First Triassic tetrapod (Sauropterygia, Nothosauridae) from Castilla y León: evidence of an unknown taxon for the Spanish record

Several vertebrae of a sauropterygian specimen have been recovered in Fuencaliente de Medinaceli (Soria Province, Castilla y León, Spain). The remains come from Middle–Upper Triassic Muschelkalk Facies. This finding represents the first documented evidence of a Triassic tetrapod in Castilla y León. The vertebrae belong to Nothosaurus, a sauropterygian genus found in Europe, Middle East, North of Africa and China. This genus is poorly-known in the Iberian record. The new remains constitute the first evidence of the species Nothosaurus giganteus, or a related taxon, in the Iberian Peninsula. This study reveals the occurrence of at least two species of the sauropterygian Nothosaurus in the Spanish record.

The Tamaricetea arceuthoidis: a new class for the continental riparian thickets of the Middle East, Central Asia and the subarid regions of the Lower Volga valley

The new class, the Tamaricetea arceuthoidis, is described covering riparian and intermittent shrubby vegetation of the Irano-Turanian Region in the southwestern and Central Asia and the Lower Volga valley. The dominating species are species of the genus Tamarix that refer high water table in arid and semi-arid habitats with high to moderate salinity. This new class is an ecological analogon of the Nerio-Tamaricetea occurring in the Mediterranean Basin.