ABSTRACT. Kaiwhekea katiki gen. et sp. nov. represents the ®rst described cryptoclidid plesiosaurian from New Zealand. It is one of the largest cryptoclidids known, at a length of over 6´5 m, and represents the third reported genus of austral Late Cretaceous cryptoclidids. Kaiwhekea katiki is from siltstones of the Katiki Formation, upper Haumurian Stage (Cenomanian±Maastrichtian; c. 69±70 Ma) of coastal Otago, South Island, New Zealand. In the Late Cretaceous, the locality lay close to the polar circle. The holotype and only known specimen is an articulated skeleton with skull, preserved mostly as natural molds, but which lacks the forelimbs and pectoral girdle. The skull is relatively large and possesses several distinct characters, including a substantial, deep, jugal. There are about 43 upper and 42 lower teeth in each jaw quadrant; all are homodont, slim, and slightly recurved, lacking prominent ornament. Kaiwhekea probably took single soft-bodied prey. Based on cranial structure, it clearly belongs with the Cryptoclididae, but is not certainly close to the southern Late Cretaceous cryptoclidids Morturneria (Seymour Island, Antarctica) and Aristonectes (Chile, Argentina).

Embryos of therizinosauroid theropods from the Upper Cretaceous of China: diagnosis and analysis of ossification patterns. -Acta Zoologica (Stockholm) 89 : 231-251Exceptionally complete, in ovo dinosaur embryos from the Upper Cretaceous of China are analysed. Ossification patterns of these embryos suggest that they died during the final third of their development. The therizinosauroid identity of the embryos follows from: (1) an edentulous premaxilla with a sharp downturned edge; (2) dentary with a lateral shelf; (3) teeth with fan-shaped crowns, with a few marginal cusps; (4) humerus with a massive deltopectoral crest extending proximally, with a pointed proximomedial tuberosity; (5) ilium with an expanded and hooked preacetabular process; (6) strongly curved hypertrophied manual unguals tapering to sharp points. These embryos are closest to two Chinese therizinosauroids, Neimongosaurus yangi Zhang et al . 2001 and Erliansaurus bellamanus Xu et al . 2002. An elongated narial opening, reduced basipterygoid process, low cervical neural spines, a transversely narrow pubic apron, and a pubic foot expanded anteriorly are found in these embryos and are synapomorphies uniting the Therizinosauroidea and the Oviraptorosauria. Fusion of cervical and caudal neural arches and centra, complete ossification of thoracic ribs and ilium, possible co-ossification of tibia and fibula, fused pubes, complete metaand acropodial elements, together with small portions of unossified epiphyses of long bones suggest an advanced precociality of these embryos.

An account is given of the skull of a large pliosauroid plesiosaur from the lowermost Hettangian (Lower Lias; Lower Jurassic) of Barrow upon Soar, Leicestershire, identified as Rhomaleosaurus megacephalus (Stutchbury, 1846). It is proposed as the neotype of the species, as the holotype was destroyed in an air-raid on Bristol in November 1940. Details of the skull allow emendation of the diagnosis of the genus Rhomaleosaurus. Comparison of R. megacephalus with the Upper Liassic species, Rhomaleosaurus zetlandicus, shows that the former has a more gracile snout and a shallower lower jaw symphysis, and lacks squamosal-quadrate foramina. There may also be differences in the number and nature of the palatal grooves associated with presumed underwater olfaction. Lack of iron pyrites in the matrix surrounding the specimen allowed computed axial tomography (CAT)-scan sections to be obtained, which in association with the little-distorted nature of the skull, permitted a confident reconstruction of the skull. It shows a complete ring of circumorbital bones, and a suborbital fenestra. The braincase can be reconstructed from sagittal break-sections allied with CAT-scan sections. A stapes is identified. A poorly preserved dentition comprises conical, striated, teeth with caniniforms on each premaxilla and at the front of each maxilla. Although very similar to the later species, this skull is not so well adapted for apprehending and dismembering large prey, as is R. zetlandicus.

The skull of a new, and highly unusual crested dinosaur with a elongate rostrum is the first dinosaur to be named from the Santana Formation of NE Brazil. Irritutor chullengeri gen. et sp. nov was most likely a maniraptoran dinosaur, but its affinities to other maniraptorans remain to be established. Unique features for Irriruror include the pattern of tooth replacement, a highly reduced supratemporal fenestra, extreme lateral compression of the rostrum and a saggital crest comprised of the frontal and parietal bones. Irriruror was most probably a piscivore. A land link between South America and the dinosaurian fauna1 province of North America and Asia is indicated, probably via Africa.