Felipe L. Pinheiro (2016)
A fragmentary dinosaur femur and the presence of Neotheropoda in the upper Triassic of Brazil.
Revista Brasileira de Paleontologia 19(2): 211-216, Maio/Agosto 2016
doi: 10.4072/rbp.2016.2.05
Although already widespread in Laurasia, the Gondwanan Norian record of Neotheropoda (Dinosauria) is scarce, with a single taxon reported for the Los Colorados Formation of Argentina. Here the distal end of a dinosaur left femur from the Riograndia Assemblage Zone of Brazil (Norian, Candelária Sequence, Paraná Basin) is described and compared. Although fragmentary, the specimen has a morphology compatible with its attribution to Neotheropoda, being this the first record of the clade from the Brazilian Triassic. The new specimen supports a cosmopolitan distribution of Neotheropoda during the Late Triassic and highlights the potential for the discovery of additional dinosaur clades in Norian rocks of southern Brazil.