A thick-skulled theropod (Dinosauria,Saurischia) from the Upper Cretaceous of Morocco with implications for carcharodontosaurid cranial evolution |
| |
| Institution: | 1. Museo Geologico ‘Giovanni Capellini’, Via Zamboni 63, I-40127 Bologna, Italy;2. Institut Catalá de Paleontologia ‘M. Crusafont’, C/ Escola Industrial 23, E-08201 Sabadell, Spain;3. Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, Università degli Studi di Firenze, Via La Pira 4, I-50121 Firenze, Italy;1. Museo Municipal Argentino Urquiza, Jujuy y Chaco s/n, 8319, Rincón de los Sauces, Neuquén, Argentina;2. CONICET, Instituto de Investigación en Paleobiología y Geología (CONICET-UNRN), Av. Roca 1242, 8332, General Roca, Río Negro, Argentina;3. Secretaría de Cultura de la Provincia de Río Negro, 8332, General Roca, Río Negro, Argentina;4. Museo Provincial de Ciencias Naturales Prof. Dr. Juan Olsacher, Dirección Provincial de Minería, Etcheluz y Ejército Argentino, 8340, Zapala, Neuquén, Argentina;1. School of GeoSciences, University of Edinburgh, Grant Institute, James Hutton Road, Edinburgh, EH9 3FE, United Kingdom;2. Department of Biology, Carthage College, 2001 Alford Park Drive, Kenosha, WI 53140, USA;3. New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science, 1801 Mountain Road, NW, Albuquerque, NM 87104, USA;4. Department of Geology, University of Maryland, 8000 Regents Drive, College Park, MD 20742, USA;5. Department of Paleobiology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC 20560, USA;6. School of Biological and Chemical Sciences, Queen Mary University of London, Mile End Road, London, E1 4NS, United Kingdom;7. Burpee Museum of Natural History, 737 North Main Street, Rockford, IL 60115, USA;1. Centro Paleontológico Lago Barreales (CePaLB), Ruta Provincial 51, km. 65, Cátedra de Introducción a la Paleontología, Universidad Nacional del Comahue, Neuquén, Argentina;2. Laboratorio de Anatomía Comparada y Evolución de los Vertebrados, Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales “Bernardino Rivadavia”, Av. Ángel Gallardo 470 (C1405DJR), Buenos Aires, Argentina;3. CONICET, Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas, Argentina;4. Fundación de Historia Natural “Félix de Azara”, Universidad Maimónides, Hidalgo 775 (C1405BDB), Buenos Aires, Argentina;5. School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, United Kingdom;6. Instituto de Investigación en Paleobiología y Geología, Universidad Nacional de Río Negro, Museo Carlos Ameghino, Belgrano 1700, Paraje Pichi Ruca (predio Marabunta), Cipolletti 8300, Río Negro, Argentina;1. Department of Geology, Faculty of Geology and Geophysics, University of Bucharest, 1 Nicolae Bălcescu Boulevard, 010041 Bucharest, Romania;2. School of GeoSciences, University of Edinburgh, Grant Institute, James Hutton Road, Edinburgh, EH9 3FE, United Kingdom;1. Department of Biology and Biochemistry and Milner Centre for Evolution, University of Bath, Bath BA2 7AY, United Kingdom;2. Departamento de Estratigrafía y Paleontología, Facultad de Ciencia y Tecnología, Universidad del País Vasco/Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea, Apartado 644, 48080, Bilbao, Spain;3. Département Histoire de la Terre, Muséum national d''Histoire naturelle, CR2P, CNRS-MNHN-UPMC, Sorbonne Universités, CP38, France;4. Office Chérifien des Phosphates (OCP Group S.A.), Morocco |
| |
| Abstract: | In this study, we erect Sauroniops pachytholus gen. et sp. nov., a large-bodied theropod dinosaur from the Cenomanian (Upper Cretaceous) of Morocco, on the basis of an almost complete frontal showing a unique combination of features including a naso–frontal suture extended along 40% of the frontal length, a thick dome in the anterolateral corner of the dorsal surface, a trapezoidal prefrontal facet that is restricted to the anterodorsal margin of the lateral surface of the frontal with no participation in the orbital roof and separated from the lacrimal facet by a narrow vertical lamina, a hypertrophied ‘D-shaped’ lacrimal facet that is four times the anterior depth of the postorbital facet, and a raised posteromedial margin of the dorsal surface describing a saddle with the anterolateral dome and confluent with a series of anteromedial rugosities. Phylogenetic analysis found robust support for placing Sauroniops among the basal carcharodontosaurids and related to Eocarcharia, showed that some of the unusual features of the new theropod were convergently acquired by abelisaurids, and revealed a mosaic pattern in the evolution of the carcharodontosaurid skull table. The frontals of Sauroniops and Carcharodontosaurus, both from the ‘Kem Kem compound assemblage’ of Morocco, show comparable size but differ in the extent of the naso–frontal articulation, the shape and disposition of the prefrontal and lacrimal articulations, the development of dorsal ornamentation and the morphology of the supratemporal fossa. Among carcharodontosaurids, the skull table developed unique configurations among each lineage and appears diagnostic at the species-level. The dome-like frontal in Sauroniops may indicate head-butting behaviour in this taxon or evolved for visual display. |
| |
| Keywords: | |
| 本文献已被 ScienceDirect 等数据库收录！ |
|
