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Wednesday, July 2nd, 2025
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| 8:05a | [Paleontology • 2025] The Occurrence of Spinosauridae (Dinosauria: Theropoda) during the Cretaceous of Asia: Implications for Biogeography and Distribution
Abstract The theropod dinosaur clade Spinosauridae lived on almost all continents during the Cretaceous. It has been suggested that the group originated in Laurasia, likely in Europe. Asian spinosaurid fossils have been discovered in Southeast and East Asia, particularly from Barremian–Aptian deposits of the Early Cretaceous, with some additional evidence from Cenomanian-aged sediments in the Late Cretaceous. The presence of this theropod clade in Asia, including Thailand, Malaysia, Laos, China, and Japan, may have been influenced by the regression of the Uralian seaway, which temporarily connected Europe and Asia via an ephemeral landbridge. This change likely affected the dispersal of spinosaurids from Europe, facilitating their spread across Asia and shaping their evolution through geographic vicariance. This study reviews the Asian fossil record of Spinosauridae to examine their emergence, paleogeographic distribution, and dispersal patterns. The reports of Asian spinosaurids suggested that the distribution of this clade in Asia is complex and dubious due to the incompleteness of materials and uncertainty of the age of several fossil-bearing strata. The spinosaurid ancestors dispersed along the coastal shoreline from Europe by crossing ephemeral landbridge during pre-Barremian. Then, they spread out to Thailand, Malaysia, southern China, and Japan. The presence of Late Cretaceous spinosaurids in China suggests that Asian spinosaurids persisted until the extinction event of this clade, as happened in western Laurasia and Gondwana during the Cenomanian. Keywords: Asia, dispersal event, Early Cretaceous, Spinosauridae 
Adun Samathi and Kridsanupong Puntanon. 2025. The Occurrence of Spinosauridae (Dinosauria: Theropoda) during the Cretaceous of Asia: Implications for Biogeography and Distribution. Thai Geoscience Journal. 6(9), 13–28. https://ph03.tci-thaijo.org/index.php/TGJ/article/view/3652 การศึกษาการกระจายพันธุ์ทางสัตวภูมิศาสตร นักวิจัยจากหน่วยวิจัยไดโนเสาร์ มหาวิทยาลัยมหาสารคาม ศึกษาการกระจายพันธุ์ทางสัตวภูมิศาสตร์ของ ... | ||||||||
| 2:07p | [Botany • 2025] Paphiopedilum motuoense (Orchidaceae: Cypripedioideae) • A New Species from Motuo, Xizang, China
Abstract Paphiopedilum motuoense, a newly discovered orchid from Motuo County, Xizang, China, is described and illustrated. Paphiopedilum motuoense can be distinguished from the related Paphiopedilum species P. qingyongii and P. venustum by several distinctive features: a significantly smaller staminode above the column, a distinct purplish-red lip with purplish-brown veins, pouched with erect and triangular auriculas on both sides of its mouth, and leaves with pale green and pale yellowish-green tessellations. The novelty is also well supported as a new species by molecular phylogenetic analysis. Additionally, the complete chloroplast genome of P. motuoense, 157,218 bp in length, was assembled and annotated. It contains an LSC region of 86,275 bp, SSC region of 949 bp and two IRs of 34,997 bp, with 120 genes, including 76 PCGs, 36 tRNA genes and 8 rRNA genes. Key words: China, new orchid species, Paphiopedilum motuoense, plastid genome
Paphiopedilum motuoense M. N. Wang, F. X. Tang & W. H. Rao, sp. nov. Chinese name. 墨脱兜兰 Diagnosis. Paphiopedilum motuoense is similar to P. venustum and P. qingyongii in morphology, but differs from them by having a smaller staminode, petals flushed with purplish red, a purplish red lip with purplish brown veins, pouched with erect and triangular auriculas on both sides of mouth, and leaves adaxially tessellated with pale green and pale yellowish green (Table 1, Fig. 1). Feng-Xia Tang, Wen-Hui Rao, Ze Zhang, Xin-Yi Wu, Meng Wang, Jian Li, Jie-Shan Chen, Xiao-Juan Duan and Mei-Na Wang. 2025. Paphiopedilum motuoense (Orchidaceae, Cypripedioideae), A New Species from Motuo, Xizang, China. PhytoKeys. 259: 131-144. DOI: doi.org/10.3897/phytokeys.259.145861  | ||||||||
