A new Spanish sauropod has been described.
It comes from the "Arenas y arcillas del Collado Formation", previously
regarded as Lower Cretaceous "Weald facies" and now assigned to the
Jurassic-Cretaceous boundary "Purbeck facies".
It is related to the group formed by (Barosaurus + Diplodocus) +
Dicraeosaurus.
Other dinosaurs described from the Collado Formation are two spatulated
teeth of Sauropoda indet., a tooth of Theropoda indet., and postcraneal
remains of the stegosaur _Dacentrurus armatus_.
Ther ref is:
Casanovas, M. L., Santafe, J. V. & Sanz, J. L. 2001. _Losillasaurus
giganteus_, un nuevo sauropodo del transito Jurasico-Cretacico de la cuenca
de "Los Serranos" (Valencia, España). Paleontologia i Evolucio, 32-33:
99-122.
The paper is in spanish, and the abstract provided by authors is the
following:
"The Late Jurassic-Early Cretaceous site of La Cañada (Barranco de
Escaiz, Losilla. Aras de Alpuente, valencia) has delivered several pieces
of a new Sauropod Dinosaur called _Losillasaurus giganteus_.The material
includes a cranial fragment, several vertebral fragments and complete
cervical, dorsal, sacrae, and caudal vertebrae; appendicular skeleton
(humerus, ulna, radius, metacarpal); sternal plates; and pelvic elements
(ilium, ischium and pubis).
The diagnosis of _Losillasaurus giganteus_ is based on two
autapomorphies and singular combination of synapomorphies. The two
autapomorphies are: neural spine of the anterior caudal vertebrae with a
lateral enarded outline in dorsal view (cutlass-like shape). Moreover, the
value of the relationships between the anterior-posterior dimension of the
neuroapophyseal base with respect to the total highness is around 0,5"
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Jose Ignacio Ruiz-Omeñaca
Area de Paleontologia
Departamento de Ciencias de la Tierra
Universidad de Zaragoza
50009 ZARAGOZA
ESPAÑA - Spain
Phone: 34-76-761000 ext. 3160, 34-76-761079
Fax: 34-76-761088
E-mail: jigruiz@posta.unizar.es
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