Feliz Deserto Formation Explained

The Feliz Deserto Formation is a geologic formation of the Early Cretaceous age (Berriasian to Valanginian) in northeastern Brazil's Sergipe-Alagoas Basin. The formation belongs to the rift phase, in which a great lake formed.^[1]

Background

The formation provides vertebrate fossils of Lepidotes fish and teeth of crocodylomorphs and theropods, including what may be the oldest members of the Spinosauridae reported in South America.^[2]

Fossil content

Dinosaurs

Theropods of the Feliz Deserto Formation
Genus	Species	Location	Stratigraphic position	Material	Notes	Images
Baryonychinae indet.	Indeterminate			A tooth	A spinosaurid theropod
Spinosaurinae indet.[3]	Indeterminate			Eight teeth	A spinosaurid theropod
Theropoda indet.	Indeterminate			A toe bone

Crocodylomorphs

Crocodylomorphs of the Feliz Deserto Formation
Genus	Species	Location	Stratigraphic position	Material	Notes	Images
Crocodyliformes indet.	Indeterminate			Six isolated teeth
Mesoeucrocodylia indet.	Indeterminate			An isolated osteoderm
Neosuchia Indet.	Indeterminate			Eleven isolated teeth

Fish

References

1. ARAGÃO . PAULO . 2021 . DENTES FÓSSEIS DE ARCOSSAUROS DA FORMAÇÃO FELIZ DESERTO (CRETÁCEO INFERIOR), BACIA DE SERGIPE-ALAGOAS . Departamento de Biologia, Centro de Ciências Biológicas e da Saúde, Universidade Federal de Sergipe.
2. Sales . Marcos A. F. . Liparini . Alexandre . De Andrade . Marco . 2017 . The oldest South American occurrence of Spinosauridae (Dinosauria, Theropoda) . . 74 . 83–88 . 10.1016/j.jsames.2016.10.005 . 2017JSAES..74...83S . Elsevier Science Direct.
3. Lacerda. M.B.S.. de Andrade. M.B.. Sales. M.A.F.. Aragão. P.R.L.. Vieira. F.S.. Bittencourt. J.S.. Liparini. A.. 2023. The vertebrate fossil record from the Feliz Deserto Formation (Lower Cretaceous), Sergipe, NE Brazil: paleoecological, taphonomic, and paleobiogeographic implications. Cretaceous Research. 147 . 105463 . 0195-6671. 10.1016/j.cretres.2022.105463. 2023CrRes.14705463L . 255635144 .