Polar vertebrates from the Early Cretaceous of Yakutia (Russia)

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The Early Cretaceous vertebrate locality Teete west of Yakutsk (Siberia) yields a diverse association of mostly terrestrial macro- and microvertebrates. Teete is one of the northernmost (palaeolatitude 63-65° N) occurrences of Mesozoic mammals worldwide and the only one of Early Cretaceous age from Asia. The Teete vertebrate assemblage bears a great potential for research on the palaeobiogeography and palaeoecology of Mesozoic polar vertebrates. The project aims at a complete recording of the vertebrate association, in order to gain information on the palaeoecology of Mesozoic polar ecostystems. At first hand questions of differing reactions of endothermic (dinosaurs, mammals) versus ectothermic (amphibians, squamates, choristoderes) vertebrates will be addressed. The project will also yield important new information on the palaeobiogeography of Mesozoic Asian vertebrates, which will be discussed with a wider background based on our previous projects in Central Asia (Kyrgyzstan: Balabansai Formation and Xinjiang: Shishugou Formation) as well as western Siberia (Berezovsk: Itat Formation). We expect ground-breaking new insights into the evolution and palaeoecology of Mesozoic Vertebrates in Asia.