Gideonmantellia

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Gideonmantellia
Temporal range: Early Cretaceous, Barremian
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Gideonmantellia.jpg
Scientific classification Red Pencil Icon.png
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Clade: Dinosauria
Order: Ornithischia
Clade: Ornithopoda
Genus: Gideonmantellia
Ruiz-Omeñaca et al., 2012
Type species
Gideonmantellia amosanjuanae
Ruiz-Omeñaca et al., 2012

Gideonmantellia is an extinct genus of basal ornithopod dinosaur known from the Early Cretaceous (Barremian stage) Camarillas Formation of Galve, Province of Teruel, Spain. It contains a single species, Gideonmantellia amosanjuanae. [1]

Contents

Discovery and naming

In 1982, amateur palaeontologist José María Herrero Marzo together with his son Jesús uncovered in a loam pit near Galve, the Poyales Barranco Canales site, the remains of a small euornithopod. In 1987 from this material by José Luis Sanz a left femur and ilium were described, which he referred to Hypsilophodon foxii. [2] In 1995 José Ignacio Ruiz-Omeñaca realised the find represented a separate taxon, [3] after he had further prepared the bones in 1994 and 1995. Ruiz-Omeñaca continued his studies from 1996, as part of his thesis. In 2001 he published a more detailed and complete description, [4] in 2004 reaffirming that a new species had been discovered. [5] In 2006, in his doctoral thesis he named this Gideonmantellia amosanjuanae; as a nomen ex dissertatione this name was as yet invalid though. [6]

In 2012, the type species Gideonmantellia amosanjuanae was validly named and redescribed by Ruiz-Omeñaca, José Ignacio Canudo, Gloria Cuenca-Bescós, Penélope Cruzado-Caballero, José Manuel Gasca and Miguel Moreno-Azanza. The generic name honours the first describer of Hypsilophodon, Gideon Mantell. The specific name honours the late palaeontologist Olga María Amo Sanjuán, who studied the Cretaceous Galve fauna. [1]

The holotype, MPG-PBCH, was found in a fluvial deposit of the Camarillas Formation, dating from the early Barremian. It consists of a partial articulated skeleton, lacking the skull, of a juvenile individual, including thirty-three vertebrae of the back, hip and tail, twenty-one fragments of the neural arches, six chevrons, rib fragments, ossified tendons, the left pelvis and both hindlimbs. The specimen is part of the collection of the Museo Paleontológico de Galve and displayed in the palaeontological hall of the townhall of Galve.

Phylogeny

The taxon was in 1995 and 2001 assigned to the Hypsilophodontidae. Today this is considered an unnatural paraphyletic group and Gideonmantellia was in 2012 placed in a relatively basal position in the group Ornithopoda. More recently, a 2017 study by Madzia et al. describing the genus Burianosaurus found Gideonmantellia to be the most basal ornithopod. The cladogram is reproduced below: [7]

Clypeodonta

Hypsilophodon

Cerapoda

Marginocephalia

Ornithopoda

Gideonmantellia

Elasmaria

Burianosaurus

Iguanodontia
Rhabdodontomorpha

Muttaburrasaurus

Rhabdodontidae

Tenontosaurus

Dryomorpha

Dryosauridae

Ankylopollexia

Camptosaurus

Iguanodon

Ouranosaurus

Related Research Articles

Ornithopoda Extinct suborder of dinosaurs

Ornithopods or members of the clade Ornithopoda are a group of ornithischian dinosaurs that started out as small, bipedal running grazers, and grew in size and numbers until they became one of the most successful groups of herbivores in the Cretaceous world, and dominated the North American landscape. Their major evolutionary advantage was the progressive development of a chewing apparatus that became the most sophisticated ever developed by a non-avian dinosaur, rivaling that of modern mammals such as the domestic cow. They reached their apex of diversity and ecological dominance in the hadrosaurids, before they were wiped out by the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event along with all other non-avian dinosaurs. Members are known from all seven continents, though they are generally rare in the Southern Hemisphere.

