The postcranial skeleton of the aquatic parareptile Mesosaurus tenuidens from the Gondwanan Permian

Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology

Volumn 30, Issue 5, 2010, Pages 1378-1395

  Modesto, Sean Patrick ^a,b  

^a UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO   (Canada)

^b CAPE BRETON UNIVERSITY   (Canada)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

BODY SHAPE; CRANIUM; FOSSIL RECORD; GONDWANA; MORPHOLOGY; PALEOECOLOGY; PALEOENVIRONMENT; PALEONTOLOGY; PERMIAN; REPTILE; SKELETAL REMAINS;

AFRICA; SOUTH AMERICA;

ANIMALIA; CHELONIIDAE; MESOSAURUS; REPTILIA; STEREOSTERNUM TUMIDUM; TESTUDINES;

EID: 77957807251     PISSN: 02724634     EISSN: 19372809     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/02724634.2010.501443     Document Type: Article

References (68)

1. Araíjo, D.C. 1976. Taxonomia e relações dos Proganosauria da Bacia do Paraná. Anais do Academia Brasileira Cîencias 48:91-116.
2. Baird, D. 1955. Latex micro-molding and latex-plaster molding mixture. Science 122:202.
3. Bakker, R.T. 1975. Dinosaur renaissance. Scientific American 232:58-78.
4. Barberena, M.C. 1972. South American late Paleozoic tetrapods; pp. 67-75 in Simpósio Internacional Sombre os Sistemas Carbonifero e Permiano na América do Sul. Suplemento dos Anais da Academia Brasileira de Cîencias 44.
5. Barberena, M.C., D.C. Araíjo, and E.L. Lavina. 1985. Late Permian and Triassic tetrapods of southern Brazil. National Geographic Research 1:5-20.
6. Bartholomew, G.A., A.F. Bennett, and W.R. Dawson. 1975. Swimming, diving and lactate production of the marine iguana, Amblyrhynchus cristatus. Copeia 1976:709-720.
7. Berman, D. S, and R.R. Reisz. 1986. Captorhinid reptiles from the Early Permian of New Mexico, with description of a new genus and species. Annals of Carnegie Museum 55:1-28.
8. Broom, R. 1904. Observations on the structure of Mesosaurus. Transactions of the South African Philosophical Society 25:103-112.
9. Buffrénil, V. de, and J.-M. Mazin. 1989. Bone histology of Claudiosaurus germaini (Reptilia, Claudiosauridae) and the problem of pachyostosis in aquatic vertebrates. Historical Biology 2:311-322.
10. Carroll, R.L. 1969. A middle Pennsylvanian captorhinomorph, and the interrelationships of reptiles. Journal of Paleontology 43: 151-170.
11. Carroll, R.L. 1981. Plesiosaur ancestors from the Upper Permian of Madagascar. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London B 293:315-383.
12. Carroll, R.L. 1982. Early evolution of reptiles. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics 13:87-109.
13. Carroll, R.L. 1985. Evolutionary constraints in aquatic diapsid reptiles. Special Papers in Palaeontology 33:145-155.
14. Carroll, R.L. 1988. Vertebrate Paleontology and Evolution.W.H. Freeman, New York, 698 pp.
15. Carroll, R.L., and P. Gaskill. 1985. The nothosaur Pachypleurosaurus and the origin of plesiosaurs. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London B 309:343-393.
16. Clark, B.B., and Bemis, W. 1979. Kinematics of swimming penguins at the Detroit Zoo. Journal of Zoology 188:411-428.
17. Cope, E.D. 1886.Acontribution to the vertebrate paleontology of Brasil. Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 25:7-15.
18. Currie, P.J. 1981. Hovasaurus boulei, an aquatic eosuchian from the Upper Permian of Madagascar. Palaeontologia Africana 24:99-168.
19. Dawson, W.R., G.A. Bartholomew, and A.F. Bennett. 1977. A reappraisal of the aquatic specializations of the Galapagos marine iguana (Amblyrhynchus cristatus). Evolution 31:891-897.
20. deBraga, M. 2003. The postcranial skeleton, phylogenetic position, and probable lifestyle of the Early Triassic reptile Procolophon trigoniceps. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 40:527-556.
21. deBraga, M., and R R. Reisz. 1995. A new diapsid reptile from the Uppermost Carboniferous (Stephanian) of Kansas. Palaeontology 38:199-212.
22. Dilkes, D.W., and R.R. Reisz. 1986. The axial skeleton of the Early Permian reptile Eocaptorhinus laticeps (Williston). Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 23:1288-1296.
