[dinosaur] Vallibonavenatrix, new spinosaurid from Early Cretaceous of Spain

Ben Creisler
[email protected]


A new paper:


Vallibonavenatrix cani, gen. et sp. nov.

Elisabete Malafaia, José Miguel Gasulla, Fernando Escaso, Iván Narváez,
José Luis Sanz & Francisco Ortega (2019)
A new spinosaurid theropod (Dinosauria: Megalosauroidea) from the late
Barremian of Vallibona, Spain: Implications for spinosaurid diversity in
the Early Cretaceous of the Iberian Peninsula.
Cretaceous Research (advance online publication)
doi: https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__doi.org_10.1016_j.cretres.2019.104221&d=DwIFaQ&c=clK7kQUTWtAVEOVIgvi0NU5BOUHhpN0H8p7CSfnc_gI&r=Ry_mO4IFaUmGof_Yl9MyZgecRCKHn5g4z1CYJgFW9SI&m=vfo72Mdd0vfxB8tiFZNLBIJeKFV_sbgxiJP2RpJ4SJs&s=Hi0Kh9HdPNPSWBuSDLMfrP4zEpFQo28_SJJ-44luRr0&e= 
https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.sciencedirect.com_science_article_pii_S0195667119301302&d=DwIFaQ&c=clK7kQUTWtAVEOVIgvi0NU5BOUHhpN0H8p7CSfnc_gI&r=Ry_mO4IFaUmGof_Yl9MyZgecRCKHn5g4z1CYJgFW9SI&m=vfo72Mdd0vfxB8tiFZNLBIJeKFV_sbgxiJP2RpJ4SJs&s=flja1Jr4KTu6mRcQbNCkcTMkSdotdKvBNDYQGd3cAPg&e= 


A new medium-sized theropod dinosaur from the Arcillas de Morella Formation
(upper Barremian) in Vallibona (Castellón, Spain) is described based on a
partial skeleton. Vallibonavenatrix cani, gen. et sp. nov., is diagnosed by
five autapomorphies: moderately high dorsal neural spines relative to the
centrum height, the presence of deep pleurocoelous fossae and pneumatic
foramina in the sacral vertebrae, a strongly pneumatic ilium with large
internal cameras, the presence of a broad and flat platform on the
ventromedial surface of the postacetabular blade of the ilium, and the
strong ventral torsion of the ischium diaphysis. Phylogenetic analysis
recovered Vallibonavenatrix cani as a spinosaurid megalosauroid and
revealed that the new Iberian form is more closely related to Gondwanan
spinosaurines, such as Spinosaurus, Irritator or Angaturama and the Asian
taxon Ichthyovenator than it is to its synchronic contemporary European
taxon Baryonyx walkeri. The Gondwanan or Asian affinities of
Vallibonavenatrix indicate a complex palaeobiogeographic pattern and may be
interpreted simultaneously as evidence for contact between Europe and North
Africa and between Europe and Asia before the Aptian. This specimen is
currently the most complete evidence of a spinosaurid theropod known in the
fossil record of the Iberian Peninsula.


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