Arturo H. González González

• Master
• Managing Director at Museo del Desierto

The world’s largest ammonite, Parapuzosia (P.) seppenradensis (Landois, 1895), fascinated the world ever since the discovery, in 1895, of a specimen of 1.74 metres (m) diameter near Seppenrade in Westfalia, Germany, but subsequent findings of the taxon are exceedingly rare and its systematic position remains enigmatic. Here we revise the historical...

Schubert and colleagues have recently criticized our assessment of the mandibular ramus of a small peccary from Muknal cave in Quintana Roo, Mexico, to a new genus and species, 'Muknalia minima' Stinnesbeck et al. 2017. They considered this assignation as invalid and the unique morphologies of the taxon to be the result of breakage and human modifi...

Ongoing investigations in submerged cave systems of Quintana Roo in south-eastern Mexico reveal a rich Late Pleistocene megafaunal assemblage, among them the megalonychid ground sloth Xibalbaonyx oviceps. The taxon has been described based on a complete skull and mandible from El Zapote cenote west of Puerto Morelos. We here add hitherto unreported...

Recent palaeontological research in submerged caves of the north-eastern Yucatán Peninsula (YP) in Mexico has resulted in the identification of a diverse megafaunal assemblage in the area, among them Late Pleistocene ground sloths assigned to the family Megalonychidae (Xenarthra). Here we report on a new species of Megalonychidae, Xibalbaonyx exinf...

Human presence on the Yucatán Peninsula reaches back to the Late Pleistocene. Osteological evidence comes from submerged caves and sinkholes (cenotes) near Tulum in the Mexican state of Quintana Roo. Here we report on a new skeleton discovered by us in the Chan Hol underwater cave, dating to a minimum age of 9.9±0.1 ky BP based on ²³⁰Th/U-dating of...

The human settlement of the Americas has been a topic of intense debate for centuries, and there is still no consensus on the tempo and mode of early human dispersion across the continent. When trying to explain the biological diversity of early groups across North, Central and South America, studies have defended a wide range of dispersion models...

Unique bell-shaped underwater speleothems were recently reported from the deep (∼ 55 m) meromictic El Zapote sinkhole (cenote) on the Yucatán Peninsula, Mexico. The local diving community has termed these speleothems as Hells Bells because of their shape and appearance in a dark environment in ∼ 28–38 m water depth above a sulfidic halocline. It wa...

Unique bell-shaped underwater speleothems were recently reported from the deep (~55 m) meromictic El Zapote sinkhole (cenote) on the Yucatán Peninsula, Mexico. The local diving community has termed these speleothems as Hells Bells because of their shape and appearance in a lightless environment in ~28-38 m water depth above a sulfidic halocline. It...

Here we describe a new species of a Pleistocene felid based on the distal third of a right humerus from the submerged El Pit cenote (sinkhole) near Tulum in Quintana Roo, Mexico. The new taxon, Panthera balamoides sp. nov., is characterized by a large entepicondylar foramen, a gracile and straight humeral shaft with a prominent supracondylar ridge...

Auf Spurensuche eines Asteroiden-Einschlags in Mexiko aus der Zeit, als die Dinosaurier ausstarben

Here, we report on an incomplete human skeleton, soot patches related to anthropogenic fireplaces, and cut marks on the mandible of an extinct peccary, from the submerged Muknal cave southwest of Tulum on the Mexican Yucatán peninsula. The human individual, here named ‘Muknal Grandfather’, was identified as a male based on cranial parameters. The a...

Numerous charcoal accumulations discovered in the submerged Chan Hol cave near Tulum, Quintana Roo, Mexico, have been 14C‐dated revealing ages between 8110 ± 28 14C a BP (9122–8999 cal a BP) and 7177 ± 27 14C a BP (8027–7951 cal a BP). These charcoal concentrations, interpreted here as ancient illumination sites, provide strong evidence that the Ch...

A new genus and species of the Mathildellidae Prebranchioplax cretacica (Crustacea: Decapoda: Goneplacoidea) is reported from shallow marine sediments of the upper Campanian Parras Shale and Cerro del Pueblo Formation (Parras Basin), Coahuila, NE Mexico. Prebranchioplax cretacica was collected from siliceous concretions associated with more abundan...

We here report on a type of meter-sized pendant speleothem growing under water in the submerged El Zapote sinkhole (cenote) west of Puerto Morelos on the Mexican Yucatán Peninsula. These conical, mantle-shaped downward expanding and diverging calcareous structures, here termed as Hells Bells, are yet unreported in the scientific literature. They ar...

Preceramic human skeletal remains preserved in submerged caves near Tulum in the Mexican state of Quintana Roo, Mexico, reveal conflicting results regarding ¹⁴C dating. Here we use U-series techniques for dating a stalagmite overgrowing the pelvis of a human skeleton discovered in the submerged Chan Hol cave. The oldest closed system U/Th age comes...

Stable isotope (δ13O, δ18O) measurements of the CH-7 stalagmite from Chan Hol cave. (DOCX)

Here we describe a new genus and species of giant ground sloth, Xibalbaonyx oviceps (Megalonychidae, Xenarthra), from the drowned cave system of the northeastern Yucatán Peninsula. The specimen is Late Pleistocene in age and was discovered in the Zapote sinkhole (cenote) near Puerto Morelos in the Mexican state of Quintana Roo. Xibalbaonyx oviceps...

A nearly complete skeleton of a polycotylid plesiosaur is described from the early Late Cretaceous laminated limestones at Vallecillo, northeast Mexico. It shows extensive soft tissue preservation. In some exceedingly well preserved areas there are transversely elongate rectangular to trapezoid millimetric scale-like structures arranged in longitud...

