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The fossil shrimp Somalis piauiensis n. gen. n. sp. is a new fossil record of Penaeoidea from the Araripe Basin. The purpose of this study is to describe a new decapod crustacean from the Romualdo Formation of the Santana Group and compare it with other fossil Dendrobranchiata described from this basin. The new fossil is characterized by a carapace with antennal and branchiostegal spines. Long rostrum, with thirteen evident dorsal spines yielding a serrate appearance. The laminar scaphocerite is large with a weakly rounded lateral margin and is longer than the rostrum. The fossil specimen is the first occurrence of shrimp in the Piauí territory.

Fossil freshwater carideans are very rare worldwide. Here, we present new taxonomic remarks about Beurlenia araripensis from the Early Cretaceous laminated limestones of the Crato Formation, Araripe Basin, northeastern Brazil. We analyzed five fossil samples, testing the morphological variations such as, rostrum with 5 to 14 supra-rostral spines and 2 to 3 sub-rostral spines, which appears as serrate for Caridea. This variation demonstrates a morphologic plasticity also seen in extant species of the group, such as those of the genera Macrobrachium and Palaemon., Competing Interests: NO authors have competing interests.

The Ipubi and Romualdo Formations are Cretaceous units of the Araripe Basin (Santana Group). The first and most ancient was deposited in a lake environment, and some fossils were preserved in shales deposited under blackish conditions. The second was deposited in a marine environment, preserving a rich paleontological content in calcareous concretions. Considering that these two environments preserved their fossils under different processes, in this work we investigated the chemical composition of two fossilized specimens, one from each of the studied stratigraphic units, and compared them using vibrational spectroscopy techniques (Raman and IR), X-ray diffraction and large-field energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) mappings. Calcite was observed as the dominant phase and carbon was observed in the fossils as a byproduct of the decomposition. The preservation of hydroxide calcium phosphate (Ca 10 (PO 4 ) 6 (OH) 2 , hydroxyapatite) was observed in both fossils. In addition, it was observed that there was a smaller amount of pyrite (pyritization) in the Romualdo Formation sample than in the Ipubi one. Large-field EDS measurements showed the major presence of the chemical elements calcium, oxygen, iron, aluminum and fluoride in the Ipubi fossil, indicating a greater influence of inorganic processes in its fossilization. Our results also suggest that the Romualdo Formation fossilization process involved the substitution of the hydroxyl group by fluorine, providing durability to the fossils., Competing Interests: The authors declare there are no competing interests.

Fossils are mineralized remains or traces from animals, plants and other organisms aged to about 10(8)years. The chemical processes of fossilization are dated back from old geological periods on Earth. The understanding of these processes and the structure of the fossils are one of the goals of paleontology and geology in the sedimentary environments. Many researches have tried to unveil details about special kinds of biological samples; however, a lack of data is noticed for various other specimens. This study reports the investigations through infrared spectroscopy, X-ray fluorescence and X-ray diffraction measurements for two types of fish fossils from the Cretaceous Period. The sample of Cladocyclus gardneri and Vinctifer comptoni fossils were collected from the Ipubi Formation, being one of the less studied, among the formations that constitute the important Santana group in the Araripe Basin, Brazil. The results obtained through different techniques, showed that the C. gardneri fish fossil contains hydroxyapatite and calcite as constituents whereas its rock matrix was formed by calcite, quartz and pyrite. Regarding the V. comptoni, the measurements confirmed the presence of hydroxyapatite in the fossil and its rock matrix gypsum, pyrite, quartz and calcite. The above scientific data contributed to the understanding the fossil formation in the Ipubi Formation, an important environment of the Cretaceous Period, which is rich in well-preserved fossils from different species., (Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

We used here a scanning electron microscopy approach that detected backscattered electrons (BSEs) and X-rays (from ionization processes) along a large-field (LF) scan, applied on a Cretaceous fossil of a shrimp (area ∼280 mm(2)) from the Araripe Sedimentary Basin. High-definition LF images from BSEs and X-rays were essentially generated by assembling thousands of magnified images that covered the whole area of the fossil, thus unveiling morphological and compositional aspects at length scales from micrometers to centimeters. Morphological features of the shrimp such as pleopods, pereopods, and antennae located at near-surface layers (undetected by photography techniques) were unveiled in detail by LF BSE images and in calcium and phosphorus elemental maps (mineralized as hydroxyapatite). LF elemental maps for zinc and sulfur indicated a rare fossilization event observed for the first time in fossils from the Araripe Sedimentary Basin: the mineralization of zinc sulfide interfacing to hydroxyapatite in the fossil. Finally, a dimensional analysis of the phosphorus map led to an important finding: the existence of a fractal characteristic (D = 1.63) for the hydroxyapatite-matrix interface, a result of physical-geological events occurring with spatial scale invariance on the specimen, over millions of years.

In this work we study two types of wood fossils (Gymnosperms, Araucariaceae) from the Crato Formation of Araripe Basin in Brazil, from the Cretaceous Period. The samples were characterized by Raman and infrared spectroscopies, X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy. The results obtained by different techniques showed that although the rocks surrounding the fossils have predominantly the same constitution - calcite - however, the formation processes of these types of wood fossils are quite different. One of the fossils, denominated as light wood, is predominantly composed of gypsum, while the other fossil, the dark wood, is rich in amorphous carbon, possibly the kerogen type. Implications relative to the environment where the plants lived millions years ago are also given. Finally, the results highlight the constitution of one of the most important paleontological sites of the Cretaceous Period in the South America., (Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)