La distribución estratigráfica de simosáuridos en el XXIII Annual Meeting de la EAVP

Miembros del Grupo de Biología Evolutiva de la UNED han presentado durante la 23a edición de la EAVP la comunicación titulada “The stratigraphical distribution of Simosauridae (Sauropterygia): an update on the occurrences of the clade”. En esta comunicación se ha presentado una puesta al día sobre el registro tanto temporal como geográfico del clado. Así, se ha considerado la información anatómica disponible en la bibliografía y aquélla derivada del reestudio de material clásico, así como la aportada por nuevo material procedente tanto de Oriente Medio como de Europa, destacando principalmente los ejemplares correspondientes al holotipo y paratipo del taxón sauropterigio español Paludidraco multidentatus. A continuación, os dejamos el resumen perteneciente a este trabajo:

Sauropterygia, whose fossil record ranges from the Lower Triassic (Olenekian) to the uppermost Cretaceous (Maastrichtian), is a highly diversified clade of aquatic reptiles comprising Placodontia, Pachypleurosauria, Simosauridae, and Pistosauroidea. Simosauridae is poorly understood relative to the other sauropterygian clades, as few relatively complete skeletons have been studied, corresponding to the only two valid species: Simosaurus gaillardoti, from the Ladinian (Middle Triassic) of France and Germany; and Paludidraco multidentatus, from the Carnian (Late Triassic) of Spain. Additional simosaurid remains, mostly of indeterminate generic attribution, are known from Europe and the Middle East. In this context, Simosauridae was suggested to be limited to the uppermost Anisian (Middle Triassic) or lowermost Ladinian in the Middle East, its putative European fossil record extending from the Anisian to the Rhaetian (Late Triassic). Nonetheless, a precise age was never provided for any of the Middle East remains. Regarding the European material, the clade confirmed record ranges from the Ladinian to the Carnian. Nonetheless, the genus Simosaurus was putatively reported from the Anisian of Germany and from the Rhaetian of France, but without proper justification. However, both Middle East and European attributions were made when knowledge on simosaurid anatomy was relatively poor, almost exclusively limited to S. gaillardoti. In this work, we discuss in detail the temporal distribution of Simosauridae considering previously documented and new material. The Anisian presence of Simosauridae in the Middle East and the youngest record of the clade in the Carnian of Europe are here confirmed. Additionally, the European Anisian occurrences are discussed.

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Más información:

• Referencia: Cabezuelo-Hernández, A., de Miguel Chaves, C., Pérez-García, A. 2026. The stratigraphical distribution of Simosauridae (Sauropterygia): an update on the occurrences of the clade. Book of Abstracts of the 23rd Conference of the European Association of Vertebrate Palaeontologists, 29th June–5th July 2026, Vilnius, Lithuania. Palaeovertebrata, 33.