géneros y especies cuya familia es indeterminada. La asociación fósil es de edad Maastrichtiense superior no terminal. Recientemente se ha descrito el hallazgo de restos fósiles aislados de tortugas y dinosaurios en los niveles marinos de Albaina. La cantera de Laño es una de las localidades de vertebrados más destacadas del Campaniense-Maastrichtiense por su diversidad taxonómica, y proporciona información relevante sobre la composición y afinidades de las faunas de vertebrados continentales y marinos del Cretácico final del suroeste de Europa, Field research in the Laño quarry has been supported by financial aids of the Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (MINECO projects CGL2010-18851/BTE and CGL2013-47521-P), Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (CGL2007-64061/BTE), Ministerio de Ciencia y Tecnología (CGL2004-02338/BTE, BTE2001-0185-C02-01, BOS2000-1369), Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia (Acción Integrada hispano-francesa 201-B), Diputación Foral de Álava/Arabako Foru Aldundia (93/23, 95/A23), Gobierno Vasco/Eusko Jaurlaritza (IT834-13, IT-320-10, IT-361-07, GV121.310-4/87), Universidad del País Vasco/Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea (9/ UPV00121.310-15303/2003), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS, France), Institut National des Sciences de l’Univers (INSU), The Dinosaur Society (research grant 1997) and the National Geographic Research (grant #6597-99). This work is part of a palaeontological collaboration (Convenio específico de colaboración) between the Universidad del País Vasco/EHU, the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS, France) and the Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle (MNHN, Paris). Contribution ISEM n° 2015-049

Fragmentary post-cranial remains (femora, tibia, vertebrae) of ornithischian dinosaurs from the Late Cretaceous of the Sultanate of Oman are described and referred to hadrosauroids. The specimens come from the Al-Khod Conglomerate, of latest Campanian to Maastrichtian age, in the north-eastern part of the country. Although the fragmentary condition of the fossils precludes a precise identification, various characters, including the shape of the fourth trochanter of the femur and the morphology of its distal end, support an attribution to hadrosauroids. With the possible exception of a possible phalanx from Angola, this group of ornithopod dinosaurs, which apparently originated in Laurasia, was hitherto unreported from the Afro-Arabian plate. From a paleobiogeographical point of view, the presence of hadrosauroids in Oman in all likelihood is a result of trans-Tethys dispersal from Asia or Europe, probably by way of islands in the Tethys shown on all recent paleogeographical maps of that area. Whether hadrosauroids were widespread on the Afro-Arabian landmass in the latest Cretaceous, or where restricted to the «Oman island»shown on some paleogeographical maps, remains to be determined

The Late Cretaceous was a time of tremendous global change, as the final stages of the Age of Dinosaurs were shaped by climate and sea level fluctuations and witness to marked paleogeographic and faunal changes, before the end-Cretaceous bolide impact. The terrestrial fossil record of Late Cretaceous Europe is becoming increasingly better understood, based largely on intensive fieldwork over the past two decades, promising new insights into latest Cretaceous faunal evolution. We review the terrestrial Late Cretaceous record from Europe and discuss its importance for understanding the paleogeography, ecology, evolution, and extinction of land-dwelling vertebrates. We review the major Late Cretaceous faunas from Austria, Hungary, France, Spain, Portugal, and Romania, as well as more fragmentary records from elsewhere in Europe. We discuss the paleogeographic background and history of assembly of these faunas, and argue that they are comprised of an endemic ‘core’ supplemented with various immigration waves. These faunas lived on an island archipelago, and we describe how this insular setting led to ecological peculiarities such as low diversity, a preponderance of primitive taxa, and marked changes in morphology (particularly body size dwarfing). We conclude by discussing the importance of the European record in understanding the end-Cretaceous extinction and show that there is no clear evidence that dinosaurs or other groups were undergoing long-term declines in Europe prior to the bolide impact.

