A Giant European Dinosaur and a New Sauropod Clade

Abstract

Fossils of a giant sauropod dinosaur, Turiasaurus riodevensis, have been recovered from terrestrial deposits of the Villar del Arzobispo Formation (Jurassic-Cretaceous boundary) of Riodeva (Teruel Province, Spain). Its humerus length (1790 millimeters) and estimated mass (40 to 48 metric tons) indicate that it may have been the most massive terrestrial animal in Europe and one of the largest in the world. Phylogenetic analysis indicates that the fossil represents a member of a hitherto unrecognized group of primitive European eusauropods that evolved in the Jurassic.

Vertebrate fauna at the Allosaurus fossil-site of Andrés (Upper Jurassic), Pombal, Portugal

“…5f) were also abundant in Andrés. These teeth have morphology similar to that described in the neosauropod Turiasaurus from the Tithonian -Berriasian of Spain (Royo-Torres et al, 2006). Also interpreted as belonging to a juvenile neosauropod are some isolated pelvic bones and a centrum of a dorsal vertebra.…”

Upper Jurassic sauropod record in the Lusitanian Basin (Portugal): Geographical and lithostratigraphical distribution

“…Several new occurrences have also been reported (Antunes and Mateus, 2003;Mateus, 2005;Royo-Torres et al, 2006;Yagüe et al, 2006;Mateus, 2009;Royo-Torres et al, 2009;Ortega et al, 2010;Mannion et al, 2012;Mocho et al, 2012Mocho et al, , 2013aMocho et al, , 2013bMateus et al, 2014;Mocho et al, 2014aMocho et al, , 2016bMocho et al, , 2017. This new information suggests a more diverse scenario for sauropod fauna during the Late Jurassic of the Lusitanian Basin than previously considered, with the identification of a clade previously unidentified in this basin, the non-neosauropod eusauropod group Turiasauria.…”

A new sauropod dinosaur from the Early Cretaceous of Tunisia with extreme avian-like pneumatization

“…C retaceous dinosaurs of the peri-Mediterranean regions are the subject of an increasing number of studies focusing on some of the most important and debated topics in vertebrate palaeontology, inter alia Cretaceous biogeography and insular faunas, biodiversity, timing of radiation of groups and phylogenetic relationships among Gondwanan dinosaur clades with respect to their European counterparts [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11] . In addition, Mediterranean dinosaur remains, particularly northern African specimens, are important for understanding some of the most extreme Cretaceous ecosystems.…”