During the past decade, three new endemic taxa of ceratopsian ornithischians have been described from Mexico. Apparently, this group experienced a regional diversification in this area. To date Mexican Ceratopsia are represented by three species, one of which is a centrosaurine and two are chasmosaurines. Here we provide a critical review on Mexica...

Here we describe the left mandibular ramus of a fossil peccary from the submerged karst cave system in the southeastern Mexican state of Quintana Roo. The specimen, which was discovered in the Muknal cave northwest of Tulúm, is a new genus and species of peccary termed Muknalia minima. The taxon likely dates from the latest Pleistocene and differs...

Two unique localities that combine an unusual diversity of avian, pterosaurian, and dinosaur tracks as well as trails of arthropods were recently discovered by us in uppermost Maastrichtian siliciclastic sediments of the Las Encinas Formation in the Mexican state of Coahuila, ∼40 km north of Saltillo. The trackway assemblages at Amargos and Rancho...

U/Th disequilibrium dating on stalagmites has been carried out as well as strontium isotope analyses for various prehistoric animal and human skeletal remains found in submerged caves of the extensive karstic system between Tulum and Playa del Carmen in the Mexican state of Quintana Roo, Northern Yucatán peninsula (González González et al., 2013)....

The subsurface of the Mexican state of Quintana Roo, located on the northeastern Yucatán peninsula, hosts one of the largest underwater cave systems in the world. Interconnected caves formed within thick-bedded shallow water carbonate bedrock of Mio-, Plio-and Pleistocene age (Weidie, 1985). The cave system is located only a few kilometers away fro...

The subsurface of the Mexican state of Quintana Roo, located on the northeastern Yucatan peninsula, is known to house one of the largest underwater cave systems in the world. Sinkholes, regionally known as cenotes, and several levels of interconnected caves reach to >150 m depth and formed within thick-bedded shallow water carbonate bedrock of Mio-...

Two sets of well-preserved human footprints have been found in tufa sediments in the Cuatrociénegas Basin, NE Mexico, and here we present their U-series dates of 10.55 ± 0.03 ka and 7.24 ± 0.13 ka. The former are the oldest known footprints in Mexico, although their exact location is unknown, the latter form part of a trackway with eleven in situ h...

Prehistoric evidence from submerged caves and sinkholes (cenotes) on the Yucatan peninsula provides strong evidence for the existence of an early preceramic human settlement in southern Mexico. During our ongoing paleoanthropological research we have already documented three well-preserved human skeletons as old as 13,000 and 9000 years from these...

Recent work in the Upper Cretaceous of northeastern Mexico has produced a diversity of vertebrate remains. For specimens referable to Squamata, both old and new, an annotated catalogue is here provided, wherein are summarised the geological context and morphological features of each specimen. All specimens appear to represent marine squamates, incl...

Here we describe a second nyctosaurid pterosaur from the Late Cretaceous laminated limestone deposits of northeast Mexico. The specimen was discovered in the Múzquiz quarry area in northern Coahuila and comprises an isolated right wing skeleton including the humerus, radius/ulna, carpus, wing finger metacarpus and the proximal segment of wing finge...

Here we describe a second nyctosaurid pterosaur from the Late Cretaceous laminated limestone deposits of northeast Mexico. The specimen was discovered in the Múzquiz quarry area in northern Coahuila and comprises an isolated right wing skeleton including the humerus, radius/ulna, carpus, wing finger metacarpus and the proximal segment of wing finge...

In this paper we report on a specimen of Pachyrhizodus caninus Cope, 1872 (Teleostei, Crossognathiformes) from the early Turonian of Vallecillo (North-eastern Mexico). P. caninus is considered to be a typical faunal element of the Western Interior Seaway, however, its occurrence in Vallecillo shows that this species was not restricted to the Seaway...

In 1961, two human footprints were excavated from the Cuatro Cienegas region of Coahuila, Mexico, but for decades were not studied scientifically or deposited in any museum. Consequently, knowledge of the locality where they were found was lost. Once the two tracks were relocated they found their way to the Museo del Desierto, Saltillo (Coahuila) w...

https://www.academia.edu/3788867/CURRENT_RESEARCH_IN_THE_PLEISTOCENE_2008_Gonzalez

The fragmentary rostrum of a thalattosuchian is described. The specimen comes from the vicinity of the village of San Juan de los Dolores, next to Los Lirios, Coahuila, northeastern Mexico. Associated ammonites allow to assign the specimen to the Kimmeridgian section (Upper Jurassic) of the La Casita Formation. Because of its massiveness, its crani...

Recent fieldwork in the Early Tithonian of northeastern Mexico has yielded the partial cranium and associated fragmentary postcranial elements of a thalattosuchian. The specimen is described and referred to a new species of the genus Geosaurus characterised by elongated, narrow, oval supratemporal fenestrae, and a prefrontal that excludes the front...

The open marine marls quarried near Vallecillo, N. L., are of Early Turonian age, based on inoceramids and ammonites. The sediments also contain abundant fossil fishes including three species of sharks (e. g. Ptychodus mortoni), two holosteans (an undescribed pachycormid species and Nursallia cf. N. gutturosum), at least eight species of teleostean...

At El Rosario, 170 km WNW of Múzquiz in northern Coahuila, Mexico, alternating evenly layered platy limestone and . ssile marly limestone of late Turonian-early Coniacian age (Late Cretaceous) contain vertebrate fossils with exceptionally well-preserved anatomical details of their soft tissues, as well as abundant ammonoids, inoceramids and other i...

In the vicinity of Vallecillo, N.L. Mexico, laminated marlstones of Turonian age contain wellpreserved fishes, marine turtles, ammonites and inoceramids and indicate deposition under outer shelf environments. The absence of benthic faunal elements and bioturbation suggests stagnation and anaerobic sediment conditions. The selacean fauna consists of...