Galveosaurus herreroi, a new sauropod dinosaur from Villar del Arzobispo Formation (Tithonian-Berriasian) of Spain

Abstract

The Galve fossil sites (province of Teruel, Spain) have provided many Mesozoic vertebrate remains. Among these are isolated sauropod dinosaur bones, including one taxon reported only from this locality, Aragosaurus ischiaticus. Here, a new species is named from the Tithonian deposits of the Villar del Arzobispo Formation, of Galve (Teruel province, Spain), Galveosaurus herreroi gen. et sp. nov. It is represented by two humeri, one sternal plate, one ischium, one scapula, one cervical vertebra, one caudal dorsal vertebra, five caudal vertebrae, one Y-shaped chevron and some fragments of ribs. This new species is an eusauropod dinosaur that shows primitive features such as a slightly curved ischium with an unexpanded distal end, amphicoelous vertebrae, neural spine not bifid and an unforked chevron. It appears to be closer to cetiosaurid genera such as Barapasaurus or Cetiosaurus. This new basal sauropod lived at the same time as the eusauropod Lourinhasaurus alenquerensis from Portugal. These are both relict genera that survived in the Iberian Peninsula when more derived neosauropods, such as Losillasaurus or Dinheirosaurus, had taken over other parts of Iberia.

High European sauropod dinosaur diversity during Jurassic–Cretaceous transition in Riodeva (Teruel, Spain)

“…supported by the descriptions in studies by Casanovas et al. (2001), Sánchez‐Hernández (2005), Barco (2005), Barco et al. (2005) and Barco et al.…”

“…2006). Galveosaurus has been proposed as a possible Eusauropoda (Sánchez‐Hernández 2005; Canudo et al. 2006) and a possible Neosauropoda (Barco et al.…”

“…The ischium is characterized by a large acetabular opening and a robust iliac pedicel of the elliptic section. The sauropod material from RD‐13 has been compared to that of the Iberian sauropods: Lourinhasaurus alenquerensis Dantas, Sanz, Da Silva, Ortega, Santos, and Cachao, 1998, Aragosaurus ischiaticus , Dinheirosaurus lourinhanensis Bonaparte and Mateus, 1999, Galveosaurus herreroi Sánchez‐Hernández, 2005, and Lusotitan atalaiensis (Lapparent and Zbyszewski, 1957) in Antunes and Mateus (2003), being distinguishable from all of them (Royo‐Torres et al. 2007).…”

Turiasauria-like teeth from the Upper Jurassic of the Lusitanian Basin, Portugal

“…Galveosaurus has been considered in different phylogenetic positions along its history. It was considered as a cetiosaurid (Sánchez-Hernández 2005), a basal eusauropod , after it was proposed as a possible neosauropod , suggesting first its inclusion in Diplodocoidea (Barco 2005) and later in Macronaria? .…”

“…Their study improves the understanding of vertebrate faunas and their paleobiogeography in this period. Recent works suggest that Iberian sauropods are represented by endemic genera (Dantas et al 1998;Bonaparte and Mateus 1999;Casanovas et al 2001;Antunes and Mateus 2003;Sánchez-Hernández 2005;Royo-Torres et al 2006;Mateus et al 2014) closely related to groups well represented in other continents during the Upper Jurassic like brachiosaurids (Antunes and Mateus 2003;Mannion et al 2013), diplodocids (Bonaparte and Mateus 1999;Mannion et al 2012;Mocho, Royo-Torres, Malafaia, et al 2014) or camarasaurids ). The supposed close relationship of the Portuguese sauropods with taxa from the North American Upper Jurassic of the Morrison Formation (e.g.…”