Published

2018-10-01

A new large Pliosaurid from the Barremian (Lower Cretaceous) of Sáchica, Boyacá, Colombia

Un nuevo Pliosáurido de gran tamaño del Barremiano (Cretácico Inferior) de Sáchica, Boyacá, Colombia

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.15446/esrj.v22n4.69916

Keywords:

Pliosauridae, Brachaucheninae, Lower Cretaceous, Barremian, Sáchica, Colombia (en)
Pliosauridae, Brachaucheninae, Cretácico Inferior, Barremiano, Sáchica, Colombia (es)

Downloads

Authors

  • María Eurídice Páramo-Fonseca Universidad Nacional de Colombia https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8260-9762
  • Cristian David Benavides-Cabra Universidad Nacional de Colombia
  • Ingry Esmirna Gutiérrez Universidad Nacional de Colombia
A new fossil MP111209-1 found in the Barremian beds of Sáchica, a town near Villa de Leiva representing the more complete skeleton found in the region is described here. After a detailed study of its morphological characteristics, it is evident that the new specimen represents a new genus and species of brachauchenine pliosaurid from Central Colombia that we named Sachicasaurus vitae gen. et sp. nov. Sachicasaurus is a large brachauchenine (almost 10 m in length) characterized by the following combination of characters: skull exceeding two meters in length,  transverse constriction in the rostrum, caniniform teeth present, pineal foramen in a very advanced position, palatines separated in the midline by the pterygoids, very short mandibular symphysis (bearing four teeth positions), reduced number of mandibular teeth (less than 20), slender hyoid bones, 12 cervical vertebrae, cervical centra showing ventral foramina, single rib facet in all cervical centra, at least 40 pre-caudal vertebrae, and ilium with a long posterior projection. Although it is difficult to clearly establish the phylogenetic position of Sachicasaurus viate within Brachaucheninae due to its combination of primitive and derived features, the morphological comparisons and the cladistic analysis show an evident phylogenetic proximity of Sachicasaurus to the Aptian-Albian genus Kronosaurus.

Se describe un nuevo fósil, MP111209-1 encontrado en capas del  Barremiano de Sáchica, municipio vecino a Villa de Leiva, el cual representa el esqueleto más completo descubierto en la región. El detallado estudio de sus características morfológicas evidencia que el nuevo espécimen representa un nuevo género y especie de pliosáurido brachauchenino de la región central de Colombia, al que hemos denominado Sachicasaurus vitae gen. et sp. nov. Sachicasaurus es un brachauchenino de gran tamaño (alrededor de 10 m de longitud) caracterizado por la siguiente combinación de caracteres: cráneo con longitud mayor a dos metros; constricción transversal en el rostro; dientes caniniformes presentes; foramen pineal ubicado en una posición avanzada; palatinos separados en la línea media por los pterigoideos; sínfisis mandibular muy corta (cuatro posiciones de dientes); número reducido de dientes mandibulares (menos de 20) ; hioides esbeltos; 12 vertebras cervicales; centros cervicales con forámenes ventrales; una sola faceta articular para las costillas en todos los centros cervicales; como mínimo 40 vertebras precaudales; e ilion con una proyección posterior larga. Las relaciones filogenéticas de  Sachicasaurus vitae dentro de Brachaucheninae son problemáticas debido a que presenta una combinación de caracteres primitivos y derivados. Sin embargo, la comparación morfológica y los análisis cladísticos muestran una evidente proximidad filogenética de Sachicasaurus con el género Kronosaurus de edad Aptiano a Albiano. 

References

Andrews, C. W. (1913). A descriptive catalogue of the marine reptiles of the Oxford Clay: part II, British Museum (Natural History), London, 206 pp.

Benson, R. B. J. and Druckenmiller, P. S. (2014). Faunal turnover of marine tetrapods during the Jurassic-Cretaceous transition, Biological Reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society. 89, 1-23.

Blainville, H. D. (1835). Description de quelques espèces de reptiles de la Californie, précédée de l’analyse d’un système général d’Erpétologie et d’Amphibiologie, Nouvelles Annales du Muséum d’Histoire Naturelle. 3, no. 4, 233-296.

Brown, D. S. (1981). The English Upper Jurassic Plesiosauroidea

(Reptilia) and a review of the phylogeny and classifcation of the Plesiosauria, Bulletin of the British Museum of Natural History (Geology). 35, no. 4, 253-347.

Etayo-Serna, F. (1968). El Sistema Cretáceo en la región de Villa

de Leiva y zonas próximas, Geología Colombiana. 5, 5-74.

