Biogeografia Histórica de Mawsoniidae (Sarcopterygii: Actinistia)

Abstract

Mawsoniidae is a fossil family of actinistians popularly known as coelacanth, being found in continental and marine paleoenvironments. The taxon was proposed in the 1990 and, since then, some studies on its phylogeny in a cladistic context were accomplished. It is considered monophyletic in the most recent reviews and includes five unquestionable genera (i. e., Axelrodichthys, Chinlea, Diplurus, Mawsonia, and Parnaibaia), besides ten others with some taxonomical controversy (i. e., Alcoveria, Garnbergia, Heptanema, Indocoelacanthus, Libys, Lualabaea, Megalocoelacanthus, Moenkopia, Rhipis, and Trachymetopon). Notwithstanding, not all of these genera were included in the cladistic analysis of Mawsoniidae. Mawsoniidae possesses a remarkable biogeographical significance due to its extensive temporal range, from the Middle Triassic to the Late Cretaceous, and a wide geographical distribution in the South and North Americas, Africa, and Europe. The genera restrict to the North America (Diplurus and Chinlea) and Europe (Alcoveria) possess the oldest records (Middle Triassic-Early Jurassic), whereas those found in the South Hemisphere (Mawsonia, Axelrodichthys, and Parnaibaia) extend from Late Jurassic to Late Cretaceous, in Brazil and Africa. This study proposed to analyze the Historical Biogeography of Mawsoniidae, including the valid genera as well as those of controverse systematic position, applying the panbiogeographical method of track analysis. Based on this analysis, 11 individual tracks of the species and three generalized tracks (GTs) were obtained. The GT1, named Northeastern Newark, occurs in strata of the Newark Group (Upper Triassic); GT2, named Midwest Gondwana, occurs in the Lualaba Formation (Upper Jurassic); and GT2, named Itapecuru-Alcântara-Santana, occurs in the Itapecuru-Alcântara-Santana formations (Lower Cretaceous). Regarding the distribution pattern herein found, the origin of the probably occurred from the Middle/Upper Triassic in the Eastern Pangeia, with subsequent expansion in the Lower Jurassic, corroborated by records of Indocoelacanthus and Trachymetopon. The expansion of the group towards the Western Gondwana occurred in the Lower Cretaceous, with records of Mawsonia and Axelrodichthys. The panbiogeographical analysis was also applied to produce individual tracks of the genera by certain geological periods, which showed congruence with the individual tracks of the species. The results herein obtained accentuated the potential of the panbiogeographical method for obtaining the distribution patterns and, consequently, the areas of endemism of Mawsoniidae, throughout all Mesozoic.