The axial skeleton of the titanosaur Lirainosaurus astibiae (Dinosauria: Sauropoda) from the latest Cretaceous of Spain |
| |
Institution: | 1. Institut Català de Paleontologia Miquel Crusafont, C/ Escola Industrial 23, 08201 Sabadell, Catalonia, Spain;2. Grupo Aragosaurus-IUCA, Universidad de Zaragoza, C/ Pedro Cerbuna 12, 50009 Zaragoza, Spain;3. Departament d''Estratigrafia, Paleontologia i Geociències Marines, Universitat de Barcelona, c/Martí i Franquès s/n, 08028 Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain;4. CNRS-UMR5276 LGL-TPE, Université Lyon 1 (Claude Bernard), OSU Lyon, 69622 Villeurbanne, France |
| |
Abstract: | Lirainosaurus astibiae was originally described by Sanz and collaborators in 1999 on the basis of a skull fragment, isolated teeth, several vertebrae (e.g. the holotypic anterior caudal vertebra) and appendicular bones from the Late Cretaceous of Laño (northern Spain). A review of all the vertebral remains, including new material (cervical, dorsal and caudal vertebrae, dorsal ribs, haemal arch), provides additional information about the axial skeleton of Lirainosaurus. A study of the laminae and fossae shows interesting variations in these structures in the axial series, especially concerning the prezygapophyses and diapophyses: e.g. the X-shaped morphology of the centroprezygapophyseal lamina only in the posterior dorsal vertebrae, and the division of the postzygodiapophyseal fossa into two fossae in the posterior dorsal vertebrae and the proximal caudal vertebrae. Two vertebral characters are here considered to be autapomorphic for L. astibiae: the presence of a lamina in the interzygapophyseal fossa in the most proximal caudal vertebrae (a postzygodiapophyseal lamina that separates the ventral postzygapophyseal centrodiapophyseal fossa and the dorsal postzygapophyseal spinodiapophyseal fossa), and the spinopostzygapophyseal structure not posteriorly projected in the posterior caudal vertebrae. The combination of characters present in the axial remains of Lirainosaurus astibiae supports the idea that it is a derived lithostrotian close to Saltasaurinae. |
| |
Keywords: | Titanosauria Vertebrae Laminae Fossae Upper Cretaceous Spain |
本文献已被 ScienceDirect 等数据库收录! |
|