Turiasauria

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''". 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.

Paleobiogeography

Turiasaurs were initially considered confined to Europe, with ''Turiasaurus'' from Spain and ''Zby'' from Portugal, and the tooth taxa ''Cardiodon'', ''Neosodon'', and ''Oplosaurus'' were referred to the clade, but additional members were found in North America and Africa. Heart-shaped teeth are considered a synapomorphy of the turiasauria. Recently a heart shaped tooth found from the Jaisalmer Formation confirmed the presence of this clade in India during the Middle Jurassic (Bathonian). Together with the ''Narindasaurus'' from the Bathonian of Madagascar, these are the oldest records of the group. It is therefore suggested that Turiasauria might have originated in Gondwana during the Middle Jurassic.

Remains of a very large species of turiasaur, not yet formally identified, have recently been unearthed from the earliest Cretaceous (Berriasian) aged Angeac-Charente bonebed in western France.Ronan Allain, Romain Vullo, Lee Rozada, Jérémy Anquetin, Renaud Bourgeais, et al.
Vertebrate paleobiodiversity of the Early Cretaceous (Berriasian) Angeac-Charente Lagerstätte (southwestern France): implications for continental faunal turnover at the J/K boundary
Geodiversitas, Museum National d’Histoire Naturelle Paris, In press. ffhal-03264773fAllain, Ronan, editor (2017): ''Dinosaures. Les géants du vignoble''. Angoulême: Eidola éditions, 248 p.

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

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 José Barco proposed that neither ''Galveosaurus'' nor ''Losillasaurus'' were turiasaurians. Later, a master thesis by Francisco Gascó (2009) and Royo-Torres et al. (2009) reaffirmed the validity of Turiasauria.

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
*

External links

Las huellas de Dinosaurios del Levante Ibérico

{{Taxonbar, from=Q3183209

Jurassic dinosaurs
Cretaceous dinosaurs
Dinosaurs of Europe
Eusauropoda