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

Aragosaurus was a genus of sauropod dinosaur from the Early Cretaceous period of Galve, province of Teruel, in the autonomous territory of Aragón, Spain. It was deposited in the Villar del Arzobispo Formation.

<i>Crusafontia</i> Extinct family of mammals

Crusafontia is an extinct genus of mammal from the Cretaceous Camarillas, El Castellar and La Huérguina Formations of Spain. The name of the animal was given in honour of the Spanish paleontologist Miquel Crusafont Pairó.

Dryosauridae Extinct family of reptiles

Dryosaurids were primitive iguanodonts. They are known from Middle Jurassic to Early Cretaceous rocks of Africa, Europe, and North America.

Galvesaurus, or Galveosaurus, is a genus of brachiosaurid sauropod dinosaur from the Late Jurassic period. Fossils of the only known species, G. herreroi, were found in Galve, Spain, hence its generic name, "Galve lizard". The specific name G. herreroi honours the discoverer, José María Herrero.

Turiasauria Extinct clade of dinosaurs

Turiasauria is an unranked clade of basal sauropod dinosaurs known from Middle Jurassic to Early Cretaceous deposits in Europe, North America, and Africa.

Galve, Teruel Place in Aragon, Spain

Galve is a municipality located in the province of Teruel, Aragon, Spain. According to the 2006 census (INE), the municipality has a population of 145 inhabitants. There is an important paleontological site.

Urbión Group

The Urbión Group is a geological group in Castile and León and La Rioja, Spain whose strata date back to the Early Cretaceous (late Hauterivian to late Barremian. The formations of the group comprise a sequence of brown limestones in a matrix of black silt, sandstones, claystones and conglomerates deposited under terrestrial conditions, in alluvial fan and fluvial environments.

Tera Group

The Tera Group is a geological group in the Cameros Basin and Sierra de la Demanda in Burgos, Spain. The group contains several formations whose strata date back to the Early Cretaceous. Dinosaur remains are among the fossils that have been recovered from the formation.

Camarillas Formation Geological formation in Teruel and La Rioja, Spain

The Camarillas Formation is a geological formation in the Teruel Province of Aragón, Spain whose strata date back to the Early Cretaceous. The sandstones, mudstones and conglomerates of the formation, that due to syn-sedimentary faulting varies greatly in thickness from 300 to 800 metres, were deposited in fluvial, deltaic and lacustrine environments.

Blesa Formation

The Blesa Formation is a geological formation in Teruel and La Rioja, Spain whose strata date back to the Barremian of the Early Cretaceous. Dinosaur remains as well as eggs are among the fossils that have been recovered from the formation. Along with the fragmentary anhanguerian pterosaur Iberodactylus. While the lower and upper parts of the formation were deposited in a continental setting, the middle portion of the formation is largely nearshore marine, with remains of plesiosaurs.

Enciso Group

The Enciso Group is a geological formation in La Rioja, Spain whose strata date back to the Early Cretaceous.

Galverpeton is an extinct genus of prehistoric salamander. It lived during the Barremian-Aptian stages in the Early Cretaceous, in what is now Western Europe. The type species, Galverpeton ibericum, was described by Estes and Sanchíz in 1982. It was found in the Castellar Formation, part of the Galve fossil assemblage. The fossil is in the Institut Paleontologic Miquel Crusafont, Sabadell.

Xert Formation

The Calizas y margas de Xert Formation or Xert Formation is an Early Cretaceous geologic formation of the Maestrazgo and Galve Basins in central-eastern Spain. The formation is described as a coastal claystone, with indications of a transgressive episode, marked by the transition from marsh facies, with little marine influence, to marine platform facies evidenced by abundant marine invertebrates.

Villar del Arzobispo Formation

The Villar del Arzobispo Formation is a Late Jurassic to possibly Early Cretaceous geologic formation in eastern Spain. It is equivalent in age to the Lourinhã Formation of Portugal. It was originally thought to date from the Late Tithonian-Middle Berriasian, but more recent work suggests a Kimmeridigan-Late Tithonian, possibly dating to the Early Berriasian in some areas. The Villar del Arzobispo Formation's age in the area of Riodeva in Spain has been dated based on stratigraphic correlations as middle-upper Tithonian, approximately 145-141 million years old. In the area of Galve, the formation potentially dates into the earliest Cretaceous.

