<p class="HeadingRunIn"><strong>A new titanosaur sauropod from the Late Cretaceous of Brazil</strong></p>

Abstract

A new titanosaur dinosaur, Brasilotitan nemophagus gen. et sp. nov., is described from the Adamantina Formation (Turonian-Santonian, Bauru Basin). The specimen consists of a dentary, cervical and sacral vertebrae, one ungual and remains of the pelvic region, that were collected near Presidente Prudente city, São Paulo State. It shows a mandible with an 'L' shaped morphology, with the symphyseal region of the dentary slightly twisted medially, a feature never recorded before in a titanosaur. Brasilotitan nemophagus can be further separated from other members of this clade by: (1) the dorsal portion of the dentary symphyseal contact is broader anteroposteriorly than the ventral part; (2) the ventral portion of the cervical centrum is arched dorsally; (3) the presence of an anteriorly directed accessory prezygapophyseal articulation surface on the cervical vertebrae; (4) the intraprezygapophyseal laminae of the cervical vertebrae are 'V' shaped in dorsal view; and other features. Although the phylogenetic position of Brasilotitan nemophagus is difficult to establish, the new species is neither a basal nor a derived member of the Titanosauria and, based on the lower jaw morphology, appears to be closely related to Antarctosaurus wichmannianus and Bonitasaura salgadoi. This discovery enriches the titanosaur diversity of Brazil and further provides new anatomical information on the lower jaws of those herbivorous dinosaurs.

A New Giant Titanosauria (Dinosauria: Sauropoda) from the Late Cretaceous Bauru Group, Brazil

“…Both postzygapophyses are wide and laterally expanded, being laterally oriented, with the articular surface flat and inclining laterodorsally ( Fig 3A and 3B ). They differ from the postzygapophyses of Brasilotitan nemophagus [ 7 ], Trigonosaurus pricei [ 55 ], MCT 1487-R [ 56 ], and Uberabatitan riberoi [ 57 ], for having the articular facets placed more laterally. In Austroposeidon magnificus , as in Maxakalisaurus topai [ 58 ], the processes of the postzygapophyses display large articulation facets.…”

Baalsaurus mansillai gen. et sp. nov. a new titanosaurian sauropod (Late Cretaceous) from Neuquén, Patagonia, Argentina

“…Apesteguia (2010) stated that the character "middle and posterior region of the dentary edentulous and forming a sharp dorsal edge" is an autopomorphy of Bonitasaura. however, it has been recently described in Brasilotitan (Machado et al 2013). this character is not preserved in Baalsaurus; but for the shape of the preserved portion, it could have been present.…”

Cranial bones and atlas of titanosaurs (Dinosauria, Sauropoda) from Late Cretaceous (Bauru Group) of Uberaba, Minas Gerais State, Brazil

“…The specimens here described constitute the first cranial bones of titanosaurs from this region and unfortunately cannot be referred to any particular taxon rather than indeterminate lithostrotian titanosaurs. The skull anatomy of titanosaurs is largely based upon only a few, almost complete, skulls (e.g., Nemegtosaurus, Rapetosaurus, Tapuiasaurus;Nowinski, 1971;Curry Rogers andForster, 2001, 2004;Wilson, 2005;Zaher et al, 2011) and isolated and/or non-articulated remains (such as, mandibles, braincases, isolated bones) (e.g., Powell, 2003;Apesteguía, 2004;Martinelli and Forasiepi, 2004;Kellner et al, 2006;García et al, 2008;Filippi and Garrido, 2008;Filippi et al, 2011;Gallina and Apesteguía, 2011;Machado et al, 2013;Curry Rogers and Wilson, 2014), which in comparison with the total number of recognized species, this information is still quite limited.…”

“…With regard to the Brazilian fossil record, titanosaurs are particularly notorious integrant of post-Cenomanian Cretaceous continental assemblages of southeastern Brazil (e.g., Kellner and Azevedo, 1999;Kellner and Campos, 2000;Santucci andBertini, 2001, 2006;Kellner et al, 2005Kellner et al, , 2006Salgado and Carvalho, 2008;Bittencourt and Langer, 2011). The Bauru Group (Bauru Basin) includes the species Gondwanatitan faustoi (Adamantina Formation, São Paulo; Kellner and Azevedo, 1999), Adamantisaurus mezzalirai (Adamantina Formation, São Paulo; Santucci and Bertini, 2006), Aeolosaurus maximus (Adamantina Formation, São Paulo; Santucci and Arruda-Campos, 2011), Brasilotitan nemophagus (Adamantina Formation, São Paulo; Machado et al, 2013), Maxakalisaurus topai (Adamantina Formation, Minas Gerais; Kellner et al, 2006), Baurutitan britoi (Marília Formation, Minas Gerais; Kellner et al, 2005), Trigonosaurus pricei (Marília Formation, Minas Gerais; Campos et al, 2005), and Uberabatitan ribeiroi (Marília Formation, Minas Gerais; Salgado and Carvalho, 2008). Outside this basin, Gondwanatitan sp.…”

“…The holotype of Maxakalisaurus includes a fragment of right maxilla with teeth (Kellner et al, 2006), whereas the holotype of Brasilotitan includes a partial lower jaw with some teeth (Machado et al, 2013). Conversely, the holotype of Tapuiasaurus includes an almost complete skull and lower jaws, with teeth, which constitutes one of the most complete titanosaur skull ever found (Zaher et al, 2011); its full description will bring new information on cranial titanosaur morphology.…”