WThe Crato Formation is a geologic formation of Early Cretaceous (Aptian) age in northeastern Brazil's Araripe Basin. It is an important Lagerstätte for palaeontologists. The strata were laid down mostly during the early Aptian age, about 113 million years ago, in a shallow inland sea. At that time, the South Atlantic was opening up in a long narrow shallow sea.
WCratoavis is a genus of enantiornithine birds. The type and only currently described species is C. cearensis, from the Early Cretaceous of Araripe Basin, Ceará, Brazil. The fossil, an articulated skeleton with feathers attached to the wings and surrounding the body, extends considerably the temporal record of the group at South America.
WAraripemys is an extinct marine turtle genus from 112 to 109 million years ago, in the Early Cretaceous Crato and Romualdo Formations of the Araripe Basin in northeastern Brazil. It is one of the oldest known pleurodires.
WAraripichthys is an extinct genus of prehistoric ray-finned fish that lived from the Aptian to Coniacian stages of the Cretaceous period. The genus is named after the Araripe Basin, where it was found in the Crato and Santana Formations. Other fossils of the genus have been found at Goulmima in Morocco, the Tlayua Formation of Mexico and the Apón Formation of Venezuela.
WAxelrodichthys is an extinct genus of mawsoniid coelacanth from the Cretaceous of Africa, North and South America, and Europe. Several species are known, the remains of which were discovered in the Lower Cretaceous (Aptian-Albian) of Brazil, North Africa, and possibly Mexico, as well as in the Upper Cretaceous of Morocco (Cenomanian), Madagascar and France. The French specimens are the last known representatives of the Mawsoniidae and the youngest of the extinct coelacanths along with the genus Megalocoelacanthus from North America. The Axelrodichthys of the Lower Cretaceous frequented both brackish and coastal marine waters while the most recent species lived exclusively in fresh waters. Most of the species of this genus reached 1 metre to 2 metres in length. Axelrodichthys was named in 1986 by John G. Maisey in honor of the American ichthyologist Herbert R. Axelrod.
WAymberedactylus is a genus of tapejarid pterosaur from the Early Cretaceous Crato Formation of Brazil. It contains a single species, A. cearensis.
WBelonostomus or Diphyodus is a genus of prehistoric ray-finned fish that was described by Louis Agassiz in 1844. Fossils range from 99.6 million years ago to 66 million years ago.
WCalamopleurus is an extinct genus of bowfins, comprising three species: C. cylindricus and C. mawsoni from Brazil and C. africanus from Africa.
WDastilbe is an extinct genus of prehistoric bony fish from the Aptian.
WLacusovagus is a genus of azhdarchoid pterodactyloid pterosaur from the Lower Cretaceous of Brazil. It is based on SMNK PAL 4325, a partial upper jaw comprising sections of the skull in front of the eyes. This specimen was found in rocks of the Early Cretaceous-age Nova Olinda Member of the Crato Formation. The skull was long, and unusually wide. The section in front of the combined nasal-antorbital fenestra was relatively short. Also unusual was the combination of its toothless jaws and no bony head crest. Lacusovagus was described in 2008 by Mark Witton. The type species is L. magnificens, meaning "grand lake wanderer", in reference to its large size—it is currently the largest pterosaur known from the Crato Formation with an estimated wingspan of 4.1 meters.
WLepidotes is an extinct genus of semionotid neopterygian ray-finned fish from the Jurassic period and Early Cretaceous. Fossils have been found in marine sediments of France, England, and Germany, and in Early Cretaceous sediments of Brazil and Bornholm, Denmark. Isolated scales from the Bahariya Formation have been attributed to Lepidotes. In 1895, many species were assigned to it by Arthur Smith Woodward. They include, L. elvensis, L. semiserratus, L. tuberculatus, L. gallineki, L. leedsi, L. latifrons, L. haydeni, L. occidentalis, L. macrocheirus, L. subovatus, L. minor, L. affinis, L. unguiculatus, L. laevis, L. maximus, L. mantelli, L. degenhardti, L. hauchecorni, L. mawsoni, L. notopterus and L.? pustulatus. Numerous additional species have been assigned to it which Woodward considered indistinguishable from others. It has been considered a wastebasket taxon, characterised by "general features, such as thick rhomboid scales and, for most of the species, by semi-tritorial or strongly tritorial dentition."
WLudodactylus is a genus of pterodactyloid pterosaur from the Early Cretaceous period of what is now the Crato Formation of the Araripe Basin in Ceará, Brazil. The type and only species is L. sibbicki. The generic name Ludodactylus refers to the fact that the animal had the combination of teeth and a Pteranodon-like head crest, similar to many toy pterosaurs, and no such creature was known to exist until the discovery of Ludodactylus. However, Ludodactylus is not the only pterosaur known to possess these features, the ornithocheirid Caulkicephalus is another example.
WSusisuchus is an extinct genus of neosuchian mesoeucrocodylian crocodyliform from the Early Cretaceous of Brazil. Fossils have been found from the Nova Olinda Member of the Aptian-age Crato Formation in the Araripe and Lima Campos Basins of northeastern Brazil. Named in 2003, Susisuchus is the sole member of the family Susisuchidae, and is closely related to the clade Eusuchia, which includes living crocodilians. The type species is S. anatoceps, known from a single partial articulated skeleton that preserves some soft tissue. A second species, S. jaguaribensis, was named in 2009 from fragmentary remains.
WTetrapodophis is an extinct genus of squamate from the Early Cretaceous. It was previously thought to be one of the oldest members of Ophidia. However it is currently thought to be a dolichosaurid based morphological analysis of the hind limbs. This species existed in the Cretaceous Period about 120 million years ago, located in modern day Brazil. This four legged animal is around 12 inches long, weighing around 15-17 ounces.
WTupandactylus is a genus of tapejarid pterodactyloid pterosaur from the Early Cretaceous Crato Formation of Brazil. It is notable for its large cranial crest, composed partly of bone and partly of soft tissue. The genus Tupandactylus possibly contains two species, both bearing differently sized/shaped crests that may have been used to signal and display for other Tupandactylus, much as toucans use their bright bills to signal to one another. Tupandactylus crests consisted of a semicircular crest over the snout, and in the case of the type species T. imperator, a bony prong which extended back behind the head. A second species, T. navigans, lacked this prong, and had a much more vertical crest. Soft tissue impressions also show that the small bony crests were extended by a much larger structure made of a keratinous material. The complete crest of T. navigans rose in a sharp, sail-like "dome" high above the rest of the skull.
WTupuxuara is a genus of large, crested, and toothless pterodactyloid pterosaur from the Early Cretaceous period of what is now the Romualdo Formation of the Santana Group, Brazil, about 112 million years ago. Tupuxuara is a close relative of Thalassodromeus, and both formed a group that is either called Thalassodromidae or Thalassodrominae.