Turiasauria

Turiasaurs Temporal range: Middle Jurassic - Early Cretaceous, 168–125 Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
Amanzia skeletal reconstruction, showing known material in blue
Moabosaurus, with an incorrect Camarasaurus like head
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Clade:	Dinosauria
Clade:	Saurischia
Clade:	†Sauropodomorpha
Clade:	†Sauropoda
Clade:	†Eusauropoda
Clade:	†Turiasauria Royo-Torres et al., 2006
Genera[2]
†Amanzia †Cardiodon †Losillasaurus †Mierasaurus †Moabosaurus †Narindasaurus †Neosodon †Oplosaurus †Tendaguria[1] †Turiasaurus †Zby

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

Description[]

Turiasauria was originally erected by Royo-Torres et al. (2006) to include Turiasaurus, Galveosaurus and Losillasaurus, all of which hail from the Villar del Arzobispo Formation (Tithonian-Berriasian) of Spain. Turiasuria was defined by the authors as "all Eusauropoda closer to Turiasaurus riodevensis than to Saltasaurus loricatus".^[3] Cladistic analysis (Royo-Torres et al., 2006; 1927) of 309 characters and 33 taxa suggests that the turiasaurians lie outside the Neosauropoda and form a monophyletic group. The clade is diagnosed by the presence of vertical neural spines, posterior centroparapohyseal laminae on the dorsal vertebrae, the absence of pre- and postspinal laminae on the dorsal vertebrae, the absence of a scapular acromial crest, the presence of a prominent humeral deltopectoral crest, medial deflection of the proximal end of the humerus, and a distinct vertical ridge on the caudal side of the distal half of the ulna.

Mierasaurus skull

Paleobiogeography[]

Turiasaurs were initially considered confined to Europe, with Turiasaurus from Spain and Zby from Portugal,^[4] and the tooth taxa Cardiodon, Neosodon, and Oplosaurus were referred to the clade, but additional members were found in North America and Africa.

Remains of a very large species of turiasaur, not yet formally identified, have recently been unearthed from the earliest Creataceous (Berriasian) aged Angeac-Charente bonebed in western France.^[5][6]

Indeterminate turiasaur material, consisting of a single vertebra, has been described from an unknown locality in the Early Cretaceous Wealden Group of England.^[7]

Classification[]

Turiasaurus demonstrates that the evolution of enormous body size was not restricted to neosauropod clades such as the Diplodocidae and Titanosauria, but developed independently at least once in a lineage of more basal sauropods, the turiasaurians.

A 2009 thesis published by proposed that neither Galveosaurus nor Losillasaurus were turiasaurians.^[8] Later, a master thesis by (2009) and Royo-Torres et al. (2009) reaffirmed the validity of Turiasauria.^[9][10]

References[]

Sources[]

• Barco, J. L., Canudo, J. L., Cuenca-Bescós, G. & Ruíz-Omeñaca, J. I., (2005): Un nuevo dinosaurio saurópodo, Galvesaurus herreroi gen. nov., sp. nov., del tránsito Jurásico-Cretácico en Galve (Teruel, NE de España). Naturaleza Aragonesa: Vol. 15, pp 4–17
• Casanovas, M. L.; Santafe, J. V.; Sanz, J. L. (2001). "Losillasaurus giganteus, un nuevo saurópodo del tránsito Jurásico-Cretácico de la Cuenca de "Los Serranos" (Valencia, España)". Paleontologia I Evolució (32–33): 99–122.

External links[]

• Las huellas de Dinosaurios del Levante Ibérico