Etayo-Serna, F. (1979). Zonation of the Cretaceous of Central Colombia by Ammonites, Publicaciones geológicas especiales del INGEOMINAS, Bogotá, Colombia, 186pp.

Druckenmiller, P. S. and Russell, A. P. (2008). A phylogeny of Plesiosauria (Sauropterygia) and its bearing on the systematic status of Leptocleidus Andrews, 1922, Zootaxa. 1863, 1–120.

Fischer, V., Arkhangelsky, M. S., Uspensky, G. N. and Benson, R. B. J. (2015). Peculiar microphagous adaptations in a new Cretaceous pliosaurid, R.Soc. open sci. 2, 150552.

Fischer, V., Benson, R. B. J., Zverkov, N. G., Soul, L. C., Arkhangelsky, M. S., Lambert, O., Stenshin, I. M., Uspensky, G. N. and Druckenmiller, P. S. (2017). Plasticity and Convergence in the Evolution of Short-Necked Plesiosaurs, Current Biology. 27, 1667-1676.

Forero, H. and Sarmiento, L. F. (1985). La facies evaporítica de la Formación Paja en la región de Villa de Leiva, F. Etayo-Serna and F. Laverde (Eds), Proyecto Cretácico-Contribuciones. Publicaciones Geológicas Especiales del INGEOMINAS, Bogotá, Colombia XVII1-XVII16.

Goloboff, P. A., Farris, J. S. and Nixon, K. C. (2008). TNT, a free program for phylogenetic analysis, Cladistics. 24, 1-13.

Gómez-Pérez, M. and Noè, L. F. (2017). Cranial anatomy of a new pliosaurid Acostasaurus pavachoquensis from the Lower Cretaceous of Colombia, South America, Palaeontographica Abteilung A. 310, 5-42.

Hampe, O. (1992). Ein grosswüchsiger Pliosauride (Reptilia: Plesiosauria) aus der Unterkreide (oberes Aptium) von Kolumbien, Courier Forschungsinstitut Senckenberg. 145, 1-32.

Hampe, O. (2005). Considerations on a Brachauchenius skeleton (Pliosauroidea) from the lower Paja Formation (late Barremian) of Villa de Leyva area (Colombia), Mitt. Mus. Nat.kd. Berl., Geowiss. Reihe. 8, 37-51.

Kear, B. P. (2003). Cretaceous marine reptiles of Australia: a review of taxonomy and distribution, Cretaceous Research. 24, 277-303.

Ketchum, H. F and Benson, R. B. J. (2010). Global interrelationships of Plesiosauria (Reptilia, Sauropterygia) and the pivotal role of taxon sampling in determining the outcome of phylogenetic analyses, Biological Reviews. 85, 361-392.

Ketchum, H. F and Benson, R. B. J. (2011). The cranial anatomy and taxonomy of Peloneustes philarchus (Sauropterygia, Pliosauridae) from the Peterborough Member (Callovian, Middle Jurassic) of the United Kingdom, Palaeontology. 54, no. 3, 639-665.

Páramo-Fonseca, M. E. (2015). Estado actual del conocimiento de los reptiles marinos Cretácicos de Colombia, Asociación Paleontológica Argentina. 15, no. 1, 40–57.

Páramo-Fonseca, M. E., Gómez-Pérez, M., Noé, L. F., and Etayo-serna, F. (2016). Stenorhynchosaurus munozi, gen. et sp. nov. a new pliosaurid from the Upper Barremian (Lower Cretaceous) of Villa de Leiva, Colombia, South America, Rev. la Acad. Colomb. Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Nat. 40, 84-103.

Longman, H. A. (1924). A new gigantic marine reptile from the Queensland Cretaceous. Memoirs of the Queensland Museum. 8, 26-28.

Longman, H. A. (1930). Kronosaurus queenslandicus A gigantic Cretaceous

Pliosaur, Memoirs of the Queensland Museum. 10,1-7.

Longman, H. A. (1935). Palaeontological Notes, Memoirs of the Queensland

Museum. 10, 236-239.

Madzia, D. (2016). A reappraisal of Polyptychodon (Plesiosauria) from the Cretaceous of England, PeerJ 4, e1998.

McHenry, C. R. (2009). Devourer of gods: the palaeoecology of the Cretaceous pliosaur Kronosaurus queenslandicus, Ph.D. Thesis, School of Environmental and Life, Faculty of Science and Information Technology Sciences, University of Newcastle, Newcastle, United Kingdom.

Molnar, R. E. (1982). Australian Mesozoic reptiles, E. M. Thompson (Editor), Vertebrate palaeontology of Australasia, Monash University, Clayton, Australia, 170–220.

