A titanosaurian sauropod with Gondwanan affinities in the latest Cretaceous of Europe
Vila, Bernat (Institut Català de Paleontologia Miquel Crusafont)
Sellés, Albert G. (Institut Català de Paleontologia Miquel Crusafont)
Moreno-Azanza, Miguel (Universidad de Zaragoza. Paleontología/Grupo Aragosaurus-IUCA)
Razzolini, Novella L. (Institut Català de Paleontologia Miquel Crusafont)
Gil-Delgado, Alejandro (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament de Geologia)
Canudo, José Ignacio (Universidad de Zaragoza. Paleontología/Grupo Aragosaurus-IUCA)
Galobart, Àngel (Institut Català de Paleontologia Miquel Crusafont)

Date:	2022
Abstract:	The origin of the last sauropod dinosaur communities in Europe and their evolution during the final 15 million years of the Cretaceous have become a complex phylogenetic and palaeobiogeographic puzzle characterized by the controversy on the alleged coexistence of immigrant, Gondwana-related taxa alongside relictual and insular clades. In this context, we describe a new titanosaurian sauropod dinosaur, Abditosaurus kuehnei gen. et sp. nov. , from the Late Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) Tremp Group of Catalonia (Spain). Phylogenetic analyses recover Abditosaurus separately from other European titanosaurs, within a clade of otherwise South American and African saltasaurines. The affinity of the new taxon with southern landmasses is reinforced by spatiotemporal co-occurrence with Gondwanan titanosaurian oospecies in southern Europe. The large size and the lack of osteohistological features potentially related to insular dwarfism or size reduction support the idea that Abditosaurus belongs to an immigrant lineage, unequivocally distinct from some of the island dwarfs of the European archipelago. The arrival of the Abditosaurus lineage to the Ibero-Armorican Island is hypothesized to have occurred during the earliest Maastrichtian (70. 6 Ma), probably as a result of a global and regional sea-level drop that reactivated ancient dispersal routes between Africa and Europe. The arrival of large-bodied titanosaurs to the European archipelago produced dramatic changes in its insular ecosystems and important evolutionary changes in its dinosaur faunas, especially with respect to the 'island rule' effect.
Grants:	Agencia Estatal de Investigación PID2020-119811GB-I00 Agència de Gestió d'Ajuts Universitaris i de Recerca CLT009/18/00067 Agencia Estatal de Investigación CGL2017-85038-P Agencia Estatal de Investigación CGL2016-77230-P Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación CGL2011-30069-C02-01
Note:	Altres ajuts: CERCA Programme/Generalitat de Catalunya
Note:	Altres ajuts: Fossil preparation was supported by the Servei de Museus-Departament de Cultura of the Generalitat de Catalunya (grants 2015/104328, CLT005/16/00008, CLT005/19/00045) and the Institut d'Estudis Ilerdencs (grant 201602412).
Rights:	Tots els drets reservats.
Language:	Anglès
Document:	Article ; recerca ; Versió acceptada per publicar
Subject:	Biogeography ; Palaeontology
Published in:	Nature ecology & evolution, Vol. 6, Issue 3 (March 2022) , p. 288-296, ISSN 2397-334X

DOI: 10.1038/s41559-021-01651-5

Postprint 36 p, 11.4 MB

Supplementary material 136 p, 6.5 MB

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Research literature > UAB research groups literature > Research Centres and Groups (research output) > Experimental sciences > Institut Català de Paleontologia Miquel Crusafont (ICP)
Articles > Research articles
Articles > Published articles