Higuerueles Formation

The Higueruelas (Spanish) or Higuerueles Formation (Catalan) is a Tithonian geologic formation in the Teruel and Valencia provinces of Spain. Fossil sauropod tracks have been reported from the formation.

Iberica is an extinct genus of eobaatarid or a possible plagiaulacid multituberculate which existed in what is now Galve, Spain, during the early Cretaceous. It was first named by Ainara Badiola, José Ignacio Canudo and Gloria Cuenca-Bescós in 2011 and the type species is Iberica hahni.

Ageroolithus is an oogenus of dinosaur egg. It may have been laid by a theropod.

Laurasiformes Extinct clade of dinosaurs

Laurasiformes is an extinct clade of sauropod dinosaurs from the late Early Cretaceous of Europe, North and South America. It was defined in 2009 by the Spanish paleontologist Rafael Royo-Torres as a clade containing sauropods more closely related to Tastavinsaurus than to Saltasaurus. Genera purported to form part of this clade include Aragosaurus, Galvesaurus, Phuwiangosaurus, Venenosaurus, Cedarosaurus, Tehuelchesaurus, Sonorasaurus and Tastavinsaurus.

Guegoolithus is an oogenus of fossil egg from the early Cretaceous of Spain. It is classified in the oofamily Spheroolithidae, and was probably laid by an ornithopod dinosaur.

References

  1. 1 2 Ruiz-Omeñaca, J. I.; Canudo, J. I.; Cuenca-Bescós, G.; Cruzado-Caballero, P. L.; Gasca, J. M.; Moreno-Azanza, M. (2012). "A new basal ornithopod dinosaur from the Barremian of Galve, Spain". Comptes Rendus Palevol. 11 (6): 435–444. doi:10.1016/j.crpv.2012.06.001.
  2. Sanz, J. L., A. D. Buscalioni, M.-L. Casanovas & J.-V. Santafé, 1987, "Dinosaurios del Cretacico Inferior de Galve (Teruel, España)", Estudios Geologicos, Volumen Extra Galve-Tremp, Madrid, pp 45-64
  3. Ruiz-Omeñaca, J.I. & G. Cuenca-Bescos, 1995, "Un nuevo dinosaurio hipsilofodontido (Ornitischia) del Barremiense Inferior de Galve (Teruel)", XI Jornadas de Paleontologia, Tremp, pp. 153-157
  4. Ruiz-Omeñaca, J.I., 2001, "Dinosaurios hipsilofodóntidos (Ornithischia : Ornithopoda) en la Penénsula Iberica", In: Colectivo Arqueológico Paleontológico de Salas (Eds), Actas de las I Jornadas Internacionales sobre Paleontología de Dinosaurios y su Entorno, Salas de los Infantes pp. 175-266
  5. Ruiz-Omeñaca, J.I., J.I. Canudo & J.L. Barco, 2004, "Two new ornithopod dinosaurs from the Lower Cretaceous (Lower Barremian, Camarillas Formation) of Galve (Teruel, Spain)", In : Dostal, O., R. Gregorova & M. Ivanov (Eds), 2nd EAVP Meeting. July 19–24, 2004. Brno, Czech Republic. Abstracts of Papers and Posters with Program, Excursion Guidebook, p. 41
  6. Ruiz-Omeñaca, J.I., 2006, Restos directos de dinosaurios (Saurischia, Ornithischia) en el Barremiense (Cretácico Inferior) de la Cordillera Ibérica en Aragón (Teruel, España). Tesis Doctoral, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Zaragoza, España pp 584
  7. Madzia, Daniel; Boyd, Clint A.; Mazuch, Martin (2017). "A basal ornithopod dinosaur from the Cenomanian of the Czech Republic". Journal of Systematic Palaeontology. 16 (11): 967–979. doi:10.1080/14772019.2017.1371258.