Article
Paleontology
William G. Parker, Sterling J. Nesbitt, Adam D. Marsh, Ben T. Kligman, Kenneth Bader
Summary: Doswellia kaltenbachi is a long-snouted non-archosaur archosauriform from the Late Triassic of the United States, with new material discovered in Arizona for the first time. The findings strengthen the presence of this taxon during the Adamanian period and establish biogeographic links to other regions like Texas and Virginia, highlighting the similarity of North American vertebrate assemblages across different time periods.
JOURNAL OF VERTEBRATE PALEONTOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Guang-Hui Xu, Yi Ren, Li-Jun Zhao, Jun-Ling Liao, Dong-Hao Feng
Summary: In this study, a new pachypleurosaurid species, Honghesaurus longicaudalis, from Yunnan, China is reported. This discovery fills the morphological gap in pachypleurosaurs and provides new evidence and insights into this group. The study also reveals the role of the Tethys Ocean in the dispersal of pachypleurosaurs from Europe to South China.
SCIENTIFIC REPORTS
(2022)
Article
Paleontology
Ben T. Kligman, Warren C. McClure, Mark Korbitz, Bruce A. Schumacher
Summary: This study describes a Late Triassic sphenodontian, Trullidens purgatorii, revealing new aspects of the earliest radiation of herbivorous lepidosaurs. The unique fossil jaw structure and incisor-like teeth suggest a specialized masticatory apparatus for herbivory. Phylogenetic analyses place this taxon within opisthodontian sphenodontians, showing a near-global radiation of this clade across the Pangaean supercontinent during the Late Triassic.
JOURNAL OF PALEONTOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Geography, Physical
Josephina Hartung, Felix J. Augustin, Panagiotis Kampouridis, Daniel J. Chure
Summary: This study describes a new trace fossil assemblage from the Upper Triassic Chinle Formation in the southwest USA, revealing support for rheotaxis behavior in notostracan crustaceans and indicating they lived in an environment dominated by sheet-flow events in ephemeral river systems.
PALAEOGEOGRAPHY PALAEOCLIMATOLOGY PALAEOECOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Paleontology
Bill D. Mueller, Adam K. Huttenlocker, Bryan J. Small, James L. Pinto, Kendra Dean-Wallace, Sankar Chatterjee
Summary: A new kannemeyeriiform dicynodont, Argodicynodon boreni, is described from the Upper Triassic Tecovas Formation in west Texas. It exhibits several cranial characters and is identified as the oldest placeriine in the southwestern U.S.A. and the first named dicynodont genus from the Dockum Group of Texas. A review of Euramerican dicynodont records reveals their hidden diversity and abundance during the Late Triassic in Laurasia.
JOURNAL OF VERTEBRATE PALEONTOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Paleontology
Victor Lopez-Rojas, Lars B. B. Clemmensen, Jesper Milan, Oliver Wings, Nicole Klein, Octavio Mateus
Summary: In this study, phytosaurs from the Upper Triassic Malmros Klint Formation in central East Greenland are described. The fossils consist of more than 150 disarticulated bones and teeth from at least four individuals, representing a new species of Mystriosuchus. Histological analysis of one specimen's humerus suggests that it was close to somatic maturity. The findings support the idea of European faunal influence in East Greenland during the Late Triassic.
JOURNAL OF VERTEBRATE PALEONTOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Geology
Tea Kolar-Jurkovsek, Chen Yan-Long, Eugen Gradinaru, Bogdan Jurkovsek
Summary: The paper presents a study on the conodont fauna found in Lower Triassic deposits of North Dobrogea Orogen in Paleotethys. The study area, Tulcea Veche Quarry, is characterized by diverse molluscs, including the ammonoid Tirolites cassianus and the bivalve Crittendenia decidens. The site is also the type locality of the coelacanth fish, Dobrogeria aegyssensis. The recovered conodont fauna includes various species such as Icriospathodus crassatus, Neospathodus robustispinus, Novispathodus abruptus, Nv. brochus, Nv. aff. brochus, Tr. ex gr. homeri, Tr. hungaricus, Tr. ex gr. hungaricus, Tr. symmetricus, Tr. aff. symmetricus, and Trias-sospathodus sp. correlated with the Tr. symmetricus Zone.
