Calvarius

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Calvarius
Temporal range: Late Cretaceous,
66.1–66  Ma
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Calvarius.png
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Clade: Dinosauria
Clade: Ornithischia
Clade: Ornithopoda
Clade: Styracosterna
Genus: Calvarius
Prieto-Márquez & Sellés, 2023
Species:
C. rapidus
Binomial name
Calvarius rapidus
Prieto-Márquez & Sellés, 2023

Calvarius (meaning "suffering") is a genus of styracosternan ornithopod from the Late Cretaceous Talarn Formation of Spain. The genus contains a single species, Calvarius rapidus, known from a single metatarsal. [1]

Contents

Discovery and naming

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Calvarius was discovered in northern Spain

The holotype specimen, MCD-8734, is a single fourth metatarsal discovered in 2019 at the Pallars Jussà locality of the Talarn Formation of the Tremp Group, located in Catalonia, Spain.

It was named as the holotype of a new genus of styracosternan dinosaur in 2023 by Albert Prieto-Márquez and Albert Sellés. The genus name, "Calvarius", is Latin for "suffering" (cf. Calvary ), and refers to the type locality, Serrat del Calvari, as well as the genus' proximity to the K-Pg extinction event. The specific name, "rapidus", means "rapid", and refers to its likely cursorial habits. [1]

Classification

Calvarius was in 2023 assigned by its describers to the Styracosterna. A more precise position could not be determined because a phylogenetic analysis only places it in a large polytomy of styracosternans. [1]

Paleobiology

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Life restoration of the bipedal Hypsilophodon , which Calvarius was convergently similar to
Life restoration of Iguanacolossus.jpg
Life restoration of Iguanacolossus , a more typical quadrupedal styracosternan

The highly modified metatarsal of Calvarius has no known equivalents among other ornithopods. It was convergently more similar to those of more basal ornithischians such as Hypsilophodon and Dysalotosaurus than to other styracosternans, and may have filled their niche on its island habitat. [1]

The Talarn Formation also produced the remains of the troodontid Tamarro insperatus . [2]

Related Research Articles

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Troodon is a former wastebasket taxon and a potentially dubious genus of relatively small, bird-like theropod dinosaurs definitively known from the Campanian age of the Late Cretaceous period. It includes at least one species, Troodon formosus, known from Montana. Discovered in October 1855, T. formosus was among the first dinosaurs found in North America, although it was thought to be a lizard until 1877. Several well-known troodontid specimens from the Dinosaur Park Formation in Alberta were once believed to be members of this genus. However, recent analyses in 2017 have found this genus to be undiagnostic and referred some of these specimens to the genus Stenonychosaurus some to the genus Latenivenatrix, and some to the genus Pectinodon. The genus name is Ancient Greek for "wounding tooth", referring to the teeth, which were different from those of most other theropods known at the time of their discovery. The teeth bear prominent, apically oriented serrations. These "wounding" serrations, however, are morphometrically more similar to those of herbivorous reptiles, and suggest a possibly omnivorous diet.

<i>Hadrosaurus</i> Hadrosaurid dinosaur genus from the Late Cretaceous

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<i>Pararhabdodon</i> Extinct genus of dinosaurs

Pararhabdodon is a genus of tsintaosaurin hadrosaurid dinosaur, from the Maastrichtian-age Upper Cretaceous Tremp Group of Spain. The first remains were discovered from the Sant Romà d’Abella fossil locality and assigned to the genus Rhabdodon, and later named as the distinct species Pararhabdodon isonensis in 1993. Known material includes assorted postcranial remains, mostly vertebrae, as well as maxillae from the skull. Specimens from other sites, including remains from France, a maxilla previously considered the distinct taxon Koutalisaurus kohlerorum, an additional maxilla from another locality, the material assigned to the genera Blasisaurus and Arenysaurus, and the extensive Basturs Poble bonebed have been considered at different times to belong to the species, but all of these assignments have more recently been questioned. It was one of the last non-avian dinosaurs known from the fossil record that went extinct during the Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction event.

<i>Koutalisaurus</i> Extinct genus of dinosaurs

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<i>Iguanacolossus</i> Extinct genus of dinosaurs

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<i>Canardia</i> Extinct genus of dinosaurs

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tsintaosaurini</span> Extinct tribe of dinosaurs

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Basturs Poble bonebed</span>

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<i>Tamarro</i> Genus of troodontid dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous period

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Prieto-Márquez, A.; Sellés, A. (2023). "Evolutionary convergence in a small cursorial styracosternan ornithopod dinosaur from western Europe". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. e2210632. doi: 10.1080/02724634.2023.2210632 .
  2. Sellés, A. G.; Vila, B.; Brusatte, S. L.; Currie, P. J.; Galobart, A. (2021). "A fast-growing basal troodontid (Dinosauria: Theropoda) from the latest Cretaceous of Europe". Scientific Reports. 11: 4855. doi: 10.1038/s41598-021-83745-5 .