Lirainosaurus Temporal range: Late Cretaceous, | |
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Paratype braincase | |
Scientific classification ![]() | |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Clade: | Dinosauria |
Clade: | Saurischia |
Clade: | † Sauropodomorpha |
Clade: | † Sauropoda |
Clade: | † Macronaria |
Clade: | † Titanosauria |
Clade: | † Lithostrotia |
Genus: | † Lirainosaurus Sanz et al., 1999 |
Species: | †L. astibiae |
Binomial name | |
†Lirainosaurus astibiae Sanz et al., 1999 | |
Lirainosaurus (meaning "slender lizard"; from the Basque lirain, meaning "slender", and the Greek sauros, meaning "lizard" [1] ) is a genus of titanosaur sauropod which lived in what is now Spain. The type species, Lirainosaurus astibiae, was described by Sanz, Powell, Le Loeuff, Martinez, and Pereda-Suberbiola in 1999. [2] It was a relatively small sauropod, measuring 4 metres (13 ft) long, possibly up to 6 metres (20 ft) long for the largest individuals, and weighed about 2–4 metric tons (2.2–4.4 short tons). [3]
This genus was based on a skull fragment, isolated teeth, several vertebrae including the holotype - an anterior caudal vertebra, and appendicular bones from the Late Cretaceous of Laño (northern Spain). New material from Laño, Spain described by Diaz et al. (2013), which includes cervical, dorsal and caudal vertebrae, dorsal ribs, and a haemal arch, has been assigned to Lirainosaurus. [4]
A diagnosis is a statement of the anatomical features of an organism (or group) that collectively distinguish it from all other organisms. Some, but not all, of the features in a diagnosis are also autapomorphies. An autapomorphy is a distinctive anatomical feature that is unique to a given organism. According to Diaz et al., Lirainosaurus can be distinguished by the presence of a lamina in the interzygapophyseal fossa of the most proximal caudal vertebrae; and the spinopostzygapophyseal structure not posteriorly projected in the posterior caudal vertebrae.
The combination of characters present in the new axial remains described, supports the placement of Lirainosaurus as a derived lithostrotian titanosaur closely related to the Saltasaurinae. The results of an unpublished SVPCA abstract published in 2016 narrow down the exact position of Lirainosaurus by placing it as closer to Alamosaurus and Opisthocoelicaudia than to Saltasaurus. [5] Later, Diez Diaz et al. (2018) erected Lirainosaurinae to accommodate Lirainosaurus as well as Ampelosaurus and Atsinganosaurus. [6]
Specimens have been found in the North-Pyrenean site of Bellevue, which is located at the base of the Marnes de la Maurine member of the Marnes Rouges Inférieures Formation. Marine biostratigraphic testing of the formation places its age somewhere between Late Campanian to Early Maastrichtian. Other contemporary dinosaurs in the Bellevue layer include the titanosaur sauropod Ampelosaurus , the rhabdodontid Rhabdodon and indeterminate ankylosaur and Dromaeosauridae elements. [7]
Other material ascribed to Lirainosaurus have been found in the Fox-Amphoux–Métisson locality, where unfortunately no magnetostratigraphic dating has been performed. However, the local stratigraphy presents the same succession of facies as in the Aix-en-Provence Basin, which is also in the Late Campanian to Early Maastrichtian age.
Titanosaurs were a diverse group of sauropod dinosaurs, including genera from all seven continents. The titanosaurs were the last surviving group of long-necked sauropods, with taxa still thriving at the time of the extinction event at the end of the Cretaceous. This group includes some of the largest land animals known to have ever existed, such as Patagotitan—estimated at 37 m (121 ft) long with a weight of 69 tonnes —and the comparably-sized Argentinosaurus and Puertasaurus from the same region.