| 2:31p | [Paleontology • 2025] Sphenodraco scandentis • An arboreal rhynchocephalian from the Late Jurassic of Germany, and the importance of the appendicular skeleton for ecomorphology in lepidosaurs
Abstract Here, we describe a new species of Jurassic rhynchocephalian from the Solnhofen Archipelago, Sphenodraco scandentis gen. et sp. nov., and highlight the importance of the postcranial anatomy for ecomorphological studies in the rhynchocephalian clade. The holotype of Sphenodraco scandentis is divided into a main slab, which has been mentioned in the literature and previously assigned to Homoeosaurus maximiliani, and a counterslab containing most of its skeletal remains. This new taxon shows an exclusive combination of osteological features that differs from previously described rhynchocephalians. Sphenodraco was recovered in our phylogenetic analysis as a component of a clade including Homoeosaurus and Kallimodon. To evaluate the ecomorphology of the new taxon, we compare fossil rhynchocephalians with the extant tuatara and squamates. We quantify the diversity of body proportions in lepidosaurs systematically, inferring lifestyle for extinct rhynchocephalians. Our analysis suggests that fossil rhynchocephalians had a diverse array of substrate uses, with some categorized as good climbers, and with Sphenodraco showing the extreme condition of limb elongation found in strictly arboreal lizards. This new taxon is here regarded as the first predominantly or even strictly arboreal rhynchocephalian. Furthermore, our analysis shows that the diversity of fossil rhynchocephalians might still be underestimated. ecomorphology, Germany, Jurassic, Rhynchocephalia, sphenodontian, taxonomy, tuatara
 Lepidosauria Haeckel, 1866, Rhynchocephalia Günther, 1867,sensuDeMar et al. (2022), Neosphenodontia Herrera-Flores et al., 2018 Sphenodraco gen. nov. Derivation of name: The genus name combines the prefix spheno- (which composes the name Sphenodontia) and draco (Latin for ‘dragon’, but also in reference to the arboreal gliding lizards, whose limb proportions are similar to that of the new taxon) and translates to ‘the sphenodontian dragon’. The genus name is masculine. Type species: Sphenodraco scandentis gen. et sp. nov., by monotypy. Sphenodraco scandentis sp. nov. Derivation of name: The species name comes from the Latin word scandens, meaning ‘climber’. Diagnosis: Small rhynchocephalian with the following unique combination of traits: (i) maxillary dentition with posterior flanges decreasing in size posteriorly among the last three teeth; (ii) bases of the maxillary teeth are oblique to the tooth row (in labial view)*; (iii) short posterior process of the pleurapophysis of sacral vertebra 2; (iv) tall, funnel-shaped proximal epiphysis of the humerus; (v) tall acetabular region of the ilium, with posteriorly oriented iliac blade; (vi) short pubic process of the ilium*; (vii) slender stylopodia and zeugopodia, with the diameter being <.06 of the length between metaphyses; and (viii) metacarpal and metatarsal IV longer than III. An asterisk (*) represents autapomorphic features.
Victor Beccari, Alexandre R. D. Guillaume, Marc E. H. Jones, Andrea Villa, Natalie Cooper, Sophie Regnault and Oliver W. M. Rauhut. 2025. An arboreal rhynchocephalian from the Late Jurassic of Germany, and the importance of the appendicular skeleton for ecomorphology in lepidosaurs. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 204(3); zlaf073, DOI: doi.org/10.1093/zoolinnean/zlaf073 [02 July 2025] |
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