near Joao Pinheiro (Cretaceous to of Brazil)

Where: Minas Gerais, Brazil (17.7° S, 45.9° W: paleocoordinates 18.0° S, 13.1° W)

• coordinate estimated from map

• outcrop-level geographic resolution

When: Quiricó Formation (Areado Group), Barremian to Barremian (129.4 - 113.0 Ma)

• bed-level stratigraphic resolution

Environment/lithology: lacustrine - small; mudstone

• The beds where the specimen described here was found are composed of bioturbated mudstones, deposited in shallow lacustrine environments
• The beds where the specimen described here was found are composed of bioturbated mudstones, deposited in shallow lacustrine environments

Size classes: macrofossils, mesofossils

Collection methods: The holotype is housed in the publicly available paleontological collection of the Instituto de Geociências, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (IGC-P), in Belo Horizonte-MG, Brazi

Primary reference: J. Souza Bittencourt, T. Rodrigues Simoes, M. W. Caldwell and M. C. Langer. 2020. Discovery of the oldest South American fossil lizard illustrates the cosmopolitanism of early South American squamates. Nature Communications Biology 3(201):1-11 [E. Vlachos/E. Vlachos/E. Vlachos]more details

Purpose of describing collection: taxonomic analysis

PaleoDB collection 209377: authorized by Evangelos Vlachos, entered by Evangelos Vlachos on 01.05.2020

Creative Commons license: CC BY (attribution)

Taxonomic list

Reptilia
 Squamata - Paramacellodidae
Neokotus sanfranciscanus n. gen. n. sp.
Neokotus sanfranciscanus n. gen. n. sp. Souza Bittencourt et al. 2020 squamates
All the osteological remains representing the holotype of the new species (IGC-P 0085) were found in a single small (60 g) mudstone block. They are here attributed to a single individual because all identifiable bones came from a single block, all elements from the block have squamate features, and there is no duplication of elements. Additionally, the lower jaw dentition (highly diagnostic for lizards) matches that of the maxilla and premaxilla. Further, all skull elements are of the expected size for a single individual, postcranial elements of the same kind (vertebrae) are of similar size, and have proportional sizes relative to the cranial bones. The elements recovered include: skull bones, including premaxilla, maxilla, jugal, articulated dentary and splenial; remains of at least 20 vertebrae, including four dorsal, two sacral, and eleven caudal elements (other vertebrae are unidentified); rib fragments; possible fragment of the distal portion of the left humerus; incomplete radius and ulna; incomplete and articulated left ilium, pubis and ischium; right tibia; indeterminate nonterminal phalanges and unguals.