BACKGROUND The early evolution of sauropod dinosaurs is poorly understood because of a highly incomplete fossil record. New discoveries of Early and Middle Jurassic sauropods have a great potential to lead to a better understanding of early sauropod evolution and to reevaluate the patterns of sauropod diversification. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS A new sauropod from the Middle Jurassic of Niger, Spinop...

The late Middle Jurassic–early Eocene (;120 m.y.) sediment-accumulation history of the Cordilleran foreland basin in northern Utah exhibits a sigmoidal pattern on a rate vs. time plot, with moderate rates of accumulation during late Middle Jurassic, very low net rates during Late Jurassic–earliest Cretaceous, increasingly rapid rates during Earlymiddle Cretaceous, and low rates during Late Cret...

The discovery of a new stem turtle from the Middle Jurassic (Bathonian) deposits of the Isle of Skye, Scotland, sheds new light on the early evolutionary history of Testudinata. Eileanchelys waldmani gen. et sp. nov. is known from cranial and postcranial material of several individuals and represents the most complete Middle Jurassic turtle described to date, bridging the morphological gap betw...

BACKGROUND The Middle Jurassic was a critical time in the evolutionary history of ichthyosaurs. During this time interval, the diverse, well-studied faunas of the Lower Jurassic were entirely replaced by ophthalmosaurids, a new group that arose sometime prior to the Aalenian-Bajocian boundary and by the latest middle Jurassic comprised the only surviving group of ichthyosaurs. Thus, the Middle ...

Some new and poorly known larger benthic foraminifera are described from Middle Jurassic (Upper Aalenian–Bajocian) shallow-water limestones of the Croatian Karst Dinarides. Cymbriaella lorigae FUGAGNOLI is reported for the fi rst time outside its type-locality, the Upper Pliensbachian of the Southern Alps. New taxa described include Bosniella bassoulleti n. sp. and Dubrovnikella septfontainei n...

Quantitative subsidence analysis of 26 wells in the Lusitanian basin provides new constraints on the western Iberian Mesozoic passive margin development. Backstripped tectonic subsidence curves show a three-fold subdivision of vertical motions from Late Triassic onward. Continental rifting was initiated during the Late Triassic and Early Jurassic. From Middle Jurassic onward a distinct differen...

middle jurassic (bajocian-bathonian) sphenophyta fossils of the silicified level peats of the pabdana coal mine (kerman) recovered. four new species of sphenophyta described for the first time. they include equisetites pabdanaii sp. nov., equisetites sparseii sp. nov., equisetites hojedkii sp. nov. and equisetites irregularii sp. nov.,. descriptions of the above mentioned new species has been d...

Docodonts are aMesozoicmammal group (Synapsida:Mammaliaformes) with a fossil record from theMiddle Jurassic to the late Early Cretaceous. With highly distinctive molars for both shearing and grinding functions, docodonts are inferred to have diverse dietary adaptations, including insectivory, omnivory, and even carnivory. This group also offers the earliest-known case of mammalian swimming adap...

Four genera and four species of Osmylopsychopidae are described from the Jurassic of Kyrgyzstan, Central Asia: Oligophlebiopsis biramosa gen. et sp. nov. (Early Jurassic of Sogyuty); Osmylopsychoides anteromedialis gen. et sp. nov., Psychostoechotes undulatus gen. et sp. nov. and Osmylopsychostoechus sogulensis gen. et sp. nov. (all from the late Early to early Middle Jurassic of Sai-Sagul). By...

Turtles have been known since the Upper Triassic (210Myr old); however, fossils recording the first steps of turtle evolution are scarce and often fragmentary. As a consequence, one of the main questions is whether living turtles (Testudines) originated during the Late Triassic (210Myr old) or during the Middle to Late Jurassic (ca 160Myr old). The discovery of the new fossil turtle, Condorchel...