The oldest mentions of fossil footprints of “antediluvian animals” in Southeast Asia are those of Jean-Baptiste Pallegoix (1854) and Henri Mouhot (1863, 1864, 1868). It is established that these mentions more likely refer to erosional figures in marine Permian limestones.

11 pages; International audience; An accumulation of vertebrate remains in Late Cretaceous continental deposits at Cruzy (Hérault, south-western France) is studied, using sedimentological (clay mineralogy, granulometry, cathodoluminescence) and taphonomic approaches, in order to reconstruct the depositional environment under which it was formed. The fossil-bearing conglomerates, sands and clays were apparently deposited during brief flood episodes affecting a braided river system, under a “tropical” type of climate with alternating dry and wet seasons. This type of depositional environment shows close similarities with those reconstructed for Late Cretaceous vertebrate sites in Romania.

New specimens of the unusual theropod Spinosaurus cf. S. aegyptiacus from the Late Cretaceous (early Cenomanian) of Morocco reveal new information about the structure of the snout and the very large adult body size attained by the species. The external naris is retracted farther caudally on the snout than in other spinosaurids and is bordered exclusively by the maxilla and nasal. The fused nasals preserve a longitudinal, fluted crest. The size of the snout suggests that Spinosaurus may well have exceeded the maximum adult body size of other large Cretaceous theropods such as Tyrannosaurus and Giganotosaurus. The new material also supports the monophyly of the Spinosaurinae and the separation of Spinosaurus and Irritator.

International audience; We present the first known occurrence of a Mesozoic fossil bird from Thailand. The new specimen is the distal end of a left humerus, from the Early Cretaceous Sao Khua Formation in the Northeast of the country, and testifies to the presence of a medium-sized avian in these non-marine strata. This is also the first Mesozoic bird known from the whole of Southeast Asia.

Although the physiology of dinosaurs is still a matter of controversy, there is no doubt that some of them were able to live in environments that were too cold for ectothermic reptiles, as shown by discoveries of Jurassic and Cretaceous polar vertebrate assemblages which contain dinosaurs but lack turtles and crocodiles. This adaptation of dinosaurs to cool climates invalidates hypotheses according to which dinosaur extinction at the end of the Cretaceous was a result of long-term climatic cooling. The pattern seen at the K/T boundary, with the disappearance of dinosaurs and the survival of ectothermic reptiles, is completely different from that seen in Arctic regions during the Late Cretaceous, where ectotherms disappeared, while dinosaurs subsisted, during cooler periods. The idea of an intense and enduring cold spell at the K/T boundary, caused by the Chicxulub impact, is extremely unlikely in view of the pattern of vertebrate extinction (survival of endotherms, extinction of dinosaurs). Models of environmental events following the impact must take this palaeontological constraint into consideration.

A large pterosaur bone, preserved as a natural cast of the interior cavity, was found in an old collection kept at the Natural History Museum of Troyes (France). Although no precise geographical data are available, the lithology of the matrix indicates that it comes from the Hauterivian Toxaster Limestone of the eastern Paris Basin. Despite its unusual preservation, the specimen shows various morphological details, and is identified as an ornithocheiroid pterosaur humerus. This specimen is among the largest known pterosaur humeri (length as preserved: 345 mm), indicating a wing span of more than 7 metres. It shows that giant pterosaurs had already appeared at a very early stage in the Cretaceous.

The well-preserved histology of the geologically oldest sauropod dinosaur from the Late Triassic allows new insights into the timing and mechanism of the evolution of the gigantic body size of the sauropod dinosaurs. The oldest sauropods were already very large and show the same long-bone histology, laminar fibro-lamellar bone lacking growth marks, as the well-known Jurassic sauropods. This bone histology is unequivocal evidence for very fast growth. Our histologic study of growth series of the Norian Plateosaurus indicates that the sauropod sistergroup, the Late Triassic and early Jurassic Prosauropoda, reached a much more modest body size in a not much shorter ontogeny. Increase in growth rate compared to the ancestor (acceleration) is thus the underlying process in the phylogenetic size increase of sauropods. Compared to all other dinosaur lineages, sauropods were not only much larger but evolved very large body size much faster. The prerequisite for this increase in growth rate must have been a considerable increase in metabolic rate, and we speculate that a bird-like lung was important in this regard.