Molnar, R. E. (1991). Fossil Reptiles of Australia. P. Vickers-Rich,

J. M. Monaghan, R. F. Baird, and T. H. Rich (Eds.), Vertebrate

Palaeontology of Australasia, Pioneer Design Studio, Melbourne, Australia, 605-701.

Seeley, H. (1874). Note on some generic modifcations of the plesiosaurian pectoral arch, Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London. 30, 436-449.

Schumacher, B. A., Carpenter, K and Everhart, M. J. (2013). A new Cretaceous pliosaurid (Reptilia, Plesiosauria) from the Carlile Shale (Middle Turonian) of Russell County, Kansas, Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 33, no. 3, 613-628.

Welles, S. P. (1943). Elasmosaurid plesiosaurs with a description of new material from California, Memoirs of the University of California.13, 125-254.

Williston, S. W. (1903). North American plesiosaurs, part 1, Publications of the Field Columbian Museum, Geological Series. 2, 3-77.

How to Cite

APA

Páramo-Fonseca, M. E., Benavides-Cabra, C. D. and Gutiérrez, I. E. (2018). A new large Pliosaurid from the Barremian (Lower Cretaceous) of Sáchica, Boyacá, Colombia. Earth Sciences Research Journal, 22(4), 223–238. https://doi.org/10.15446/esrj.v22n4.69916

ACM

[1]
Páramo-Fonseca, M.E., Benavides-Cabra, C.D. and Gutiérrez, I.E. 2018. A new large Pliosaurid from the Barremian (Lower Cretaceous) of Sáchica, Boyacá, Colombia. Earth Sciences Research Journal. 22, 4 (Oct. 2018), 223–238. DOI:https://doi.org/10.15446/esrj.v22n4.69916.

ACS

(1)
Páramo-Fonseca, M. E.; Benavides-Cabra, C. D.; Gutiérrez, I. E. A new large Pliosaurid from the Barremian (Lower Cretaceous) of Sáchica, Boyacá, Colombia. Earth sci. res. j. 2018, 22, 223-238.

ABNT

PÁRAMO-FONSECA, M. E.; BENAVIDES-CABRA, C. D.; GUTIÉRREZ, I. E. A new large Pliosaurid from the Barremian (Lower Cretaceous) of Sáchica, Boyacá, Colombia. Earth Sciences Research Journal, [S. l.], v. 22, n. 4, p. 223–238, 2018. DOI: 10.15446/esrj.v22n4.69916. Disponível em: https://revistas.unal.edu.co/index.php/esrj/article/view/69916. Acesso em: 14 jan. 2025.

Chicago

Páramo-Fonseca, María Eurídice, Cristian David Benavides-Cabra, and Ingry Esmirna Gutiérrez. 2018. “A new large Pliosaurid from the Barremian (Lower Cretaceous) of Sáchica, Boyacá, Colombia”. Earth Sciences Research Journal 22 (4):223-38. https://doi.org/10.15446/esrj.v22n4.69916.

Harvard

Páramo-Fonseca, M. E., Benavides-Cabra, C. D. and Gutiérrez, I. E. (2018) “A new large Pliosaurid from the Barremian (Lower Cretaceous) of Sáchica, Boyacá, Colombia”, Earth Sciences Research Journal, 22(4), pp. 223–238. doi: 10.15446/esrj.v22n4.69916.

IEEE

[1]
M. E. Páramo-Fonseca, C. D. Benavides-Cabra, and I. E. Gutiérrez, “A new large Pliosaurid from the Barremian (Lower Cretaceous) of Sáchica, Boyacá, Colombia”, Earth sci. res. j., vol. 22, no. 4, pp. 223–238, Oct. 2018.

MLA

Páramo-Fonseca, M. E., C. D. Benavides-Cabra, and I. E. Gutiérrez. “A new large Pliosaurid from the Barremian (Lower Cretaceous) of Sáchica, Boyacá, Colombia”. Earth Sciences Research Journal, vol. 22, no. 4, Oct. 2018, pp. 223-38, doi:10.15446/esrj.v22n4.69916.

Turabian

Páramo-Fonseca, María Eurídice, Cristian David Benavides-Cabra, and Ingry Esmirna Gutiérrez. “A new large Pliosaurid from the Barremian (Lower Cretaceous) of Sáchica, Boyacá, Colombia”. Earth Sciences Research Journal 22, no. 4 (October 1, 2018): 223–238. Accessed January 14, 2025. https://revistas.unal.edu.co/index.php/esrj/article/view/69916.

