Mesozoic crurotarsans exhibited diverse morphologies and feeding modes, representing considerable ecological diversity, yet macroevolutionary patterns remain unexplored. Here, we use a unique combination of morphological and biomechanical disparity metrics to quantify the ecological diversity and trophic radiations of Mesozoic crurotarsans, using the mandible as a morpho-functional proxy. We re...

The Sungun  copper  porphyry deposit is hosted by a Tertiary magmatic complex in  the  Azarbayjan province , northwestern Iran. The  Sungan mine  in its southern and eastern parts is limited  by early Miocene volcanic and by Late Cretaceous limestone rocks in northern and eastern parts respectively . The Sungun  deposit is associated with a suite of porphyritic granitoids and late dikes intrudi...

Late Mesozoic palaeobiogeography has been characterized by a distinction between the northern territories of Laurasia and the southern landmasses of Gondwana. The repeated discovery of Gondwanan lineages in Laurasia has led to the proposal of alternative scenarios to explain these anomalous occurrences. A new biogeographical model for late Mesozoic terrestrial ecosystems is here proposed in whi...

The Sundaland continental promontory, as the core of Southeast Asia, is one of the lowest lying continental regions, with half of the continental area presently inundated by a shallow sea. The role of mantle convection in driving long-wavelength topography and vertical motion of the lithosphere in this region has often been ignored when interpreting regional stratigraphy, including a widespread...

at the boundary between jurassic and cretaceous, because of late kimmerian movements, the sea ragressed from many areas of north and cantral iran, and many continental areas rose, which included a number of differentiated basins. the boundary between jurassic and cretaceous in these parts of iran is usually marked by a big diastem or by red, clastic and evaporitic sediments. the whole or part o...

A new species of multituberculate mammal, Hainina pyrenaica n. sp. is described from Fontllonga-3 (Tremp Basin, Southern Pyrenees, Spain), correlated to the later part of chron C29r just above the K/T boundary. This taxon represents the earliest European Tertiary mammal recovered so far, and is related to other Hainina species from the European Paleocene. A revision of the species of Hainina al...

Paranyctoides is represented by three named, and possibly four unnamed species in the Late Cretaceous, North America. P. aralensis from the Late Cretaceous of Dzharakuduk, Uzbekistan, belongs in this or a closely allied taxon. Lower molars have low trigonids, well−developed paraconids not appressed against metaconids, talonids on m1–2 as wide or wider than trigonids, hypoconulids often closer t...

Numerous fossil pipoid frogs recovered from Late Cretaceous deposits of a closed crater-lake of Late Cretaceous age in the Marydale District of South Africa are described and referred to a new genus and species of pipoid anuran. The fossils include larvae and adult frogs that are thought to have been killed en masse following breakdown of the thermal stratification or possibly by CO2 degassing ...

Freshwater habitats of coastal plains are refugia for many divergent vertebrate lineages, yet these environments are highly vulnerable to sea-level fluctuations, which suggest that resident communities have endured dynamic histories. Using the fossil record and a multi-locus nuclear phylogeny, we examine divergence times, biogeography, body size evolution and patterns of community assembly of a...