A new titanosaur from the Lower Cretaceous of Brazil

Ghilardi, Aline Marcele; Aureliano, Tito; Duque, Rudah R.C.; Fernandes, Marcelo Adorna; Barreto, Alcina Magnólia Franca; Chinsamy, Anusuya

doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2016.07.001

Cited by 27 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 30 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Recently described remains (including Triunfosaurus leonardii) from the Rio Piranhas Formation (Hauterivian-Barremian) of northeastern Brazil have been assigned to Titanosauria (Ghilardi et al, 2016;Carvalho et al, 2017), although Poropat et al (2017) argued that these could not be confidently referred beyond Somphospondyli. The discovery of Padillasaurus in the late Barremian Paja Formation of Colombia (Carballido et al, 2015) confirms the presence of Somphospondyli in the pre-Aptian of South America .…”

Section: South Americamentioning

confidence: 99%

Taxonomic affinities of the putative titanosaurs from the Late Jurassic Tendaguru Formation of Tanzania: phylogenetic and biogeographic implications for eusauropod dinosaur evolution

Mannion

Upchurch

Schwarz

et al. 2019

Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society

168

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The Late Jurassic Tendaguru Formation of Tanzania, southeastern Africa, records a rich sauropod fauna, including the diplodocoids Dicraeosaurus and Tornieria, and the brachiosaurid titanosauriform Giraffatitan. However, the taxonomic affinities of other sympatric sauropod taxa are poorly understood. Here, we critically reassess and redescribe these problematic taxa, and present the largest phylogenetic analysis for sauropods (117 taxa scored for 542 characters) to explore their placement within Eusauropoda. Janenschia robusta has played a prominent role in discussions of titanosaur origins, with various authors referring at least some remains to Titanosauria, a clade otherwise known only from the Cretaceous. Re-description of the holotype of Janenschia, and all referable remains, supports its validity and placement as a non-neosauropod eusauropod. It forms a clade with Haestasaurus, from the earliest Cretaceous of the UK, and the Middle/Late Jurassic Chinese sauropod Bellusaurus. Phylogenetic analysis and CT scans of the internal pneumatic tissue structure of Australodocus bohetii tentatively support a non-titanosaurian somphospondylan identification, making it the only known pre-Cretaceous representative of that clade. New information on the internal pneumatic tissue structure of the dorsal vertebrae of the enigmatic Tendaguria tanzaniensis, coupled with a full re-description, results in its novel placement as a turiasaur. Tendaguria is the sister taxon of Moabosaurus, from the Early Cretaceous of North America, and is the first turiasaur recognised from Gondwana. A previously referred caudal sequence cannot be assigned to Janenschia and displays several features that indicate a close relationship with Middle-Late Jurassic East Asian mamenchisaurids. It can be diagnosed by six autapomorphies, and we erect the new taxon Wamweracaudia keranjei gen. et sp. nov. The presence of a mamenchisaurid in the Late Jurassic of southern Gondwana indicates an earlier and more widespread diversification of this clade than previously realised, prior to the geographic isolation of East Asia. Our revised phylogenetic dataset sheds light on the evolutionary history of Eusauropoda, including supporting a basal diplodocoid placement for Haplocanthosaurus, and elucidating the interrelationships of rebbachisaurids. The Tendaguru Formation shares representatives of nearly all sauropod lineages with Middle Jurassic-earliest Cretaceous global faunas, but displays a greater range of diversity than any of those faunas considered individually. Biogeographic analysis indicates that the Tendaguru sauropod fauna was assembled as a result of three main phenomena during the late Early and/or Middle Jurassic: (1) invasions from Euramerica (brachiosaurids, turiasaurs); (2) endemism in west Gondwana (dicraeosaurids, diplodocids); and (3) regional extinctions that restricted the ranges of once widespread groups (mamenchisaurids, the Janenschia lineage). Multiple dispersals across the Central Gondwanan Desert are required to explain the distributions ...

show abstract

Section: South Americamentioning

confidence: 99%

Taxonomic affinities of the putative titanosaurs from the Late Jurassic Tendaguru Formation of Tanzania: phylogenetic and biogeographic implications for eusauropod dinosaur evolution

Mannion

Upchurch

Schwarz

et al. 2019

Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society

168

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…However, contemporaneous deposits in this region also host the oldest known putative titanosaur, Ninjatitan [150]. Berriasian-Hauterivian deposits in Brazil have also yielded putative titanosaurs, including Triunfosaurus [151,152], although these have more recently been regarded as non-titanosaurian somphospondylans [17,131]. In Argentina, Hauterivian-Barremian deposits have produced remains of titanosauriforms [153,154], but dicraeosaurids dominate the Barremian deposits [155][156][157][158][159][160][161].…”

