The last hadrosaurid dinosaurs of Europe: A new lambeosaurine from the Uppermost Cretaceous of Aren (Huesca, Spain)

Abstract

A new hadrosaurid dinosaur, Arenysaurus ardevoli gen. et sp. nov., from the Late Maastrichtian of Aren (Huesca, South-central Pyrenees) is described on the basis of a partial, articulated skull, mandibular remains and postcranial elements, including vertebrae, girdle and limb bones. Arenysaurus is characterized by having a very prominent frontal dome; nearly vertical prequadratic (squamosal) and jugal (postorbital) processes, and deltopectoral crest of the humerus oriented anteriorly. Moreover, it possesses a unique combination of characters: short frontal (length/width approximately 0.5); midline ridge of parietal at level of the postorbitalsquamosal bar; parietal excluded from the occiput; squamosal low above the cotyloid cavity. A phylogenetical analysis indicates that Arenysaurus is a rather basal member of Lambeosaurinae and the sister-taxon to Amurosaurus and the Corythosaurini-

An aberrant island-dwelling theropod dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous of Romania

“…3). This indicates that faunal interchange between the European archipelago and Asia persisted deep into the Cretaceous, an emerging view supported by recent discoveries of hadrosaurian and ceratopsian dinosaurs (29)(30)(31)(32)(33). Thus, the Haţeg Island (and probably the European archipelago, in general) was not solely an endemic refugium for primitive taxa, but its fauna was also shaped by dynamic interchange with the Laurasian mainland.…”

Diversity and faunal changes in the latest Cretaceous dinosaur communities of southwestern Europe

“…The authors described the "lower" assemblages as those composed by titanosaurids alongside rhabdodontids and nodosaurids whereas the "upper" assemblages were dominated by hadrosauroids. The hypothesis was supported by many subsequent findings (Buffetaut, 2005;Buffetaut et al, 1997;Casanovas, PeredaSuberbiola, Santaf e, & Weishampel, 1999;Casanovas et al, 1995;Laurent et al, 2002;L opez-Martínez et al, 1999L opez-Martínez et al, , 2001Vila et al, 2006) and two decades later, with the profusion of new discoveries, correlations of some of the most important localities and successions with the magnetostratigraphic time scale and advances in chronostratigraphy (Oms et al, 2007;Pereda-Suberbiola et al, 2009;Riera et al, 2009;Vila et al, 2012Vila et al, , 2013, we are able to refine the timing and the nature of this turnover (Fig. 2).…”

X Conferencias y Seminarios del Doctorado en Geología

“…Agaresuchus subjuniperus (Puértolas-Pascual et al, 2014); Arenysaurus (Pereda- Suberbiola et al, 2009), y estudio de nuevos materiales encontrados durante el desarrollo de la tesis.…”

“…Las facies continentales están representadas en la Formación Tremp (Mey et al, 1968;Rosell et al, 2001;Pujalte y Schmizt, 2005), la cual está conformada por una serie de depósitos continentales y transicionales con una gran variedad de ambientes de sedimentación (fluviales, aluviales, lacustres, estuarinos, lagoons, etc). Los estudios desarrollados hasta el momento (Pereda-Suberbiola et al, 2009;Blanco et al, 2015;Puértolas-Pascual et al, 2016Torices et al, 2015) indican una paleobiodiversidad significativa de vertebrados (incluyendo dinosaurios) en la parte inferior y media de la Formación Tremp. Sin embargo, en la parte superior (Upper Red Garumnian, URG) no se han encontrado dinosaurios, ni otras faunas de vertebrados continentales típicas del Cretácico .…”