The Crato Fossil Beds of Brazil

Abstract

This beautifully illustrated 2007 volume describes the entire flora and fauna of the famous Lower Cretaceous Crato Formation of Brazil - one of the world's most important fossil deposits, exhibiting exceptional preservation. A wide range of invertebrates and vertebrates are covered, including extended sections on pterosaurs and insects. Two chapters are devoted to plants. Many of the chapters include descriptions of new species and re-descriptions and appraisals of taxa published in obscure places, rendering them available to a wider audience. Fossil descriptions are supported by detailed explanations of the geological history of the deposit and its tectonic setting. Drawing on expertise from around the world and specimens from the most important museum collections, this book forms an essential reference for researchers and enthusiasts with an interest in Mesozoic fossils.

A transitional snake from the Late Cretaceous period of North America

“…Locality and horizon. Nova Olinda Member of the Crato Formation (Early Cretaceous: Aptian), Ceará, Brazil (8).…”

First ichnological evidence of a swimming tetrapod in the Crato Member of Santana Formation (Araripe Basin, Northeastern Brazil)

“…Estratigraficamente, a amostra que contém o icnofóssil aqui descrito provém das "Camadas Ipubi", posicionadas no topo do Membro Crato (Assine, 2007) e caracterizadas por camadas descontínuas de gipsita intercaladas por folhelhos contendo conchostráceos e por folhelhos pirobetuminosos pretos, ricos em ostracodes não-marinhos, fragmentos de vegetais carbonificados, peixes e coprólitos, além de restos de uma tartaruga, provavelmente pertencente ao gênero Araripemys (Viana et al, 1989;Assine, 2007). Estas camadas caracterizam depósitos evaporíticos em ambiente variando entre deltaico e lacustre (Assine, 2007;Martill, 2007).…”

“…A bacia do Araripe, situada nas divisas dos estados do Ceará, Pernambuco e Piauí, NE Brasil (Figura 1), é conhecida mundialmente por seu diversificado conteúdo paleontológico do período Cretáceo (Aptiano-Albiano). Destacam-se fósseis de insetos, vegetais, moluscos, peixes e pterossauros, encontrados em excelente estado de preservação, principalmente nas camadas da Formação Santana (Maisey, 1991;Martill, 2007). Registros de pegadas de dinossauros (Viana et al, 1993;Carvalho et al, 1995) além de coprólitos atribuídos a peixes (Viana & Richter, 1998) também ocorrem na bacia.…”

New snakeflies (Insecta: Raphidioptera) from the Lower Cretaceous of the UK, Spain and Brazil

“…The specimen described herein is from the Nova Olinda Member of the Crato Formation, Brazil. This is the lowest unit of the formation, Aptian in age, consisting of finely laminated limestones deposited in a hypersaline lagoonal environment (Martill et al. 2007).…”

“…2007). The Crato Formation represents a Konservat Lagerstätte and is famous for its exceptionally preserved and diverse insect assemblage, with 21 hexapod orders present, including, Diplura, Zygentoma, Ephemeroptera, Odonata, Dermaptera, Mantodea, ‘Blattaria’, Isoptera, Chresmododea, Phasmatodea, Orthoptera, Hemiptera, Neuroptera, Raphidioptera, Megaloptera, Coleoptera, Hymenoptera, Mecoptera, Diptera, Trichoptera and Lepidoptera (see chapters in Martill et al. 2007).…”