TY - JOUR
T1 - Palaeobiodiversity of crocodylomorphs from the Lourinhã Formation based on the tooth record: Insights into the palaeoecology of the Late Jurassic of Portugal
AU - Guillaume, Alexandre R. D.
AU - Moreno-Azanza, Miguel
AU - Puértolas-Pascual, Eduardo
AU - Mateus, Octávio
N1 - Eduardo Puertolas-Pascual (SFRH/BPD/116759/2016) and Miguel Moreno-Azanza (SFRH/BPD/113130/2015) hold postdoctoral grants funded by the Fundacao para a Ciencia e Tecnologia (FCT-MCTES) of Portugal.
This work was supported by Fundacao para a Ciencia e a Tecnologia project PTDC/CTA-PAL/31656/2017.
PY - 2020/6/11
Y1 - 2020/6/11
N2 - Crocodylomorphs were a diverse clade in the Late Jurassic of Portugal, with six taxa reported to date. Here we describe 126 isolated teeth recovered by screen-washing of sediments from Valmitão (Lourinhã, Portugal, late Kimmeridgian-Tithonian), a vertebrate microfossil assemblage in which at least five distinct crocodylomorph taxa are represented. Ten morphotypes are described and attributed to five clades (Lusitanisuchus, Atoposauridae, Goniopholididae, Bernissartiidae and an undetermined mesoeucrocodylian). Four different ecomorphotypes are here proposed according to ecological niches and feeding behaviours: these correspond to a diet based on arthropods and small vertebrates (Lusitanisuchus and Atoposauridae), a generalist diet (Goniopholididae), a durophagous diet (Bernissartiidae) and a carnivorous diet. Lusitanisuchus mitracostatus material from Guimarota is here redescribed to achieve a better illustration and comparison with the new material. This assemblage shares similar ecomorphotypes with other Mesozoic west-central European localities, where a diversity of crocodylomorphs lived together, avoiding direct ecological competition through niche partitioning. The absence of large marine crocodylomorphs, present in other contemporaneous assemblages, is here interpreted as evidence that the Valmitão assemblage was deposited in a freshwater environment, although sample bias cannot be completely ruled out. These affinities are further supported by the presence of lanceolate and leaf-shaped teeth associated with continental clades.
AB - Crocodylomorphs were a diverse clade in the Late Jurassic of Portugal, with six taxa reported to date. Here we describe 126 isolated teeth recovered by screen-washing of sediments from Valmitão (Lourinhã, Portugal, late Kimmeridgian-Tithonian), a vertebrate microfossil assemblage in which at least five distinct crocodylomorph taxa are represented. Ten morphotypes are described and attributed to five clades (Lusitanisuchus, Atoposauridae, Goniopholididae, Bernissartiidae and an undetermined mesoeucrocodylian). Four different ecomorphotypes are here proposed according to ecological niches and feeding behaviours: these correspond to a diet based on arthropods and small vertebrates (Lusitanisuchus and Atoposauridae), a generalist diet (Goniopholididae), a durophagous diet (Bernissartiidae) and a carnivorous diet. Lusitanisuchus mitracostatus material from Guimarota is here redescribed to achieve a better illustration and comparison with the new material. This assemblage shares similar ecomorphotypes with other Mesozoic west-central European localities, where a diversity of crocodylomorphs lived together, avoiding direct ecological competition through niche partitioning. The absence of large marine crocodylomorphs, present in other contemporaneous assemblages, is here interpreted as evidence that the Valmitão assemblage was deposited in a freshwater environment, although sample bias cannot be completely ruled out. These affinities are further supported by the presence of lanceolate and leaf-shaped teeth associated with continental clades.
KW - Atoposauridae
KW - Bernissartiidae
KW - Goniopholididae
KW - Kimmeridgian-Tithonian
KW - vertebrate microfossil assemblage
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85092618473&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1093/zoolinnean/zlz112
DO - 10.1093/zoolinnean/zlz112
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85092618473
SN - 0024-4082
VL - 189
SP - 549
EP - 583
JO - Zoological Journal Of The Linnean Society
JF - Zoological Journal Of The Linnean Society
IS - 2
ER -