New Holocene pollen records from the Brazilian Caatinga.

We present two pollen diagrams from the semi-arid Caatinga of the Catimbau National Park, in Pernambuco and from a Mauritia palm forest in the Caatinga/Cerrado ecotone of southern Piauí, NE Brazil, spanning the last 10,000 cal. yrs BP and the last 1,750 cal yrs BP, respectively. These two records contain a signature of the local vegetation and permit the correlation of the pollen signal with regional climatic changes.

A new side-neck turtle (Pelomedusoides: Bothremydidae) from the Early Paleocene (Danian) Maria Farinha Formation, Paraíba Basin, Brazil.

Limestone and marl from Maria Farinha Formation (Paraíba Basin, NE Brazil) accumulated in a shallow continental shelf environment during the expansion of the Atlantic Ocean in early Paleocene (Danian). It contains a rich paleontological record, which comprises many marine invertebrates, several species of bony and cartilaginous fishes, a crocodyliform and turtle remains. Here, we describe a new genus and species of pleurodire turtle from Maria Farinha Formation, based on a nearly complete plastron, an incomplete left pelvic girdle, and four dermal plates of the carapace.