Title |
New Permian fauna from tropical Gondwana
|
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Published in |
Nature Communications, November 2015
|
DOI | 10.1038/ncomms9676 |
Pubmed ID | |
Authors |
Juan C. Cisneros, Claudia Marsicano, Kenneth D. Angielczyk, Roger M. H. Smith, Martha Richter, Jörg Fröbisch, Christian F. Kammerer, Rudyard W. Sadleir |
Abstract |
Terrestrial vertebrates are first known to colonize high-latitude regions during the middle Permian (Guadalupian) about 270 million years ago, following the Pennsylvanian Gondwanan continental glaciation. However, despite over 150 years of study in these areas, the biogeographic origins of these rich communities of land-dwelling vertebrates remain obscure. Here we report on a new early Permian continental tetrapod fauna from South America in tropical Western Gondwana that sheds new light on patterns of tetrapod distribution. Northeastern Brazil hosted an extensive lacustrine system inhabited by a unique community of temnospondyl amphibians and reptiles that considerably expand the known temporal and geographic ranges of key subgroups. Our findings demonstrate that tetrapod groups common in later Permian and Triassic temperate communities were already present in tropical Gondwana by the early Permian (Cisuralian). This new fauna constitutes a new biogeographic province with North American affinities and clearly demonstrates that tetrapod dispersal into Gondwana was already underway at the beginning of the Permian. |
X Demographics
Geographical breakdown
Country | Count | As % |
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United States | 11 | 16% |
United Kingdom | 11 | 16% |
Japan | 5 | 7% |
France | 2 | 3% |
Portugal | 2 | 3% |
Canada | 1 | 1% |
Thailand | 1 | 1% |
Argentina | 1 | 1% |
Korea, Democratic People's Republic of | 1 | 1% |
Other | 4 | 6% |
Unknown | 29 | 43% |
Demographic breakdown
Type | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Members of the public | 55 | 81% |
Scientists | 8 | 12% |
Science communicators (journalists, bloggers, editors) | 4 | 6% |
Practitioners (doctors, other healthcare professionals) | 1 | 1% |
Mendeley readers
Geographical breakdown
Country | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Brazil | 3 | 4% |
Canada | 2 | 2% |
United States | 1 | 1% |
Unknown | 75 | 93% |
Demographic breakdown
Readers by professional status | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Student > Ph. D. Student | 14 | 17% |
Student > Bachelor | 14 | 17% |
Researcher | 13 | 16% |
Student > Doctoral Student | 11 | 14% |
Student > Master | 8 | 10% |
Other | 10 | 12% |
Unknown | 11 | 14% |
Readers by discipline | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Earth and Planetary Sciences | 27 | 33% |
Agricultural and Biological Sciences | 24 | 30% |
Environmental Science | 6 | 7% |
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology | 3 | 4% |
Physics and Astronomy | 2 | 2% |
Other | 3 | 4% |
Unknown | 16 | 20% |