Speciation along rifting continental margins: a new Nothosaur from the Negev (Israël)
Abstract
Middle Triassic Muschelkalk deposits in the Negev (Israel) yielded two endemic species of the sauropterygian reptile genus Nothosaurus, one of which is new. These two species of nothosaurs from the Nahal Ramon Basin provide evidence for cladogenesis in a newly opened habitat with resource partitioning between the daughter species. The two Nahal Ramon species are sister-taxa, and jointly they form the sister-clade of Nothosaurus mirabilis from the Germanic Muschelkalk. Cladistic analysis of nothosaur interrelationships supports the hypothesis of a Burgundy Gate, linking the Germanic Basin with the developing Neotethys during late Anisian and Ladinian times.
- Publication:
-
Comptes Rendus de l'Académie des Sciences - Series IIA - Earth and Planetary Science
- Pub Date:
- December 1997
- DOI:
- 10.1016/S1251-8050(97)82380-4
- Bibcode:
- 1997CRASE.325..991R