Fossil eggs of Crocodyliforms from Upper Cretaceous of Bauru Group, regions of Campina Verde, Minas Gerais State, and Presidente Prudente, São Paulo State

• Grant number: 10/14797-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master
• Start date: March 01, 2011
• End date: February 28, 2013
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Zoology - Paleozoology
• Principal Investigator: Max Cardoso Langer
• Grantee: Júlio Cesar de Almeida Marsola
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Filosofia, Ciências e Letras de Ribeirão Preto (FFCLRP). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Ribeirão Preto , SP, Brazil

Abstract

This project aims at the description of thirteen fossilized eggs of Crocodyliforms. The material includes three associations with four eggs in each, collected from outcrop of the Vale do Rio do Peixe Formation, in Campina Verde city, Minas Gerais State, and an additional egg from the municipality of Pirapozinho in the region of Presidente Prudente, São Paulo State,in sediments of the formation of the same name. This work presents the description of such eggs, characterizing macroscopic morphology such as shape and size, ornamentation and shell thickness as well as investigating its ultra-structure, like the bark of the units and their components (basal plate group, mammillary layer and columnar craters and absorption of calcium). These reviews involve the application of techniques of polarized light microscopy and scanning electron microscopy for ultrastructural analysis and Binocular Magnifier for macrostructural characteristics. These techniques are of fundamental importance to, beyond the description on the basis of comparative data in the literature, contextualize such as eggs parassistematic force. Eggs are tested for CT for the evaluation of evidence of embryonic remains. It also proposed the study of compositional aspects of the eggshell, in a comparative context with eggs of crocodilians living by the technique of energy dispersive spectrometry. There will also be held early taphonomic inferences to such associations of the eggs, based on data from experimental taphonomy in the literature, as in behavioral patterns of crocodilians, and aims a better understanding of the paleobiology of the group.

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

MARSOLA, JULIO C. DE A.; BATEZELLI, ALESSANDRO; MONTEFELTRO, FELIPE C.; GRELLET-TINNER, GERALD; LANGER, MAX C.. Palaeoenvironmental characterization of a crocodilian nesting site from the Late Cretaceous of Brazil and the evolution of crocodyliform nesting strategies. PALAEOGEOGRAPHY PALAEOCLIMATOLOGY PALAEOECOLOGY, v. 457, p. 221-232, SEP 1 2016. (14/03825-3, 10/14797-0, 13/23114-1, 10/19787-2, 13/11358-3)

MARSOLA, JULIO CESAR DE A.; GRELLET-TINNER, GERALD; MONTEFELTRO, FELIPE C.; SAYAO, JULIANA M.; HSIOU, ANNIE SCHMALTZ; LANGER, MAX C.. The first fossil avian egg from Brazil. ALCHERINGA, v. 38, n. 4, p. 563-567, OCT 2 2014. (11/14080-0, 13/11358-3, 10/14797-0)

MARSOLA, JULIO C. DE A.; GRELLET-TINNER, GERALD; MONTEFELTRO, FELIPE C.; LANGER, MAX C.. The first Pan-Podocnemididae turtle egg from the Presidente Prudente Formation (Late Cretaceous, Bauru Group), Brazil. Zootaxa, v. 3872, n. 2, p. 187-194, OCT 8 2014. (13/11358-3, 10/14797-0)

Academic Publications

(References retrieved automatically from State of São Paulo Research Institutions)

MARSOLA, Júlio Cesar de Almeida. New occurrences of vertebrate fossil eggs from the Late Cretaceous of the Bauru Group. 2013. Master's Dissertation - Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Faculdade de Filosofia, Ciências e Letras de Ribeirão Preto (PCARP/BC) Ribeirão Preto.