Insights into molecular taphonomy and the evolution of sauropod posture garnered from Late Cretaceous fossils

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul V. Ullmann
Keyword(s):  
Late Cretaceous ◽  
Cretaceous Fossils

scholarly journals Occurrence of Late Cretaceous fossils from the Tochiya Formation, northeastern part of the Kanto Mountains, central Japan

1990 ◽  
Vol 96 (8) ◽  
pp. 683-685_1 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yoshiji WATANABE ◽  
Hiromasa ASANO ◽  
Masayuki INO ◽  
Emiko KITAMURA ◽  
Osamu TAKAHASHI ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Late Cretaceous ◽  
Central Japan ◽  
Northeastern Part ◽  
Cretaceous Fossils

scholarly journals Rariglanda jerseyensis, a new ericalean fossil flower from the Late Cretaceous of New Jersey

Botany ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 94 (9) ◽  
pp. 747-758 ◽  
Author(s):  
Camila Martínez ◽  
Thereis Y.S. Choo ◽  
Daniella Allevato ◽  
Kevin C. Nixon ◽  
William L. Crepet ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
New Jersey ◽  
New Species ◽  
Late Cretaceous ◽  
Phylogenetic Analyses ◽  
Glandular Trichomes ◽  
Ecological Studies ◽  
Abaxial Surface ◽  
Fossil Flowers ◽  
A New Species ◽  
Cretaceous Fossils

A new species, Rariglanda jerseyensis, is described from well-preserved fusainized fossil flowers collected from the Late Cretaceous of New Jersey. Phylogenetic analyses and comparisons with extant and extinct taxa place R. jerseyensis within the monophyletic Ericales, sister to Clethraceae. The most distinctive feature of R. jerseyensis is a dense covering of conspicuous multicellular trichomes on the abaxial surface of the calyx. These multicellular trichomes appear to be glandular, and similar trichomes are found in several other, unrelated, Late Cretaceous fossils. In particular, the ericalean fossil Glandulocalyx upatoiensis bears the most similarity to R. jerseyensis, although differences in androecium and trichome characters clearly separate the two taxa. In addition, phylogenetic analyses confirm the position of G. upatoiensis within the Ericales, but place it within the sarracenioid clade, in a polytomy with Actinidiaceae and Roridulaceae. Past ecological studies associating trichomes with defense against herbivores and pathogens, coupled with the prevalence of multicellular trichomes on flowers among different lineages of fossils in the Cretaceous, suggest that glandular trichomes could have been an important adaptation against herbivore feeding during the Cretaceous.

A new crown wasp in mid-Cretaceous amber from northern Myanmar (Hymenoptera: Stephanidae)

2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 229-235 ◽  
Author(s):  
MICHAEL S ENGEL
Keyword(s):  
Early Cretaceous ◽  
Late Cretaceous ◽  
Direct Evidence ◽  
Extensive Study ◽  
Early Jurassic ◽  
Early Evolution ◽  
Crown Group ◽  
The Family ◽  
Stem Lineage ◽  
Cretaceous Fossils

The crown wasps, family Stephanidae, are generally believed to occupy a distinguished position as putative relicts of the earliest-diverging lineage of apocritan Hymenoptera (e.g., Sharkey et al., 2012; Mao et al., 2015). More recent analyses have cast some confusion over this hypothesis, with the family instead appearing closer to the Evanioidea or even Trigonalyoidea (Peters et al., 2017; Tang et al., 2019). From most analyses it is clear that the family extends well into the Cretaceous, with crown-group Stephanidae estimated to have appeared by at least the Early Cretaceous and a purported ghost-stem lineage extending into the Early Jurassic or even latest Triassic (Tang et al., 2019). At least parts of such a hypothesis are consistent with the number of mid-Cretaceous fossils representing a variety of crown wasps, including species of both the plesiomorphic subfamily Schlettereriinae as well as putative Stephaninae (Engel & Grimaldi, 2004; Engel et al., 2013; Engel & Huang, 2017; Li et al., 2017).  Unfortunately, while such fossil occurrences are of considerable interest, the total available record of fossil crown wasps is poor, with most species documented from the Palaeogene (Engel, 2005; Engel & Ortega-Blanco, 2008), and hitherto only four species from the Late Cretaceous.  Given the potentially long gap between the first divergence of the lineage and the appearance of the crown group (Tang et al., 2019), it is precisely for such a group that early diverging stem groups would be of considerable value in resolving relationships and documenting the appearance of apomorphies within the clade.  Extensive study of Early Cretaceous and Jurassic deposits for stem-group Stephanidae is necessary in order to provide direct evidence into the early evolution of this critical family of the Euhymenoptera.

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