Plasticity and Convergence in the Evolution of Short-Necked Plesiosaurs

Fischer, Valentin; Benson, Roger; Zverkov, Nikolay G.; Soul, Laura C.; Arkhangelsky, M. S.; Lambert, Olivier; Stenshin, Ilya M.; Uspensky, Gleb N.; Druckenmiller, Patrick

doi:10.1016/j.cub.2017.04.052

Cited by 49 publications

(73 citation statements)

References 46 publications

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“…Subsequent discoveries have improved our understanding of their diversity and disparity dynamics (Fischer et al . , ), although fossils from this critical interval are not abundant.…”

mentioning

confidence: 96%

“…; Zverkov ; Fischer et al . ). Recently described peculiar pliosaurids Makhaira rossica Fischer et al ., and Luskhan itilensis Fischer et al ., from the upper Hauterivian of Russia, have subtrihedral or trihedral tooth crowns.…”

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confidence: 97%

“…), our knowledge of their evolutionary history is characterized by windows of high fossil abundance, separated by intervals of little or no knowledge (Hampe ; Fischer et al . , ; Gómez‐Pérez & Noè ). In particular, although many thalassophonean fossils are known from the upper Middle Jurassic, Upper Jurassic and mid‐Cretaceous, much less is known from the Jurassic–Cretaceous transitional interval.…”

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confidence: 98%

“…; Benson & Druckenmiller ; Fischer et al . , ; Madzia ). Brachauchenine thalassophoneans from the relatively well‐sampled Barremian–Turonian stages of the Cretaceous differ from Late Jurassic thalassophoneans in key diet‐related morphological features.…”

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confidence: 98%

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Increased pliosaurid dental disparity across the Jurassic–Cretaceous transition

et al. 2018

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Pliosaurid marine reptiles played important roles in marine food chains from the Middle Jurassic to the middle Cretaceous, frequently as apex predators. The evolution of pliosaurids during the later parts of the Early Cretaceous has recently been illuminated by discoveries from Russia (Hauterivian) and Colombia (Barremian). However, knowledge of pliosaurids representing the Jurassic–Cretaceous transition (late Tithonian – Valanginian), is still largely incomplete, especially during the earliest Cretaceous. As such, the effect on pliosaurids of hypothesized faunal turnover during the Jurassic–Cretaceous boundary interval is poorly understood. We report pliosaurid teeth from the upper Volgian (Tithonian, Upper Jurassic) of the Kheta river basin (Eastern Siberia, Russia), to the Berriasian and Valanginian (Lower Cretaceous) of the Volga region (European Russia). These assemblages have yielded a series of distinct tooth morphotypes, including the first reports of conical‐toothed pliosaurids from the latest Jurassic and earliest Cretaceous. This challenges the hypothesis that only one lineage of pliosaurids crossed the Jurassic–Cretaceous boundary. It appears that conical‐toothed pliosaurids co‐existed with their trihedral‐toothed relatives for at least 25 million years during the latest Jurassic and earliest Cretaceous. In fact, our quantitative analyses indicate that pliosaurids reached their maximal dental disparity during this interval, showing little evidence of turnover associated with the Jurassic–Cretaceous transition. Instead, disparity decreased later in the Early Cretaceous, with the disappearance of trihedral‐toothed forms in the Barremian.

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“…Subsequent discoveries have improved our understanding of their diversity and disparity dynamics (Fischer et al . , ), although fossils from this critical interval are not abundant.…”

mentioning

confidence: 96%

mentioning

confidence: 97%

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confidence: 98%

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confidence: 98%

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Increased pliosaurid dental disparity across the Jurassic–Cretaceous transition

et al. 2018

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“…Plesiosauria are Mesozoic marine reptiles that had a global distribution almost from their origin in the Late Triassic (Benson et al, 2012) to their extinction at the end of the Cretaceous (Ketchum and Benson, 2010;Fischer et al, 2017). Plesiosauria belong to the clade Sauropterygia and are its most derived and only post-Triassic representatives, being among the most taxonomically diverse of all Mesozoic marine reptiles (Motani, 2009).…”

Section: Sauropterygian Evolution and Plesiosaur Originsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Foramina in plesiosaur cervical centra indicate a specialized vascular system

Scaal

Sander

2017

Foss. Rec.

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Abstract. The sauropterygian clade Plesiosauria arose in the Late Triassic and survived to the very end of the Cretaceous. A long, flexible neck with over 35 cervicals (the highest number of cervicals in any tetrapod clade) is a synapomorphy of Pistosauroidea, the clade that contains Plesiosauria. Basal plesiosaurians retain this very long neck but greatly reduce neck flexibility. In addition, plesiosaurian cervicals have large, paired, and highly symmetrical foramina on the ventral side of the centrum, traditionally termed "subcentral foramina", and on the floor of the neural canal. We found that these dorsal and the ventral foramina are connected by a canal that extends across the center of ossification of the vertebral centrum. We posit that these foramina are not for nutrient transfer to the vertebral centrum but that they are the osteological correlates of a highly paedomorphic vascular system in the neck of plesiosaurs. This is the retention of intersegmental arteries within the vertebral centrum that are usually obliterated during sclerotome re-segmentation in early embryonic development. The foramina and canals are a rare osteological correlate of the non-cranial vascular (arterial) system in fossil reptiles. The adaptive value of the retention of the intersegmental arteries may be improved oxygen transport during deep diving and thermoregulation. These features may have been important in the global dispersal of plesiosaurians.

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Not a jaguar after all? Phylogenetic affinities and morphology of the Pleistocene felid Panthera gombaszoegensis

Chatar

Michaud

Fischer

2022

Papers in Palaeontology

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Panthera gombaszoegensis is a fossil pantherine from the Pleistocene of Eurasia. It has been considered to be the closest ancestor the jaguar (Panthera onca) due to dental similarities, and has even sometimes been considered to be a subspecies of jaguar. However, our knowledge of this taxon is limited by the scarcity of cranial remains, which has made it difficult to properly assess the phylogenetic affinities and possible ecological role of this taxon. Here, we describe a new cranium of P. gombaszoegensis from Belgium, and present a morphometric analysis of the cranium and dentition of extinct and extant pantherines. Whereas the lower dentition of P. gombaszoegensis is similar to that of P. onca, similarities were not recovered in other parts of the skull. Some cranial traits of P. gombaszoegensis resemble those of other pantherines, especially larger species such as the tiger (P. tigris). Some similarities with taxa such as tigers (P. tigris), lions (P. leo), and leopards (P. pardus) in the skull of P. gombaszoegensis, suggesting a diet adapted to a wide prey spectrum. The first ever assessment of the phylogenetic placement of P. gombaszoegensis places this taxon closer to P. tigris than to P. onca, which considerably simplifies the biogeographic history of pantherines.

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Plasticity and Convergence in the Evolution of Short-Necked Plesiosaurs

Cited by 49 publications

References 46 publications

Increased pliosaurid dental disparity across the Jurassic–Cretaceous transition

Increased pliosaurid dental disparity across the Jurassic–Cretaceous transition

Foramina in plesiosaur cervical centra indicate a specialized vascular system

Not a jaguar after all? Phylogenetic affinities and morphology of the Pleistocene felid Panthera gombaszoegensis

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