In 1859 the French geologist Jules Desnoyers reported the discovery of vertebrate footprints in the Late Eocene gypsum of the Paris region. Although they attracted some attention at the time, those footprints were never illustrated or described in detail, and the present whereabouts of the specimens seem to be unknown. Several types of footprints were referable to animals known by skeletal elements from the gypsum, but some were not. Among the latter were tridactyl footprints of very large birds, which Desnoyers tentatively attributed to the giant ground bird Gastornis, which had been discovered in the Lower Eocene of the Paris region a few years earlier. Gastornithids are now known from the Paleocene to the Middle Eocene, but no skeletal remains of giant birds have yet been found in the Upper Eocene of Europe. The tracks of giant birds from the gypsum of the Paris region are thus an example of fossil footprints without known osteological counterparts, and the identity of the trackmakers remains an enigma.

Fossil wood from the poorly dated (Jurassic–Cretaceous?) continental sediments of the Khorat Group, northeastern Thailand (Isan) is described. The Khorat Group is widely distributed (Laos, Cambodia and Thailand) and, despite its poorly known age, stratigraphy and palaeoecology, is of importance in understanding the Sibumasu–Indochina collision. The systematics of wood assemblage and palaeobiogeographical analysis reveal strong relationships with Indochina, especially Vietnam, and suggest an age in the range Middle Jurassic to Early Cretaceous. According to wood taphonomy, the corresponding trees grew alongside streams under a rather arid climate, although this became wetter during the deposition of the upper formations of the Khorat Group.

Contrary to what happened in many other countries in the 1930s and 1940s, Alfred Wegener's theory of continental drift was not generally rejected in Nazi Germany, although several leading German geologists of the time did not accept it. It was actually presented as the modern view of Earth history in books and magazine articles aimed at the general public. Although outlandish geological theories such as Hörbiger's Welteislehre were favoured by some Nazi dignitaries, they were not widely accepted in scientific circles. On the other hand, continental drift received official support under the Third Reich, at a time when it was ignored or ridiculed by most earth scientists outside Germany.

Exceptional fossilization of large tetrapod swimming traces occurs in the Cerin Lagerstatte (Jura Mountains, France). These trackways are imprinted in Jurassic (Late Kimmeridgian) lagoonal fine-grained limestones and are attributed to giant turtles, which swam with a simultaneous movement of their forelimbs like the modern ones. These turtles swam in very shallow waters close to land, perhaps near a nesting area. As a major consequence, these new ichnologic data place the origin of true large marine turtles during the Jurassic period and not during the Cretaceous period as previously considered on the basis of skeletal remains.

A new semionotid fish, Lepidotes buddhabutrensis n. sp., is described from the continental Late Jurassic–Early Cretaceous Phu Kradung Formation, Phu Nam Jun, Kalasin Province. L. buddhabutrensis is characterized notably by the pattern of its cheek bones, by its short preorbital region, and by its numerous and well-developed premaxillary teeth. L. buddhabutrensis is provisionally placed in the genus Lepidotes; it shares, however, derived characters with other semionotids, such as Araripelepidotes and Pliodetes. To cite this article: L. Cavin et al., C. R. Palevol 2 (2003).

The ichnological assemblage of the Phra Wihan Formation (early Early Cretaceous of northeastern Thailand) includes the first sauropod tracks ever found in Thailand. It is reminiscent of the fauna of the underlying Jurassic Phu Kradung Formation with theropods, small ornithischians of uncertain affinities (possibly Hypsilophodon -like ornithopods) and sauropods. It suggests that, in southeastern Asia, an important faunal change occurred in the Early Cretaceous among continental vertebrates, whereas little happened at the Jurassic–Cretaceous boundary.