Vancouver

1.
Páramo-Fonseca ME, Benavides-Cabra CD, Gutiérrez IE. A new large Pliosaurid from the Barremian (Lower Cretaceous) of Sáchica, Boyacá, Colombia. Earth sci. res. j. [Internet]. 2018 Oct. 1 [cited 2025 Jan. 14];22(4):223-38. Available from: https://revistas.unal.edu.co/index.php/esrj/article/view/69916

Download Citation

CrossRef Cited-by

CrossRef citations25

1. Daniel Madzia, Andrea Cau. (2020). Estimating the evolutionary rates in mosasauroids and plesiosaurs: discussion of niche occupation in Late Cretaceous seas. PeerJ, 8, p.e8941. https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.8941.

2. Rodrigo A. Otero, Sergio Soto-Acuña, Jennyfer Rojas, Osvaldo Rojas M. (2020). First pliosaur remains (Sauropterygia, Pliosauridae) from the Oxfordian of the Atacama Desert. Journal of South American Earth Sciences, 104, p.102811. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsames.2020.102811.

3. Leslie F. Noè, Marcela Gómez-Pérez. (2022). Giant pliosaurids (Sauropterygia; Plesiosauria) from the Lower Cretaceous peri-Gondwanan seas of Colombia and Australia. Cretaceous Research, 132, p.105122. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cretres.2021.105122.

4. Tamaki Sato, Katsuhisa Nagai, Hiroki Echizenya, Tatsuya Shinmura, Yoshinori Hikida, Yuji Soeda. (2023). Pliosaurid (Reptilia: Sauropterygia) remains from the Upper Cretaceous of Japan, and their biostratigraphic and paleogeographic significance. Cretaceous Research, 150, p.105593. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cretres.2023.105593.

5. Sven Sachs, Daniel Madzia, Tobias Püttmann, Benjamin P. Kear. (2020). Enigmatic plesiosaur vertebral remains from the middle Turonian of Germany. Cretaceous Research, 110, p.104406. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cretres.2020.104406.

6. Sven Sachs, Pascal Abel, Daniel Madzia. (2024). Unusual plesiosaur vertebrae from the Lower Jurassic Posidonia Shale of Germany. Historical Biology, 36(10), p.2124. https://doi.org/10.1080/08912963.2023.2242376.

7. María E. Páramo-Fonseca, Cristian D. Benavides-Cabra, Ingry E. Gutiérrez. (2019). A new specimen of Stenorhynchosaurus munozi Páramo-Fonseca et al., 2016 (Plesiosauria, Pliosauridae), from the Barremian of Colombia: new morphological features and ontogenetic implications. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 39(4), p.e1663426. https://doi.org/10.1080/02724634.2019.1663426.

8. Dylan Bastiaans, Daniel Madzia, Jorge D. Carrillo-Briceño, Sven Sachs. (2021). Equatorial pliosaurid from Venezuela marks the youngest South American occurrence of the clade. Scientific Reports, 11(1) https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-94515-8.

9. Andrea Poblete-Huanca, Manuel Suárez, David Rubilar-Rogers, Jean Baptiste Gressier, Constanza Arraño, Matías Ormazábal. (2021). First record of a Lower Cretaceous (Hauterivian) plesiosaur from Chile. Cretaceous Research, 128, p.104963. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cretres.2021.104963.

10. María Eurídice Páramo, Cristian David Benavides-Cabra, Héctor Daniel Palma-Castro, Antonio José Castañeda-Gómez. (2023). Procumbent anterior premaxillary teeth in Stenorhynchosaurus munozi (Plesiosauria, Pliosauridae), evidence from new material. Earth Sciences Research Journal, 27(1), p.1. https://doi.org/10.15446/esrj.v27n1.105689.

11. Alexander Lukeneder, Nikolay Zverkov. (2020). First evidence of a conical-toothed pliosaurid (Reptilia, Sauropterygia) in the Hauterivian of the Northern Calcareous Alps, Austria. Cretaceous Research, 106, p.104248. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cretres.2019.104248.

12. Sven Sachs, Pascal Abel, Daniel Madzia. (2022). A ‘long-forgotten’ plesiosaur provides evidence of large-bodied rhomaleosaurids in the Middle Jurassic of Germany. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 42(5) https://doi.org/10.1080/02724634.2023.2205456.

13. Dirley Cortés, Hans C E Larsson. (2024). Top of the food chains: an ecological network of the marine Paja Formation biota from the Early Cretaceous of Colombia reveals the highest trophic levels ever estimated. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 202(1) https://doi.org/10.1093/zoolinnean/zlad092.

