A new squamate lizard from the Upper Cretaceous Adamantina Formation (Bauru Group), São Paulo State, Brazil

William R. Nava,Agustín G. Martinelli

doi:10.1590/s0001-37652011000100017

Abstract

The record of non-mosasaur squamates (Reptilia, Squamata) is sparse in the Cretaceus fossil record of Brazil and include six putative reports, three from the Aptian-Albian of the Araripe Basin (Tijubina pontei Bonfim-Júnior and Marques, Olindalacerta brasiliensis Evans and Yabumoto, and a lizard indet.) and three from the Upper Cretaceous of the Bauru Group (Pristiguana brasiliensis Estes and Price, Anilioidae gen. et sp. indet., and Squamata gen. et sp. indet.). In this contribution, a new genus and species of lizard, Brasiliguana prudentis gen. et sp. nov., is described based on an isolated left maxilla with teeth. The material was discovered in an outcrop of the Upper Cretaceous Adamantina Formation (Bauru Group) located in the proximity of Presidente Prudente Municipality, São Paulo State, Brazil. The new taxon is considered a basal non-Priscagamidae+Acrodonta iguanian based on the presence of a weakly inclined anterior margin of the maxillary nasal process and maxillary tooth shape and tooth implantation similar to that of iguanians rather than of other lizard groups (e.g. teiids). This finding significantly increases the squamate lizard diversity of South America, which is still poorly understood and sparsely represented in the fossil record.

Highlights

The record of squamate lizards in the Cretaceous of South America is scarce when compared with other regions, such as the United States and Asia (e.g. Alifanov 2004, Borsuk-Bialynicka and Moody 1984, Conrad and Norell 2007, Evans and Wang 2010, Gao and Norell 1998, 2000, Gilmore 1943, Nydam and Cifelli 2002, Nydam et al 2000).In South America, Cretaceous lizards have been reported in Argentina and Brazil
The Late Cretaceous records include an articulated sequence of dorsal vertebrae and ribs from the Turonian-Santonian Adamantina Formation at the Municipality of Marília (São Paulo State) interpreted as an indeterminate lizard (Candeiro et al 2009), and the lizard Pristiguana brasiliensis (Estes and Price 1973) from the CampanianMaastrichtian Marília Formation at Peirópolis town (Municipality of Uberaba, Minas Gerais State)
Non-lizard Cretaceous squamates of Brazil are sparse and represented by a solely anilioid snake from the Adamantina Formation at Ribeirao Buriti (General Salgado Municipality, São Paulo State; Zaher et al 2003) and Late Cretaceous mosasaur remains from the Pernambuco-Paraíba Basin, the Sergipe Basin, the São Luís Basin (Vilas Bôas and Carvalho 2001), and a doubtful record from the Acre Basin

Summary

INTRODUCTION

The record of squamate lizards (the term “lizard” is here informally used to the non-monophyletic non-mosasaur, non-amphisbaenian, non-serpentian squamates) in the Cretaceous of South America is scarce when compared with other regions, such as the United States and Asia (e.g. Alifanov 2004, Borsuk-Bialynicka and Moody 1984, Conrad and Norell 2007, Evans and Wang 2010, Gao and Norell 1998, 2000, Gilmore 1943, Nydam and Cifelli 2002, Nydam et al 2000). Non-lizard Cretaceous squamates of Brazil are sparse and represented by a solely anilioid snake from the Adamantina Formation at Ribeirao Buriti (General Salgado Municipality, São Paulo State; Zaher et al 2003) and Late Cretaceous mosasaur remains from the Pernambuco-Paraíba Basin (records of Globidens, Mosasaurus, and Plioplatecarpinae; Price 1953, 1957, Carvalho and Azevedo 1998), the Sergipe Basin (records of Plioplatecarpus and Platecarpus; Bengtson and Lindgren 2005), the São Luís Basin (Vilas Bôas and Carvalho 2001), and a doubtful record from the Acre Basin (see Bengtson and Lindgren 2005) In this contribution, an isolated left maxilla with teeth is described and adscript to a new genus and species of lizard, interpreted as having non-Priscagamidae+Acrodonta iguanian affinities (sensu Conrad 2008). The presence of tiny fossil material in the Late Cretaceous outcrops of Brazil can increase our current knowledge about groups rarely represented in the fossil record (Kellner and Campos 1999)

SYSTEMATIC PALEONTOLOGY

COMPARISONS AND DISCUSSIONS