El registro fósil de simosáuridos en la región de Oriente Medio en el 5th Palaeontological Virtual Congress

Varios integrantes del Grupo de Biología Evolutiva de la UNED han presentado durante el 5th Palaeontological Virtual Congress el trabajo titulado “New perspectives on the simosaur fossil record of the Middle East: a preliminary review”. En esta comunicación, se han presentado resultados preliminares anatómicos y sistemáticos sobre nuevos restos de simosaurios de Israel, así como una puesta al día sobre el registro paleobiogeográfíco y estratigráfico de Simosauridae, con especial énfasis en la región de Oriente Medio. A continuación, os dejamos el resumen perteneciente a este trabajo:

Simosaurs (Simosauridae, Eosauropterygia) were marine reptiles whose fossil record is restricted so far to the Tethys west margin. They are mostly known from the lower Ladinian (Middle Triassic) to the Carnian (Upper Triassic) of Europe, where the only two defined species are known: Simosaurus gaillardoti, from the Ladinian of France and Germany; and Paludidraco multidentatus, from the Carnian of Spain. Conversely, Simosauridae is poorly represented by scarce fragmentary cranial and postcranial elements in the Middle East (i.e., Israel, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt). Those from Israel probably represent the oldest occurrence of Simosauridae, coming from uppermost Anisian or lowermost Ladinian levels. Most so far documented Middle East remains were studied more than two decades ago, when the only representative of the clade was S. gaillardoti. In this context, all the Middle East remains were referred to as Simosaurus sp. Recent anatomical and systematic studies have substantially increased knowledge about Simosauridae, allowing for a better identification of the diagnostic characters of both the clade and its representatives. In this sense, an exhaustive revision of the previously documented material from Israel, along with the study of relatively abundant unpublished material from the same country, and the recently published fossils from Egypt, is currently in process. Here, we provide anatomical and systematic analyses of all the remains attributable to Simosauridae from the Middle East, and paleobiogeographic implications for the clade. Postcranial elements not previously recorded for Simosauridae in the Middle East are recognized, along with the oldest unequivocal occurrence of this lineage.

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