23. du Toit, A.L. 1927. A geological comparison of South America with South Africa. Carnegie Institute Publications, Washington, D.C. 381:1-158.
24. Gauthier, J.A., A. Kluge, and T.R. Rowe. 1988. The early evolution of the Amniota; pp. 103-155 in M.J. Benton (ed.), The Phylogeny and Classification of the Tetrapods, Volume 1: Amphibians, Reptiles, Birds. Systematics Association Special Volume 35A. Clarendon Press, Oxford.
25. Gervais, P. 1865. Du Mesosaurus tenuidens, reptile fossile de l'Afrique australe. Comptes Rendus de l'Académie des Sciences 60:950-955.
26. Godfrey, S.J. 1984. Plesiosaur subaqueous locomotion: A reappraisal. Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie, Monatshefte 11:661-672.
27. Gürich, G. 1889. Ditrochosaurus capensis-ein neuer Mesosaurier aus der Karooformation, Süd-Afrikas. Zeitschrift der Deutschen geologischen Gessellschaft, Berlin 41:641-652.
28. Heaton, M.J. 1982. New advances in latex casting techniques. Curator 23:95-100.
29. Heaton, M.J., and R.R. Reisz. 1986. Phylogenetic relationships of captorhinomorph reptiles. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 23:402-418.
30. Holmes, R.B. 1977. The osteology and musculature of the pectoral limb of small captorhinids. Journal of Morphology 152:101-140.
31. Holmes, R.B. 2003. The hind limb of Captorhinus aguti and the step cycle of basal amniotes. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 40: 515-526.
32. Huene, F. von. 1941. Osteologie und systematische Stellung von Mesosaurus. Palaeontographica, Abteilung A 92:45-58.
33. Ketchum, H.F., and P.M. Barrett. 2004. New reptile material from the Lower Triassic of Madagascar: Implications for the Permian-Triassic extinction event. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 41:1-8.
34. Laurin, M., and Reisz, R.R. 1995. A reevaluation of early amniote phylogeny. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 113: 165-223.
35. Lee, M.S.Y. 1993. The origin of the turtle body plan: Bridging a famous morphological gap. Science 261:1616-1620.
36. MacGregor, J.H. 1908. On Mesosaurus brasiliensis nov. sp. from the Permian of Brasil; pp. 301-336 in I.C. White (ed.), Commissão dos Estudos das Minas de Carvão de Pedra do Brasil, Parte II. National Press, Rio de Janeiro.
37. Modesto, S.P. 1996. Noteosaurus africanus Broom is a nomen dubium. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 16:172-174.
38. Modesto, S.P. 1999. Observations on the structure of the Early Permian reptile Stereosternum tumidum Cope. Palaeontologia Africana 35:7-19.
39. Modesto, S.P. 2006. The cranial skeleton of the Early Permian aquatic reptile Mesosaurus tenuidens: Implications for relationships and palaeobiology. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 146:345-368.
40. Müller, J., D. S Berman, A.C. Henrici, T. Martens, and S.S. Sumida. 2006. The basal reptile Thuringothyris mahlendorffae (Amniota: Eureptilia) from the Lower Permian of Germany. Journal of Paleontology 80:726-739.
41. Oelofsen, B.W. 1981. An anatomical and systematic study of the family Mesosauridae (Reptilia, Proganosauria) with special reference to its associated fauna and palaeoecological environment in the Whitehill Sea. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, University of Stellenbosch, Stellenbosch, South Africa, 250 pp.
42. Oelofsen, B.W. 1987. The biostratigraphy and fossils of the Whitehill and Irati shale formations of the Karoo and Paraná basins; pp. 131-138 in G.D. McKenzie (ed.), Gondwana Six: Stratigraphy, Sedimentology, and Paleontology. American Geophysical Union Monograph 41.
43. Oelofsen, B., and D.C. Araíjo. 1983. Palaeoecological implications of the distribution of mesosaurid reptiles in the Permian Irati Sea (Paraná Basin), South America. Revista Brasileira de Geocîencias 13:1-6.
44. Oelofsen, B.W., and D.C. Araíjo. 1987. Mesosaurus tenuidens and Stereosternum tumidum from the Permian Gondwana of both southern Africa and South America. South African Journal of Science 83:370-372.
45. Osborn, H.F. 1903. The reptilian subclasses Diapsida and Synapsida and the early history of the Diaptosauria. Memoirs of the American Museum of Natural History 1:451-507.
