LATE CRETACEOUS TERRESTRIAL VERTEBRATES FROM MADAGASCAR: IMPLICATIONS FOR LATIN AMERICAN BIOGEOGRAPHY1

By D. Krause, P. O’Connor, K. C. Rogers, Scott Sampson, G. Buckley, R. Rogers. 2006

114 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Abstract The Mahajanga Basin Project, initiated in 1993 and centered in Upper Cretaceous strata of northwestern Madagascar, has resulted in the discovery of some of the most complete, well-preserved, and significant specimens of Late Cretaceous vertebrate animals from the Southern Hemisphere and indeed the world. Among the most important finds are various specimens of crocodyliforms, non-avian dinosaurs, and mammals; these finds have the potential to provide key insights into the biogeographic and paleogeographic history of Gondwana. Madagascar has been physically isolated from Africa for over 160 million years and from all other major landmasses for more than 85 million years. The closest known relatives of many of the Late Cretaceous Malagasy taxa are penecontemporaneous forms from South America (primarily Argentina) and India, thus documenting a previously unrecognized high level of cosmopolitanism among Gondwanan vertebrates near the end of the Cretaceous. The family-level taxa that are shared among Madagascar, South America, and the Indian subcontinent are not known from penecontemporaneous horizons in mainland Africa, but it cannot yet be confidently determined if this is due to differential extinction, poor sampling, true absence (i.e., the taxa were never present on Africa), or some combination thereof. Nonetheless, currently available geologic and paleontologic data are most consistent with the Africa-first model, suggesting that Africa was the first of the major Gondwanan landmasses to be fully isolated prior to the Albian/Cenomanian boundary, and that its terrestrial vertebrate faunas became progressively more provincial during the Cretaceous, while those on other Gondwanan landmasses remained relatively cosmopolitan until the later stages of the Late Cretaceous.

Subfields: Global and Planetary Change, Paleontology

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/ee7eb7ec5567ef19693b68caaea65c17e0acc4d2

How researchers see this paper

The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.

In Global and Planetary Change

1. M. D'emic
2. P. O’Connor
3. G. Buckley
4. D. Pol
5. J. Ali
6. M. Woodburne
7. A. Turner

In Paleontology

1. J. Sertich
2. A. Turner
3. G. Buckley
4. D. Pol
5. D. Krause
6. J. Ali
7. M. D'emic
8. I. Carvalho

Citations in the corpus

• The early evolution of titanosauriform sauropod dinosaurs (2012, background): “Titanosauriforms are important to Mesozoic palaeobiogeography because of their diversity and ubiquity, but their impact on palaeobiogeography has not been fully realized owing to confusion over their phylogenetic relationships (e.g. Krause et al., 2006).”
• Mahajangasuchus insignis (Crocodyliformes: Mesoeucrocodylia) Cranial Anatomy And New Data On The Origin Of The Eusuchian-Style Palate (2008, background): “In addition to the many crocodyliforms, the project has resulted in important discoveries of numerous other vertebrates, and has significantly increased our knowledge of this enigmatic Late Cretaceous biota (Krause et al., 2006).”
• THE POSTCRANIAL AXIAL SKELETON OF MAJUNGASAURUS CRENATISSIMUS (THEROPODA: ABELISAURIDAE) FROM THE LATE CRETACEOUS OF MADAGASCAR (2007, background): “…Gondwanan landmasses (Bonaparte and Novas, 1985; Coria and Salgado, 1998; Sampson et al., 1998; 2001; Carrano et al., 2002; Coria et al., 2002; Lamanna et al., 2002; Novas et al., 2004; Sereno et al., 2004; Krause et al., 2006, this volume); also see (Buffetaut et al., 1988; Accarie et al., 1995).”
• Late Cretaceous bioconnections between Indo‐Madagascar and Antarctica: refutation of the Gunnerus Ridge causeway hypothesis (2011, background): “Libycosuchus, from the Cenomanian of Egypt (Stromer, 1914), is the sister taxon of Simosuchus (Turner & Sertich, 2010).”
• Phylogenetic History of Simosuchus clarki (Crocodyliformes: Notosuchia) from the Late Cretaceous of Madagascar (2010, background): “Renewed interest in their paleobiogeographic history (eg, Gasparini, 1996 ; Turner, 2004 ; Krause et al, 2006 ) is associated with efforts to clarify the patterns of vicariance and dispersal that may have accompanied the fragmentation of Gondwana.”
• Splendid and Seldom Isolated: The Paleobiogeography of Patagonia (2013, background): “Saltasaurids were derived titanosaurs originally recognized in Patagonia (e.g., Saltasaurus, Neuquensaurus) and closely related to Laurasian forms such as Alamosaurus and Opisthocoelicaudia, as well as Diamantinasaurus from Australia.”
• Montealtosuchus arrudacamposi , a new peirosaurid crocodile (Mesoeucrocodylia) from the Late Cretaceous Adamantina Formation of Brazil (2007, background): “Its type material lacked skull, only presented afterwards (Krause et al. 2006).”