14. José P. O'Gorman. (2022). Polycotylidae (Sauropterygia, Plesiosauria) from the La Colonia Formation, Patagonia, Argentina: Phylogenetic affinities of Sulcusuchus erraini and the Late Cretaceous circum-pacific polycotylid diversity. Cretaceous Research, 140, p.105339. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cretres.2022.105339.

15. Nikolay G. Zverkov, Evgeny M. Pervushov. (2020). A gigantic pliosaurid from the Cenomanian (Upper Cretaceous) of the Volga Region, Russia. Cretaceous Research, 110, p.104419. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cretres.2020.104419.

16. María Eurídice Páramo-Fonseca, Javier García-Guerrero, Cristian David Benavides-Cabra, Santiago Padilla-Bernal, Antonio José Castañeda-Gómez. (2021). A benchmark specimen of Muiscasaurus catheti from the upper Aptian of Villa de Leiva, Colombia: New anatomical features and phylogenetic implications. Cretaceous Research, 119, p.104685. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cretres.2020.104685.

17. Cristian David Benavides-Cabra, María Eurídice Páramo-Fonseca, Héctor Daniel Palma-Castro, José Alejandro Narváez-Rincón, Maria Paula Ramos-Clavijo. (2023). Stratigraphic distribution of marine vertebrates of the arcillolitas abigarradas member (Paja Formation) from the Villa de Leiva – Sáchica - Sutamarchán region, Boyacá, Colombia. Earth Sciences Research Journal, 27(3), p.211. https://doi.org/10.15446/esrj.v27n3.108292.

18. María Eurídice Páramo Fonseca, Cristian David Benavides Cabra, Renzo Garavito Camacho. (2024). A new species of Platypterygius (Ophthalmosauridae) from the lower Barremian of Colombia and assessment of the species composition of the genus. Earth Sciences Research Journal, 28(2), p.103. https://doi.org/10.15446/esrj.v28n2.112332.

19. David M. Martill, Megan L. Jacobs, Roy E. Smith. (2023). A truly gigantic pliosaur (Reptilia, Sauropterygia) from the Kimmeridge Clay Formation (Upper Jurassic, Kimmeridgian) of England. Proceedings of the Geologists' Association, 134(3), p.361. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pgeola.2023.04.005.

20. Sven Sachs, Daniel Madzia, Ben Thuy, Benjamin P. Kear. (2023). The rise of macropredatory pliosaurids near the Early-Middle Jurassic transition. Scientific Reports, 13(1) https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-43015-y.

21. Daniel Madzia, Sven Sachs, Christian Klug. (2022). Historical significance and taxonomic status ofIschyrodon meriani(Pliosauridae) from the Middle Jurassic of Switzerland. PeerJ, 10, p.e13244. https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.13244.

22. Luis G. Ortiz-Pabón, Vanessa Robles-Rincón. (2022). Paleobio-galería: Una aproximación hacia los reptiles fósiles hallados en unidades geológicas de Villa de Leyva (Cretácico Inferior) y del Desierto de la Tatacoa (Mioceno Medio) en Colombia.. Bio-grafía, 15(28) https://doi.org/10.17227/bio-grafia.vol.15.num28-16765.

23. Valentin Fischer, Roger B J Benson, Nikolay G Zverkov, Maxim S Arkhangelsky, Ilya M Stenshin, Gleb N Uspensky, Natalya E Prilepskaya. (2023). Anatomy and relationships of the bizarre Early Cretaceous pliosaurid Luskhan itilensis . Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 198(1), p.220. https://doi.org/10.1093/zoolinnean/zlac108.

24. Sergey V. Solonin, Alexey V. Vodorezov, Benjamin P. Kear. (2021). Late Cretaceous marine reptiles from Malyy Prolom in Ryazan Oblast, Central Russia. Cretaceous Research, 127, p.104946. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cretres.2021.104946.

25. Juan S. López-Rueda, Michael J. Polcyn, Johan Lindgren, Luis E. Cruz-Guevara, Andrés S. Rodríguez-Sañudo. (2025). Mosasaur (Reptilia, Mosasauridae) remains from the Upper Cretaceous of Colombia, including the first occurrence of the genus Globidens. Cretaceous Research, 166, p.105997. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cretres.2024.105997.

Dimensions

PlumX

Article abstract page views

3590

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

License

Copyright (c) 2019 Earth Sciences Research Journal

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Earth Sciences Research Journal holds a Creative Commons Attribution license. 

You are free to:

Share — copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format
Adapt — remix, transform, and build upon the material for any purpose, even commercially.
The licensor cannot revoke these freedoms as long as you follow the license terms.