On the first Baryonychinae (Theropoda, Spinosauridae) teeth from South America.

We report the first occurrence in South America of spinosaurid specimens belonging to the clade Baryonychinae. The material comprises three tooth crowns recovered from the Lower Cretaceous (Berriasian-Valanginian) of the Feliz Deserto Formation, State of Sergipe, northeast Brazil. The three specimens have the typical conidont condition, displaying a fluted morphology, veined enamel texture and carinae extending to the cervix region, conditions similar to those shared among spinosaurid theropods.

The global Cenozoic diversification process of tortoises (Testudinidae).

Great environmental changes may affect the survival capability of a variety of organisms. Testudinidae is the most diverse family of terrestrial chelonians within the whole order (Testudines). Interestingly, however, the number of extinct species overcome the extant ones.

A New Clevosaurid from the Triassic (Carnian) of Brazil and the Rise of Sphenodontians in Gondwana.

The early evolution of lepidosaurs is marked by an extremely scarce fossil record during the Triassic. Importantly, most Triassic lepidosaur specimens are represented by disarticulated individuals from high energy accretion deposits in Laurasia, thus greatly hampering our understanding of the initial stages of lepidosaur evolution. Here, we describe the fragmentary remains of an associated skull and mandible of Clevosaurus hadroprodon sp.

Extending the paleontology-biogeography reciprocity with SDMs: Exploring models and data in reducing fossil taxonomic uncertainty.

Historically, studies aimed at prospecting and analyzing paleontological and neontological data to investigate species distribution have developed separately. Research at the interface between paleontology and biogeography has shown a unidirectional bias, mostly focusing on how paleontological information can aid biogeography to understand species distribution through time. However, the modern suit of techniques of ecological biogeography, particularly species distribution models (SDM), can be instrumental for paleontologists as well, improving the biogeography-paleontology interchange.

Analysis of the applicability of artificial neural networks for studying blood plasma: determination of magnesium ion concentration as a case study.

Artificial neural networks are suggested for use in predicting metal ion concentration in human blood plasma. Simulated and available experimental data are used to train the artificial neural network. Particularly, using 850 simulated samples, the network predicted the magnesium-free ion concentration with an average error smaller than 1%.