Journal article
A new, exceptionally preserved juvenile specimen of Eusaurosphargis dalsassoi (Diapsida) and implications for Mesozoic marine diapsid phylogeny
- Abstract:
- Recently it was suggested that the phylogenetic clustering of Mesozoic marine reptile lineages, such as thalattosaurs, the very successful fish-shaped ichthyosaurs and sauropterygians (including plesiosaurs), among others, in a so-called 'superclade' is an artefact linked to convergent evolution of morphological characters associated with a shared marine lifestyle. Accordingly, partial 'un-scoring' of the problematic phylogenetic characters was proposed. Here we report a new, exceptionally preserved and mostly articulated juvenile skeleton of the diapsid reptile, Eusaurosphargis dalsassoi, a species previously recovered within the marine reptile 'superclade', for which we now provide a revised diagnosis. Using micro-computed tomography, we show that besides having a deep skull with a short and broad rostrum, the most outstanding feature of the new specimen is extensive, complex body armour, mostly preserved in situ, along its vertebrae, ribs, and forelimbs, as well as a row of flat, keeled ventrolateral osteoderms associated with the gastralia. As a whole, the anatomical features support an essentially terrestrial lifestyle of the animal. A review of the proposed partial character 'un-scoring' using three published data matrices indicate that this approach is flawed and should be avoided, and that within the marine reptile 'superclade' E. dalsassoi potentially is the sister taxon of Sauropterygia.
- Publication status:
- Published
- Peer review status:
- Peer reviewed
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(Preview, Version of record, pdf, 6.7MB, Terms of use)
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- Publisher copy:
- 10.1038/s41598-017-04514-x
Authors
- Publisher:
- Nature Publishing Group
- Journal:
- Scientific Reports More from this journal
- Volume:
- 7
- Issue:
- 1
- Pages:
- 4406
- Publication date:
- 2017-06-30
- Acceptance date:
- 2017-05-16
- DOI:
- EISSN:
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2045-2322
- ISSN:
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2045-2322
- Pmid:
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28667331
- Language:
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English
- Keywords:
- Pubs id:
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pubs:702972
- UUID:
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uuid:4f4efe4c-39f0-45b4-b99f-30d1279b9740
- Local pid:
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pubs:702972
- Source identifiers:
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702972
- Deposit date:
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2018-06-06
Terms of use
- Copyright holder:
- Neenan et al
- Copyright date:
- 2017
- Notes:
- © The Author(s) 2017. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
- Licence:
- CC Attribution (CC BY)
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