Eddie Gonzales Jr. – AncientPages.com – A brand new research stories a brand new species of sauropod dinosaur that lived in Cuenca, Spain, 75 million years in the past: Qunkasaura pintiquiniestra.
Common view of the Lo Hueco web site through the excavation of Qunkasaura in 2007. Credit score: GBE-UNED
The greater than 12,000 fossils collected from 2007 onward throughout works to put in the Madrid-Levante high-speed prepare (AVE) tracks revealed this residue, giving rise to one of the vital related collections of fossil vertebrates from the Higher Cretaceous of Europe.
The research was led by Portuguese paleontologist Pedro Mocho, from the Instituto Dom Luiz of the College of Sciences of the College of Lisbon (CIÊNCIAS), has simply been revealed in Communications Biology.
The gathering has been studied repeatedly due to nationwide initiatives and the Junta de Comunidades de Castilla-La Mancha, which has made it attainable to considerably improve our understanding of the ecosystems of southwestern Europe through the Late Cretaceous and likewise determine a number of new species for science.
Reconstruction of the life type of Qunkasaura pintiquiniestra.. Credit score: José Antonio Peñas Artero
“The research of this specimen allowed us to determine for the primary time the presence of two distinct lineages of saltasauroids in the identical fossil locality. One among these teams, referred to as Lirainosaurinae, is comparatively recognized within the Iberian area and is characterised by small and medium-sized species, which developed in an island ecosystem.
“In different phrases, Europe was an enormous archipelago made up of a number of islands through the Late Cretaceous. Nonetheless, Qunkasaura belongs to a different group of sauropods, represented within the Iberian Peninsula by medium-large species 73 million years in the past.
Restoration means of a part of the stays of Qunkasaura. Credit score: GBE-UNED
“This means to us that this lineage arrived within the Iberian Peninsula a lot later than different teams of dinosaurs,” explains Mocho.
Some of the related options of the Lo Hueco fossil file is the abundance of enormous partial skeletons of sauropod dinosaurs, that are uncommon in the remainder of Europe.
Qunkasaura pintiquiniestra stands out for being one of the vital full sauropod skeletons present in Europe, together with cervical, dorsal and caudal vertebrae, a part of the pelvic girdle and parts of the limbs. Their distinctive morphology, particularly within the tail vertebrae, provides new insights into the non-avian dinosaurs of the Iberian Peninsula, a traditionally poorly understood group.
Bone stays of Qunkasaura pintiquiniestra, on show within the Paleontological Museum of Castilla-La Mancha. Credit score: GBE-UNED
The research identifies Qunkasaura as a consultant of the opisthocoelicaudine saltasaurids, a bunch current within the northern hemisphere (Laurasia).
However, most Late Cretaceous sauropods from southwestern Europe, together with Lohuecotitan pandafilandi, beforehand described from Lo Hueco, belong to the group Lirainosaurinae, a bunch of sauropods apparently unique to the European continent.
3D reconstruction of the Qunkasaura skeleton. Credit score: GBE-UNED
This research means that Lo Hueco is the one place the place the coexistence of each teams is thought and proposes a brand new group of titanosaurs referred to as Lohuecosauria, which incorporates representatives of each lineages. Lohuecosaurs could have originated on the southern continents (Gondwana) earlier than dispersing globally.
The identify Qunkasaura pintiquiniestra is made up of a number of geographic and cultural references near the Lo Hueco web site. “Qunka” refers back to the oldest etymology of the toponym from the Cuenca and Fuentes space, “Saura” alludes to the female of the Latin saurus (lizard), but additionally pays homage to the painter Antonio Saura, and “pintiquiniestra” refers back to the big “Queen Pintiquiniestra,” character from a novel talked about in “Don Quijote de la Mancha’ by Cervantes.
Relationships of Qunkasaura with a few of the most necessary sauropods from the Late Cretaceous and reconstruction of the life type of Qunkasaura pintiquiniestra.. Credit score: José Antonio Peñas Artero, GBE-UNED, FCUL
“Luckily, the Lo Hueco deposit additionally preserves a number of skeletons of sauropod dinosaurs to be decided, which can correspond to new species and which can assist us perceive how these animals developed,” concludes Mocho.
The research is a part of the analysis performed by the Evolutionary Biology Group at UNED on ecosystems with dinosaurs in central Iberian Peninsula. A part of the skeleton of Qunkasaura is already on show within the Paleontological Museum of Castilla-La Mancha in Cuenca (Spain).
Paper:
Mocho, P, A Spanish saltasauroid titanosaur reveals Europe as a melting pot of endemic and immigrant sauropods within the Late Cretaceous, Communications Biology (2024). DOI: 10.1038/s42003-024-06653-0
Written by Eddie Gonzales Jr. – AncientPages.com – MessageToEagle.com Employees Author