Aeolosaurus is a genus of titanosaurian sauropod dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous Period of what is now South America. Like most sauropods, it would have been a quadrupedal herbivore with a long neck and tail. Aeolosaurus is well known for a titanosaur, as it is represented by the remains of several individuals belonging to at least two species. However, like most titanosaurs, no remains of the skull are known. The holotype of Aeolosaurus rionegrinus consists of a series of seven tail vertebrae, as well as parts of both forelimbs and the right hindlimb. It was discovered in the Angostura Colorada Formation in Argentina, which dates from the Campanian stage of the Late Cretaceous, about 83 to 74 million years ago. The species A. maximus was transferred over to the new genus Arrudatitan in 2021.
Hypselosaurus is a dubious genus of titanosaurian sauropod that lived in southern France during the Late Cretaceous, approximately 70 million years ago in the early Maastrichtian. Hypselosaurus was first described in 1846, but was not formally named until 1869, when Phillip Matheron named it under the binomial Hypselosaurus priscus. The holotype specimen includes a partial hindlimb and a pair of caudal vertebrae, and two eggshell fragments were found alongside these bones. Because of the proximity of these eggshells to the fossil remains, many later authors, including Matheron and Paul Gervais, have assigned several eggs from the same region of France all to Hypselosaurus, although the variation and differences between these eggs suggest that they do not all belong to the same taxon. Hypselosaurus has been found in the same formation as the dromaeosaurids Variraptor and Pyroraptor, the ornithopod Rhabdodon, and the ankylosaurian Rhodanosaurus, as well as indeterminate bones from other groups.
Ampelosaurus is a titanosaurian sauropod dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous Period of what is now France. Its type species is A. atacis, named by Le Loeuff in 1995. A possible unnamed species has given Ampelosaurus an age reaching to the latest Cretaceous, from about 70 to 66 million years ago.
Epachthosaurus was a genus of titanosaurian sauropod dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous. It was a basal lithostrotian titanosaur. Its fossils have been found in Central and Northern Patagonia in South America.
Neuquensaurus is a genus of saltasaurid sauropod dinosaur that lived in the Late Cretaceous, about 80 million years ago in Argentina in South America. Its fossils were recovered from outcrops of the Anacleto Formation around Cinco Saltos, near the Neuquén river from which its name is derived.
Argiles et Grès à Reptiles Formation also known as the Argiles Rutilantes Formation is an early Maastrichtian French geologic formation in the département of Var preserving the remains of several types of dinosaurs and other extinct organisms.
Lithostrotia is a clade of derived titanosaur sauropods that lived during the Early Cretaceous and Late Cretaceous. The group was defined by Upchurch et al. in 2004 as the most recent common ancestor of Malawisaurus and Saltasaurus and all the descendants of that ancestor. Lithostrotia is derived from the Ancient Greek lithostros, meaning "inlaid with stones", referring to the fact that many known lithostrotians are preserved with osteoderms. However, osteoderms are not a distinguishing feature of the group, as the two noted by Unchurch et al. include caudal vertebrae with strongly concave front faces (procoely), although the farthest vertebrae are not procoelous.
The Marnes d’Auzas Formation is a geological Formation in southwestern France whose strata date back to the Late Maastrichtian. It is about 100 metres thick and consists primarily of marls with some interbeds of sandstones. It corresponds to sediments whose depositional environment evolved from the paralic domain at the base of the formation, towards a more continental domain in its upper part. The Marnes d’Auzas Formation was deposited in the west coast of the former Ibero-Armorican Island, which included much of France and Spain.
The Villalba de la Sierra Formation is a Campanian to Maastrichtian geologic formation in Spain. Fossil dinosaur eggs have been reported from the formation, that comprises gypsiferous, grey, argillaceous mudstones and sandstones, deposited in a floodplain environment characterised by high seasonality and variability in water availability.
Atsinganosaurus is a genus of titanosaurian sauropod dinosaur which existed in what is now France during the Late Cretaceous. Well-preserved remains of Atsinganosaurus were collected from the Grès à Reptiles Formation of the Aix-en-Provence Basin. The type and only species is A. velauciensis.
