Léa LeuzingerUniversidad de Buenos Aires | UBA · Laboratorio de Paleontología de Vertebrados, Departamento de Ciencias Geológicas, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales
Léa Leuzinger
PhD in Geological Sciences
Post-doctoral fellow at Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina. Stable isotopes of Jurassic vertebrates from Uruguay.
About
23
Publications
7,274
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136
Citations
Citations since 2017
Introduction
Ongoing research: paleoecological reconstruction of a vertebrate assemblage from Uruguay (Late Jurassic) based on stable isotope analyses (post-doc) ¦ Isotopic cyclicity in dinosaur bone ¦ Stable isotopes of mosasaurs ¦ Inventory of Jurassic fish from Switzerland (canton Solothurn) ¦ Tooth renewal in extinct ginglymodian fish based on micro CT-scan /// I am also exploring the use of videogames as a tool for scientific outreach. Therefore I am currently learning Game Design and programming n_n
Additional affiliations
April 2014 - February 2015
Paléontologie A16, Porrentruy, Swiss Jura
Position
- Research Assistant
Publications
Publications (23)
Here we report high-latitude stable isotope compositions of Maastrichtian fossil fish and marine reptiles (mainly mosasaurs) from Antarctica (64°S paleolatitude) and compare them with mid-paleolatitude samples from Argentine Patagonia (45°S). Disparities between the δ ¹³ C values of bony fish and marine reptiles correspond to differences in the for...
Notosuchia is a highly diverse group of crocodyliforms that peaked during the Cretaceous period. Their taxonomic abundance and morphological disparity in the Upper Cretaceous Bauru Group (Bauru Basin, Brazil) is remarkable, with over 20 species reported. The stable carbon and oxygen isotope composition of notosuchian bioapatite from two sites (i.e....
Coincidentally, we stumbled across the description of a forgotten fossil fish from the Swiss Jura. All so far known details about the species ‘Lepidotes’ crassus Nicolet, 1872, have been gathered. Together with a transcription of the original text in French, a translation to English, and graphically treated versions of the original figures, we also...
Eggshells represent an important part of the fossil record of Titanosauria (Dinosauria – Neosauropoda) and their stable isotope compositions are valuable palaeoenvironmental proxies. A new set of conventional (δ¹⁸O and δ¹³C) and clumped (Δ47) stable isotope compositions of titanosaurian eggshells is presented, together with that of a bone and a sin...
South American titanosaurians have been central to the study of the evolution of Cretaceous sauropod dinosaurs. Despite their remarkable diversity, the fragmentary condition of several taxa and the scarcity of records outside Patagonia and southwestern Brazil have hindered the study of continental-scale paleobiogeographic relationships. We describe...
Tooth replacement in vertebrates is extremely diverse, and its study in extinct taxa gives insights into the evolution of the different dental renewal modes. Based on μ‐CT scans of a left lower jaw of the extinct fish †Scheenstia (Actinopterygii, Lepisosteiformes), we describe in detail a peculiar tooth replacement mode that is, as far as we could...
The pattern of tooth development is genetically very stable during vertebrate evolution, while dental renewal mechanisms are much diversified. The Mesozoic fish Scheenstia shows a novel mode of tooth replacement not reported in any other taxon and implying a peculiar feature: the amelogenesis of replacement teeth occurs intraosseously in an upside-...
The fossil record of chondrichthyans (sharks, rays and chimaeroids) principally consists of isolated teeth, spines and dermal denticles, their cartilaginous skeleton being rarely preserved. Several Late Jurassic chondrichthyan assemblages have been studied in Europe based on large bulk samples, mainly in England, France, Germany and Spain. The firs...
Cretaceous titanosaur nesting sites are currently known only from Europe, Asia and South America. In the latter, only the Auca Mahuevo and Sanagasta nesting sites have been confidently assigned to this clade of sauropod dinosaurs. Here we report the discovery of the first eggs and egg clutches found at Tama, a new Upper Cretaceous fossiliferous loc...
Chondrichthyan teeth (sharks, rays, and chimaeras) are mineralized in isotopic equilibrium with the surrounding water, and parameters such as water temperature and salinity can be inferred from the oxygen isotopic composition (δ18Op) of their bioapatite. We analysed a new chondrichthyan assemblage, as well as teeth from bony fish (Pycnodontiformes)...
Remains of sharks, rays and chimaeras (class Chondrichthyes) are very common in Jurassic deposits. Especially chondrichthyan teeth are abundant due to their high resistance to mechanical and chemical alteration. Besides their taxonomic value, they are an ideal material for stable isotope analyses and are widely used as a palaeoenvironmental proxy....
Chondrichthyan teeth (sharks, rays and chimaeras) are mineralised in isotopic equilibrium with the surrounding water, and parameters such as water temperature and salinity can be inferred from the oxygen isotopic composition (δ18Op) of their bioapatite. We analysed a new chondrichthyan assemblage, as well as teeth from bony fish (Pycnodontiformes)....
The proportion of the different oxygen stable isotopes present in water is linked to several environmental parameters such as evaporation rate, salinity and temperature. Vertebrates living in aquatic environment use the oxygen of the ambient water to mineralize hard tissues of bones and teeth, recording thereby measurable information on its isotopi...
Remains of sharks, rays and chimaeras (class Chondrichthyes) are very common in Jurassic deposits. Especially chondrichthyan teeth are abundant due to their high resistance to mechanical and chemical alteration. Besides their taxonomic value, they are an ideal material for stable isotope analyses and are widely used as a palaeoenvironmental proxy....
The fossil orthopteran Brauckmannia groeningae Martins-Neto (Orthoptera, Ensifera) from the Early Cretaceous Crato Formation of Brazil, currently misplaced at both the genus and family level, is transferred to the family Schizodactylidae and assigned to the extant genus Schizodactylus Brullé; ergo, Brauckmannia enters synonymy under Schizodactylus...
Questions
Question (1)
I am studying fossils discovered in paleosoil deposits that are full of cavities refilled by chalcedony. I would like to check what type of chalcedony it is, since that can give you information on the depositional context. I have read about the structural difference between the two (e.g. in Heaney 1993, A proposed mechanism for the growth of chalcedony): the fibres crystallites have the c-axis perpendicular to the fibre axis in the length-fast chalcedony, and parallel in the length-slow chalcedony. But I don't know how to check that in practice... does anyone know a procedure for that ?
It's been a while since my last cristallography/mineralogy class...
Projects
Project (1)
Explore the configuration of replacement teeth in different fossil Ginglymodi taxa based on micro-CT scans to understand their dental renewal mechanism. Find out the relation between different dental renewal modes and durophagy, and/or phylogeny.
