Zoltán Szentesi

Late Maastrichtian small-sized herpetofauna from Valencia province, eastern Spain

Abstract A Late Maastrichtian microvertebrate assemblage which includes amphibian remains was recovered from continental deposits of the palaeontological site of La Solana, Valencia Province, Spain. This site is composed of variegated mudstones, pedogenically modified, interbedded with fluvial sand bodies and freshwater limestones lenses, and has also yielded plant debris, freshwater and oligohaline invertebrates, abundant fish remains (isolated bones and scales), turtle plates and archosaur bones. This fossil assemblage, dominated by aquatic forms, also includes semiaquatic and terrestrial elements, and may be interpreted as the palaeofauna of a wetland environment with terrestrial environs. The new material described here consists of fragmentary remains of an indeterminate albanerpetontid, a salamandrid and two anuran taxa (an alytid and a palaeobatrachid). The amphibians from La Solana are typical Laurasiatic taxa. This faunal association shows broad similarities to other coeval faunas of the Iberian Peninsula and contrasts with the Upper Campanian–Lower Maastrichtian sites where Gondwanan elements are frequent.

Collection of the thinnest: A unique eggshell assemblage from the Late Cretaceous vertebrate locality of Iharkút (Hungary)

As a result of several years of screen-washing activity, a remarkable assemblage of eggshell fragments has been recovered from the Late Cretaceous vertebrate locality of Iharkut, Hungary. Detailed investigation of the assemblage by multiple visualization techniques (scanning electron microscopy, polarizing light microscopy, X-ray micro-computed tomography), quantitative morphometric analyses, and micro X-ray fluorescence spectrometry revealed a diverse composition of five different eggshell morphotypes (MT I–MT V) and three subcategories within the second morphotype (MT II/a, b, c), with MT I being by far the most abundant (83%) in the assemblage. MT I, MT III, and MT V represent theropod dinosaurian eggshells, whereas MT II and MT IV show characteristics of crocodilian and squamate eggshells, respectively. Hence, despite their fragmentary nature, these eggshells represent the first clear evidence that various sauropsid taxa had nesting sites near the ancient fluvial system of Iharkut. Besides the implied...