RIVISTA ITALIANA DI PALEONTOLOGIA E STRATIGRAFIA
(2023)
Article
Anatomy & Morphology
William G. Parker, William A. Reyes, Adam D. Marsh
Summary: This study examines the maximum body size of pseudosuchian archosaurs and investigates the factors influencing body size. Through the analysis of a newly discovered large specimen, it is found that the specimen has a large body size but has not yet reached skeletal maturity, which differs from smaller specimens. Furthermore, the study suggests that neurocentral suture co-ossification may be correlated with skeletal maturity in aetosaurs, while body size may not be congruent with skeletal maturity.
ANATOMICAL RECORD-ADVANCES IN INTEGRATIVE ANATOMY AND EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Geochemistry & Geophysics
Ziaul Haque, John W. Geissman, Randall B. Irmis, Paul E. Olsen, Christopher Lepre, Hesham Buhedma, Roland Mundil, William G. Parker, Cornelia Rasmussen, George E. Gehrels
Summary: The Colorado Plateau Coring Project Phase 1 obtained three continuous drill cores from Petrified Forest National Park in Arizona, two of which intersected various geological formations. A high-resolution magnetostratigraphy was constructed for the Moenkopi Formation, revealing six normal and six reverse polarity magnetozones in both cores. Chemical dating suggests that the Moenkopi Formation spans from the earliest Anisian to the earliest Ladinian stages.
JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH-SOLID EARTH
(2021)
Article
Geography, Physical
Meng Wang, Mingsong Li, David B. Kemp, Slah Boulila, James G. Ogg
Summary: Two competing hypotheses, glacioeustasy and groundwater aquifer eustasy, were evaluated for their impact on global sea-level changes during the Late Triassic. Sedimentary noise modeling and principal component analysis were used to reconstruct lake level fluctuations, revealing a link between million-year scale lake-level variations and astronomical forcing. This study highlights the importance of high-resolution, objective reconstructions of sea- and lake-levels for further testing these hypotheses under warm conditions.
GLOBAL AND PLANETARY CHANGE
(2022)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Qiling Liu, Tinglu Yang, Long Cheng, Michael J. Benton, Benjamin C. Moon, Chunbo Yan, Zhihui An, Li Tian
Summary: A new specimen of the predatory marine reptile Diandongosaurus from the Middle Triassic Luoping Biota in southwest China is reported, indicating recovery from the Permian-Triassic mass extinction. The specimen, larger than most other known pachypleurosaurs, shows affinities with Diandongosaurus acutidentatus and was predated by an unknown hunter.
SCIENTIFIC REPORTS
(2021)
Article
Geosciences, Multidisciplinary
Greg M. Baniak, Thomas F. Moslow, Stavros Michailides, Matthew G. Adams
Summary: The Lower Triassic Montney Formation in western Canada is the third largest unconventional natural gas deposit globally. It exhibits a wide degree of heterogeneity and consists of four stratigraphic sequences matched to global Triassic substages. Understanding these sequences and their spatial distribution is critical for considering variations in static reservoir properties and their relation to dynamic well performance.
Article
Geosciences, Multidisciplinary
Cornelia Rasmussen, Roland Mundil, Randall B. Irmis, Dominique Geisler, George E. Gehrels, Paul E. Olsen, Dennis Kent, Christopher Lepre, Sean T. Kinney, John W. Geissman, William G. Parker
Summary: The Upper Triassic Chinle Formation in Petrified Forest National Park, Arizona, is a significant non-marine archive of biotic and environmental changes, with new age models suggesting a mid-Norian event rather than correlation to the Carnian-Norian boundary. By combining detrital CA-ID-TIMS ages with magnetostratigraphic data, two feasible age model solutions have been proposed, showing the challenges and powers of integrating different dating methods for complex sedimentary sequences.
GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA BULLETIN
(2021)
Article
Geosciences, Multidisciplinary
Rodrigo T. Muller, Mauricio S. Garcia
Summary: Researchers have discovered the oldest dinosaur morphological fossil in the Middle Triassic sediments of Brazil, narrowing the geographical gap between South America, Africa, and Argentina during the early radiation of dinosaur morphological forms.
Article
Zoology
Sterling J. Nesbitt, Hans-Dieter Sues
Summary: The paper provides a detailed description of the unique early-diverging dinosaur Daemonosaurus chauliodus from northern New Mexico, USA. The taxon is believed to be at the base of dinosaurs and its unusual mix of character states has implications for character evolution in early dinosaurs.
ZOOLOGICAL JOURNAL OF THE LINNEAN SOCIETY
(2021)