Marine reptiles from the Late Cretaceous of northern Patagonia

During the Campaninn-Maastrichtian, Patagonia was hooded by the Atlantic an d reduced to an archipelago. Several localities of northern Patagonia have yielded marine reptiles. Analysis of several assemblages suggests that the diversity and abundance of pelagic marine reptiles in northern Patagonia wa s higher by the end of the Cretaceous than previously thought. Several ples iosaurids, including Aristonectes parvidens and the polycotylid Sulcusuchus , and the first remains of mosasaurinae have been found. The Cretaceous mar ine reptile record from South America is scanty. Nevertheless, materials de scribed here suggest that Tethyan and Weddelian forms converged in northern Patagonia, as seen with invertebrates. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.