Osteohistological characterization of notosuchian osteoderms: Evidence for an overlying thick leathery layer of skin.

Osteoderms are mineralized structures embedded in the dermis, known for nonavian archosaurs, squamates, xenarthrans, and amphibians. Herein, we compared the osteoderm histology of Brazilian Notosuchia of Cretaceous age using three neosuchians for comparative purposes. Microanatomical analyses showed that most of them present a diploe structure similar to those of other pseudosuchians, lizards, and turtles.

Author Correction: The first theropod dinosaur (Coelurosauria, Theropoda) from the base of the Romualdo Formation (Albian), Araripe Basin, Northeast Brazil.

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper.

The first theropod dinosaur (Coelurosauria, Theropoda) from the base of the Romualdo Formation (Albian), Araripe Basin, Northeast Brazil.

The Romualdo Formation (Araripe Basin) is worldwide known for the large number of well-preserved fossils but the dinosaur record is rather scarce. Here we describe a new coelurosaur, which is the first tetrapod recovered from the basal layers of this stratigraphic unit that consist of dark shales. Aratasaurus museunacionali gen.

Paleohistology and lifestyle inferences of a dyrosaurid (Archosauria: Crocodylomorpha) from Paraíba Basin (northeastern Brazil).

Among the few vertebrates that survived the mass extinction event documented at the Cretaceous-Paleocene boundary are dyrosaurid crocodylomorphs. Surprisingly, there is little information regarding the bone histology of dyrosaurids, despite their relatively common occurrence in the fossil record, and the potential to gain insight about their biology and lifestyle. We provide the first description of the long bone histology of the dyrosaurids.