TY - JOUR
T1 - A new theropod dinosaur from the early cretaceous (Barremian) of Cabo Espichel, Portugal
T2 - Implications for spinosaurid evolution
AU - Mateus, Octávio
AU - Estraviz-López, Darío
N1 - Funding Information:
info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/FCT/6817 - DCRRNI ID/UIDB%2F04035%2F2020/PT#
This research was supported by PDLParque dos dinossauros da Lourinha (https://www.dinoparque.pt/pt/), through the "BARY-PT" grant financed by the Program "Bolsas Super Animais 3" in collaboration with Pingo Doce supermarkets.
Both O.M and D. E.L received funding from those sources. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 Mateus, Estraviz-López. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
PY - 2022/2/16
Y1 - 2022/2/16
N2 - Spinosaurids are some of the most enigmatic Mesozoic theropod dinosaurs due to their unique adaptations to aquatic environments and their relative scarcity. Their taxonomy has proven to be especially problematic. Recent discoveries from Western Europe in general, specifically Iberia, provide some of the best specimens for the understanding of their phylogeny, leading to the description of the spinosaurid Vallibonavenatrix cani and the recognition of the Iberian dinosaur Camarillasaurus cirugedae as one of them. Portuguese associated spinosaurid remains (ML1190) from the Papo Seco Formation (early Barremian) were previously assigned to Baryonyx walkeri but new material recovered in 2020 along with new phylogenetic analyses suggests a different phylogenetic placement, making their revision necessary. Here we show that these remains are not attributable to Baryonyx walkeri, but to a new genus and species, Iberospinus natarioi, gen. et sp. nov. The new taxon is characterized by the presence of a single Meckelian foramen in the Meckelian sulcus, a straight profile of the ventral surface of the dentary and a distal thickening of the acromion process of the pubis between other characters. Iberospinus natarioi is recovered as a sister taxon of the clade formed by Baryonyx and Suchomimus, and outside Spinosaurinae when Vallibonaventrix cani is excluded from the analysis. The description of this taxon reinforces Iberia as a hotspot for spinosaur biodiversity, with several endemic taxa for the region. As expected for the clade, the dentary displays a highly vascularized neurovascular network. The morphometric analysis of parts of the skeleton (pedal phalanx and caudal vertebrae, among others) shows an intermediate condition between basal tetanurans and spinosaurines.
AB - Spinosaurids are some of the most enigmatic Mesozoic theropod dinosaurs due to their unique adaptations to aquatic environments and their relative scarcity. Their taxonomy has proven to be especially problematic. Recent discoveries from Western Europe in general, specifically Iberia, provide some of the best specimens for the understanding of their phylogeny, leading to the description of the spinosaurid Vallibonavenatrix cani and the recognition of the Iberian dinosaur Camarillasaurus cirugedae as one of them. Portuguese associated spinosaurid remains (ML1190) from the Papo Seco Formation (early Barremian) were previously assigned to Baryonyx walkeri but new material recovered in 2020 along with new phylogenetic analyses suggests a different phylogenetic placement, making their revision necessary. Here we show that these remains are not attributable to Baryonyx walkeri, but to a new genus and species, Iberospinus natarioi, gen. et sp. nov. The new taxon is characterized by the presence of a single Meckelian foramen in the Meckelian sulcus, a straight profile of the ventral surface of the dentary and a distal thickening of the acromion process of the pubis between other characters. Iberospinus natarioi is recovered as a sister taxon of the clade formed by Baryonyx and Suchomimus, and outside Spinosaurinae when Vallibonaventrix cani is excluded from the analysis. The description of this taxon reinforces Iberia as a hotspot for spinosaur biodiversity, with several endemic taxa for the region. As expected for the clade, the dentary displays a highly vascularized neurovascular network. The morphometric analysis of parts of the skeleton (pedal phalanx and caudal vertebrae, among others) shows an intermediate condition between basal tetanurans and spinosaurines.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85124776824&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1371/journal.pone.0262614
DO - 10.1371/journal.pone.0262614
M3 - Article
C2 - 35171930
AN - SCOPUS:85124776824
SN - 1932-6203
VL - 17
JO - PLoS ONE
JF - PLoS ONE
IS - 2
M1 - e0262614
ER -