Section: The Berriasian-turonian Sauropod Body Fossil Recordmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sauropod dinosaur teeth from the lower Upper Cretaceous Winton Formation of Queensland, Australia and the global record of early titanosauriforms

et al. 2022

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The Upper Cretaceous Winton Formation of Queensland, Australia, has produced several partial sauropod skeletons, but cranial remains—including teeth—remain rare. Herein, we present the first description of sauropod teeth from this formation, based on specimens from three separate sites. An isolated tooth and a dentary fragment from the Diamantinasaurus matildae type locality are considered to be referable to that titanosaurian taxon. A single tooth from the D. matildae referred specimen site is similarly regarded as being part of that individual. Seventeen teeth from a new site that are morphologically uniform, and similar to the teeth from the two Diamantinasaurus sites, are assigned to Diamantinasauria. All sauropod teeth recovered from the Winton Formation to date are compressed-cone-chisel-shaped, have low slenderness index values (2.00–2.88), are lingually curved at their apices, mesiodistally convex on their lingual surfaces, and lack prominent carinae and denticles. They are markedly different from the chisel-like teeth of derived titanosaurs, more closely resembling the teeth of early branching members of the titanosauriform radiation. This provides further support for a ‘basal’ titanosaurian position for Diamantinasauria. Scanning electron microscope microwear analysis of the wear facets of several teeth reveals more scratches than pits, implying that diamantinasaurians were mid-height (1–10 m) feeders. With a view to assessing the spatio-temporal distribution of sauropod tooth morphotypes before and after deposition of the Winton Formation, we provide a comprehensive continent-by-continent review of the early titanosauriform global record (Early to early Late Cretaceous). This indicates that throughout the Early–early Late Cretaceous, sauropod faunas transitioned from being quite diverse at higher phylogenetic levels and encompassing a range of tooth morphologies at the start of the Berriasian, to faunas comprising solely titanosaurs with limited dental variability by the end-Turonian. Furthermore, this review highlights the different ways in which this transition unfolded on each continent, including the earliest records of titanosaurs with narrow-crowned teeth on each continent.

show abstract

“…Sauropods were an emblematic clade of long‐necked dinosaurs that colonized all continents during the Jurassic and Cretaceous (Curry Rogers and Forster 2001; Cerda, Paulina Carabajal, et al, 2012; Ghilardi et al, 2016; Wiersma‐Weyand et al, 2021; Rigby et al, 2021; Díez Díaz, 2022; Mo et al, 2023). Some lineages attained giant sizes, evolving into the largest animals to ever inhabit terrestrial landscapes (Carballido et al, 2017; González Riga et al, 2016; Lacovara et al, 2014; Otero et al, 2021).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The origin of an invasive air sac system in sauropodomorph dinosaurs

Aureliano

Ghilardi

Müller

et al. 2023

The Anatomical Record

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

One of the most remarkable features in sauropod dinosaurs relates to their pneumatized skeletons permeated by a bird‐like air sac system. Many studies described the late evolution and diversification of this trait in mid to late Mesozoic forms but few focused on the origin of the invasive respiratory diverticula in sauropodomorphs. Fortunately, it is possible to solve this thanks to the boom of new species described in the last decade as well as the broad accessibility of new technologies. Here we analyze the unaysaurid sauropodomorph Macrocollum itaquii from the Late Triassic (early Norian) of southern Brazil using micro‐computed tomography. We describe the chronologically oldest and phylogenetically earliest unambiguous evidence of an invasive air sac system in a dinosaur. Surprisingly, this species presented a unique pattern of pneumatization in non‐sauropod sauropodomorphs, with pneumatic foramina in posterior cervical and anterior dorsal vertebrae. This suggests that patterns of pneumatization were not cladistically consistent prior to the arrival of Jurassic eusauropods. Additionally, we describe the protocamerae tissue, a new type of pneumatic tissue with properties of both camellae and camerae. This reverts the previous hypothesis which stated that the skeletal pneumatization first evolved into camarae, and derived into delicate trabecular arrangements. This tissue is evidence of thin camellate‐like tissue developing into larger chambers. Finally, Macrocollum is an example of the gradual evolution of skeletal tissues responding to the fastly specializing Respiratory System of saurischian dinosaurs.

show abstract

A new titanosaur from the Lower Cretaceous of Brazil

Cited by 27 publications

References 30 publications

Taxonomic affinities of the putative titanosaurs from the Late Jurassic Tendaguru Formation of Tanzania: phylogenetic and biogeographic implications for eusauropod dinosaur evolution

Taxonomic affinities of the putative titanosaurs from the Late Jurassic Tendaguru Formation of Tanzania: phylogenetic and biogeographic implications for eusauropod dinosaur evolution

Sauropod dinosaur teeth from the lower Upper Cretaceous Winton Formation of Queensland, Australia and the global record of early titanosauriforms

The origin of an invasive air sac system in sauropodomorph dinosaurs

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About