Canardia is an extinct genus of lambeosaurine dinosaur known from the Late Cretaceous Marnes d'Auzas Formation of Haute-Garonne department, in Occitanie region, southwestern France. The type species Canardia garonnensis was first described and named by Albert Prieto-Márquez, Fabio M. Dalla Vecchia, Rodrigo Gaete and Àngel Galobart in 2013. It is only known from juvenile specimens. The name of the genus comes from “canard”, the French word for “duck”, an allusion to the fact that this animal belongs to the hadrosaurids which are also known as duck-billed dinosaurs. The specific epithet garonnensis refers to the Haute-Garonne department where this dinosaur has been found. Although universally recognized as a lambeosaurine, its precise position within them is debated. Some authors consider it as a close relative of the genus Aralosaurus from Central Asia with which it would form the tribe Aralosaurini, while others include it in a more derived clade, the Arenysaurini in which all lambeosaurines from Europe and North Africa are placed. Canardia was one of the last non-avian dinosaurs and lived between 67,5 and 66 my on the former Ibero-Armorican Island, which included much of France and Spain.
Eutitanosauria is a clade of titanosaurs, encompassing the more derived members of the group and characterized by the absence of the hyposphene-hypantrum articulation and possibly the presence of osteoderms. The group was first named by Sanz and colleagues in 1999, who used it to unite the group of Argyrosaurus, Lirainosaurus, Saltasaurus and the Peiropolis titanosaur. However, this definition was not used as it made the group equivalent to Saltasauridae, so Saldago redefined it in 2003 to be all titanosaurs closer to Saltasaurus than Epachthosaurus. This definition created Eutitanosauria as the sister group to Epachthosaurinae, but was problematic due to the variable nature of Epachthosaurus. Eutitanosauria was often broadly similar to Lithostrotia, and has often been unused or unlabelled on phylogenies. Sometimes Epachthosaurus would be more primitive than Malawisaurus, making Eutitanosauria more encompassing than Lithostrotia, or Epachthosaurus could nest close to Colossosauria and limit Eutitanosauria to a smaller group of saltasauroids. Because of the flexible nature of Epachthosaurus in basal titanosaur phylogeny, Carballido and colleagues redefined the group in 2022 to include the smallest clade of both Patagotitan, a colossosaur, and Saltasaurus, creating a node-stem clade with Colossosauria and Saltasauroidea, presenting the informal cladogram of stable titanosaur clades below.
Lohuecotitan is an extinct genus of titanosaurian sauropod dinosaur which lived during the Late Cretaceous in Spain. The only species known in the genus is Lohuecotitan pandafilandi, described and named in 2016.
Laño is a hamlet and concejo in Condado de Treviño within the Treviño enclave; which is administratively part of the Spanish province of Burgos, but which is completely surrounded by the territory of the Basque country province of Álava. It is best known for the fossils of extinct vertebrates dating from around 70 million years before present which have been found there.
Lirainosaurinae is a subfamily of lithostrotian titanosaur sauropods from the Late Cretaceous of France, Spain, and Romania.
Saltasaurini is a tribe of titanosaur sauropods known from the Late Cretaceous of Patagonia, Argentina. The clade was named in 2007 by Leonardo Salgado and José Bonaparte for the "least inclusive clade comprising Neuquensaurus and Saltasaurus", being equivalent to the use of Saltasaurinae in Salgado et al. (1997). Found only in the Campanian to Maastrichtian sediments of the Neuquén Basin, Salgado & Bonaparte (2007) decided a more restrictive clade was needed because of the expansion of Saltasaurinae as defined to include far more taxa than it originally encompassed. Saltasaurini includes the original core of Saltasaurinae: Neuquensaurus, Saltasaurus, Rocasaurus and Bonatitan, although some studies exclude Bonatitan from the clade.
Garrigatitan is a genus of titanosaurian dinosaur from the late Cretaceous Period of the Grès à Reptiles Formation in France. The genus contains a single species, Garrigatitan meridionalis.
Ibirania is a genus of dwarf saltasaurine titanosaur dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous São José do Rio Preto Formation of south-east Brazil. The type species is Ibirania parva. It is one of the smallest sauropods known to date, comparable in size to the titanosaur Magyarosaurus.
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