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Projeto de investigação
The eggshell of stem Theropoda: crystallographic architecture and growth mechanisms, and their implication in theropod paleoecology and evolution.
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The tetrapod fossil record from the uppermost maastrichtian of the ibero-armorican island
Publication . Pérez-Pueyo, Manuel; Cruzado-Caballero, Penélope; Moreno-Azanza, Miguel; Vila, Bernat; Castanera, Diego; Gasca, José Manuel; Puértolas-Pascual, Eduardo; Bádenas, Beatriz; Canudo, José Ignacio; GeoBioTec - Geobiociências, Geoengenharias e Geotecnologias; MDPI - Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute
The South-Pyrenean Basin (northeastern Spain) has yielded a rich and diverse record of Upper Cretaceous (uppermost Campanian-uppermost Maastrichtian) vertebrate fossils, including the remains of some of the last European dinosaurs prior to the Cretaceous-Paleogene (K-Pg) extinction event. In this work, we update and characterize the vertebrate fossil record of the Arén Sandstone and Tremp formations in the Western Tremp Syncline, which is located in the Aragonese area of the Southern Pyrenees. The transitional and continental successions of these sedimentary units are dated to the late Maastrichtian, and exploration of their outcrops has led to the discovery of numerous fossil remains (bones, eggshells, and tracks) of dinosaurs, including hadrosauroids, sauropods, and theropods, along with other tetrapods such as crocodylomorphs, testudines, pterosaurs, squamates, and amphibians. In particular, this fossil record contains some of the youngest lambeosaurine hadrosaurids (Arenysaurus and Blasisaurus) and Mesozoic crocodylomorphs (Arenysuchus and Agaresuchus subjuniperus) in Europe, complementing the lower Maastrichtian fossil sites of the Eastern Tremp Syncline. In addition, faunal comparison with the fossil record of Haţeg island reveals the great change in the dinosaur assemblages resulting from the arrival of lambeosaurine hadrosaurids on the Ibero-Armorican island, whereas those on Haţeg remained stable. In the light of its paleontological richness, its stratigraphic continuity, and its calibration within the last few hundred thousand years of the Cretaceous, the Western Tremp Syncline is one of the best places in Europe to study the latest vertebrate assemblages of the European Archipelago before the end-Cretaceous mass extinction.
New information on ornithopod dinosaurs from the Late Jurassic of Portugal
Publication . Rotatori, Filippo Maria; Moreno-Azanza, Miguel; Mateus, Octávio; DCT - Departamento de Ciências da Terra; GeoBioTec - Geobiociências, Geoengenharias e Geotecnologias; Institute of Paleobiology, Polish Academy of Sciences
Ornithopods are one of the most speciose group of herbivorous dinosaurs, rising during the Jurassic and getting extinct at the Cretaceous Paleogene boundary. However, most of the attention has been given to derived forms (hadrosaurids). Herein, cranial and post-cranial ornithopod material from the Upper Jurassic Lourinhã Formation and housed at Museu da Lourinhã is described and discussed. Comparison and phylogenetic analyses has allowed the attribution of the material either to Dryosauridae or to Ankylopollexia. The large-sized taxa conservatively ascribed to Ankylopollexia, resemble more closely Early Cretaceous styracosternans than Late Jurassic taxa. Due to the lack of autapomorphic characters, it was not possible to assign the material to any of the two valid Jurassic ornithopod Portuguese species, Draconyx loureiroi and Eousdryosaurus nanohallucis, although phylogenetic analyses hint a close relationship between the Lourinhã dryosaurid material and E. nanohallucis. Principal Component Analysis plotting limb bones proportions indicates a not fully mature ontogenetic stage for the Portuguese specimens. Comparing the Portuguese ornithopod fauna with the one in Morrison Formation and Kimmeridge Clay Formation, it is remarked the key-role of Portugal to understand biogeographic patterns in the distribution of iguanodontians.
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Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia
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OE
Número da atribuição
SFRH/BPD/113130/2015