Paleontologists have actually discovered the skeletal remains from a formerly unidentified types of lithostrotian titanosaur at the fossil website of Lo Hueco, Cuenca, Spain.

Qunkasaura pintiquiniestra resided in Europe around 75 million years back throughout the Cretaceous duration.

The ancient animal belonged to Saltasauridae, a superfamily of titanosaurian dinosaurs within the clade Lithostrotia.

“Titanosauria was an effective group of sauropod dinosaurs that experienced a crucial occasion of diversity in the Early Cretaceous, with the facility of numerous unique family trees consisting of Lithostrotia,” stated University of Lisbon’s Dr. Pedro Mocho and his coworkers.

“Lithostrotians controlled the Late Cretaceous sauropod animals and were represented by 2 primary groups, the saltasauroids, and colossosaurs, consisting of from little types to the biggest recognized land animals.”

“They made it through up until the Cretaceous-Paleogene limit, when they ended up being extinct as all other non-avian dinosaurs.”

The paleontologists discovered an articulated and partly associated skeleton of Qunkasaura pintiquiniestra at the Lo Hueco website of the Villalba de la Sierra Formation in Cuenca, Spain.

Qunkasaura pintiquiniestra stands apart for being among the most total sauropod skeletons discovered in Europe, consisting of cervical, dorsal and caudal vertebrae, part of the pelvic girdle and aspects of the limbs,” they stated.

“Their distinct morphology, specifically in the tail vertebrae, uses brand-new insights into the non-avian dinosaurs of the Iberian Peninsula, a traditionally badly comprehended group.”

The discovery exposes, for the very first time, the existence of a minimum of 2 unique saltasauroid family trees in the Iberian area.

“One of these groups, called Lirainosaurinae, is reasonably popular in the Iberian area and is defined by little and medium-sized types, which developed in an island community,” Dr. Mocho stated.

“In other words, Europe was a big island chain comprised of a number of islands throughout the Late Cretaceous.”

“However, Qunkasaura pintiquiniestra comes from another group of sauropods, represented in the Iberian Peninsula by medium-large types around 73 million years back.”

“This recommends to us that this family tree got here in the Iberian Peninsula much behind other groups of dinosaurs.”

“We recognize Qunkasaura pintiquiniestra as an agent of the opisthocoelicaudine saltasaurids, a group present in the northern hemisphere (Laurasia),” the scientists stated.

“On the other hand, a lot of Late Cretaceous sauropods from southwestern Europe, consisting of Lohuecotitan pandafilandiformerly explained from Lo Hueco, come from Lirainosaurinae, a group of sauropods obviously unique to the European continent.”

“Our research study recommends that Lo Hueco is the only location where the coexistence of both groups is understood and proposes a brand-new group of titanosaurs called Lohuecosauria, that includes agents of both family trees.”

“Lohuecosaurs might have stemmed on the southern continents (Gondwana) before distributing internationally.”

The findings appear in the journal Communications Biology

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P. Mocho et al2024. A Spanish saltasauroid titanosaur exposes Europe as a melting pot of endemic and immigrant sauropods in the Late Cretaceous. Commun Biol 7, 1016; doi: 10.1038/ s42003-024-06653-0