46. Pickford, M. 1995. Karoo Supergroup palaeontology of Namibia and brief description of a thecodont from Omingonde. Palaeontologia Africana 32:51-66.
47. Pinto, I.D. 1972. Late Paleozoic insects and crustaceans from Paraná Basin and their bearing on chronology and continental drift. Anais do Academia Brasileira Cî encias, Supplement 44:247-257.
48. Reisz, R.R. 1981. A diapsid reptile from the Pennsylvanian of Kansas. University of Kansas Museum of Natural History, Special Publication 7:1-74.
49. Reisz, R.R. 1986. Pelycosauria; in P. Wellnhofer (ed.), Encyclopedia of Paleoherpetology, Part 17A. Gustav Fischer Verlag, Stuttgart, 102 pp.
50. Reisz, R.R., and D.W. Dilkes. 2003. Archaeovenator hamiltonensis, a new varanopid (Synapsida: Eupelycosauria) from the Upper Carboniferous of Kansas. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 40:667-678.
51. Reisz, R.R., and D. Scott. 2002. Owenetta kitchingorum, sp. nov., a small parareptile (Procolophonia: Owenettidae) from the Lower Triassic of South Africa. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 22:244-256.
52. Reisz, R.R., D. S Berman, and D. Scott. 1984. The anatomy and relationships of the Lower Permian reptile Araeoscelis. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 4:57-67.
53. Rieppel, O. 1993. Studies on the skeleton formation in reptiles. IV. The homology of the reptilian (amniote) astragalus revisited. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 13:31-57.
54. Romer, A.S. 1948. Ichthyosaur ancestors. American Journal of Science 246:109-121.
55. Romer, A.S. 1974. Aquatic adaptation in reptiles-primary or secondary? Annals of the South African Museum 64:221-230.
56. Romer, A. S, and L.I. Price. 1940. Review of the Pelycosauria. Geological Society of America Special Paper 28:1-538.
57. Rösler, O., and C. Tatizana. 1989. As membranas natatorias em Stereosternum tumidum; pp. 129-131 in D. de Almeida Campos (ed.), Colet̂anea de trabalhos paleontológicos. Série Geologia, Brazil, 27.
58. Russell, D.A. 1967. Systematics and morphology of American mosasaurs. Peabody Museum of Natural History Bulletin 23:1-241.
59. Santos, R.V., P.A. Souza, C.J.S. de Alvarenga, E.L. Dantas, M.M. Pimentel, C.G. de Oliveira, and L.M. de Araíjo. 2006. Shrimp U-Pb zircon dating and palynology of bentonitic layers from the Permian Irati Formation, Paraná Basin, Brazil. Gondwana Research 9:456-463.
60. Sedor, F.A., and J. Ferigolo. 2001. A coluna vertebral de Brazilosaurus sanpauloensis Shikama & Ozaki, 1966 da Formaç ão Irati, Permiano da Bacia do Paraná (Brasil) (Proganosauria, Mesosauridae). Acta Biológica Paranaense 30:151-173.
61. Seeley, H.G. 1892. The Mesosauria of southern Africa. Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London 48:586-604.
62. Seymour, R.S. 1982. Physiological adaptations to aquatic life; pp. 1-51 in C. Gans and F.H. Pough (eds.), Biology of the Reptilia, Volume 13. Academic Press, New York.
63. Shikama, T., and H. Ozaki. 1966. On a reptilian skeleton from the Palaeozoic Formation of San Paulo, Brazil. Proceedings of the Palaeontological Society of Japan, New Series 64:351-358.
64. Sumida, S.S. 1987. Two different vertebral forms in the axial skeleton of Labidosaurus (Captorhinomorpha: Captorhinidae). Journal of Paleontology 61:155-167.
65. Sumida, S.S. 1989. Reinterpretation of the vertebral structure in the Early Permian pelycosaur Varanosaurus acutirostris (Amniota, Synapsida). Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 9:451-458.
66. Sumida, S.S. 1990. Vertebral morphology, alternation of neural spine height, and structure in Permo-Carboniferous tetrapods, and a reappraisal of primitive modes of terrestrial locomotion. University of California Publications, Zoology 122:1-129.
67. Weigelt, J. 1989. Recent Vertebrate Carcasses and their Paleobiological Implications. University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, 188 pp.
68. Wiman, C. 1925. Zur Kenntnis der Mesosaurier. Xenia Gorianoviç- Krambergeriania, Zagreb 1925:1-14.