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| Vallibonavenatrix cani
Malafaia, Gasulla, Escaso, Narváez, Sanz & Ortega, 2019
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Abstract
A new medium-sized theropod dinosaur from the Arcillas de Morella Formation (upper Barremian) in Vallibona (Castellón, Spain) is described based on a partial skeleton. Vallibonavenatrix cani, gen. et sp. nov., is diagnosed by five autapomorphies: moderately high dorsal neural spines relative to the centrum height, the presence of deep pleurocoelous fossae and pneumatic foramina in the sacral vertebrae, a strongly pneumatic ilium with large internal cameras, the presence of a broad and flat platform on the ventromedial surface of the postacetabular blade of the ilium, and the strong ventral torsion of the ischium diaphysis. Phylogenetic analysis recovered Vallibonavenatrix cani as a spinosaurid megalosauroid and revealed that the new Iberian form is more closely related to Gondwanan spinosaurines, such as Spinosaurus, Irritator or Angaturama and the Asian taxon Ichthyovenator than it is to its synchronic contemporary European taxon Baryonyx walkeri. The Gondwanan or Asian affinities of Vallibonavenatrix indicate a complex palaeobiogeographic pattern and may be interpreted simultaneously as evidence for contact between Europe and North Africa and between Europe and Asia before the Aptian. This specimen is currently the most complete evidence of a spinosaurid theropod known in the fossil record of the Iberian Peninsula.
Keywords: Vallibonavenatrix, Spinosauridae, Early Cretaceous, Iberian Peninsula, Arcillas de Morella Formation
Dinosauria Owen, 1842.
Theropoda Marsh, 1881.
Megalosauroidea (Fitzinger, 1843)
Spinosauridae Stromer, 1915.
Vallibonavenatrix gen. nov.
Etymology. Vallibona-, as the town where the holotype specimen was found, and -venatrix, as the Latin for huntress.
Vallibonavenatrix cani sp. nov.
Etymology. The species epithet honours Juan Cano Forner, who found the holotype specimen.
Type locality and type horizon. The specimen was collected in the locality of Santa Águeda, near the town of Vallibona (Castellón province, Spain). The sediments that contained the fossils belong to the Arcillas de Morella Fm., late Barremian in age (Bover-Arnal et al., 2016).
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Elisabete Malafaia, José Miguel Gasulla, Fernando Escaso, Iván Narváez, José Luis Sanz and Francisco Ortega. 2019. A New Spinosaurid Theropod (Dinosauria: Megalosauroidea) from the late Barremian of Vallibona, Spain: Implications for Spinosaurid Diversity in the Early Cretaceous of the Iberian Peninsula. Cretaceous Research. In Press. DOI: 10.1016/j.cretres.2019.104221
A new medium-sized theropod dinosaur from the Arcillas de Morella Formation (upper Barremian) in Vallibona (Castellón, Spain) is described based on a partial skeleton. Vallibonavenatrix cani, gen. et sp. nov., is diagnosed by five autapomorphies: moderately high dorsal neural spines relative to the centrum height, the presence of deep pleurocoelous fossae and pneumatic foramina in the sacral vertebrae, a strongly pneumatic ilium with large internal cameras, the presence of a broad and flat platform on the ventromedial surface of the postacetabular blade of the ilium, and the strong ventral torsion of the ischium diaphysis. Phylogenetic analysis recovered Vallibonavenatrix cani as a spinosaurid megalosauroid and revealed that the new Iberian form is more closely related to Gondwanan spinosaurines, such as Spinosaurus, Irritator or Angaturama and the Asian taxon Ichthyovenator than it is to its synchronic contemporary European taxon Baryonyx walkeri. The Gondwanan or Asian affinities of Vallibonavenatrix indicate a complex palaeobiogeographic pattern and may be interpreted simultaneously as evidence for contact between Europe and North Africa and between Europe and Asia before the Aptian. This specimen is currently the most complete evidence of a spinosaurid theropod known in the fossil record of the Iberian Peninsula.
Keywords: Vallibonavenatrix, Spinosauridae, Early Cretaceous, Iberian Peninsula, Arcillas de Morella Formation
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| Figure 3. Mid and posterior dorsal vertebrae of Vallibonavenatrix in anterior (A, E, I), left lateral (B, F, J), posterior (C, G, K), and ventral (D, H, L) views.
Abbreviations: asl, accessory lamina; cdf, centrodiapophyseal fossa; hy, hyposphene; nc, neural canal; ncs, neurocentral suture; ns, neural spine; pcd, pleurocentral depression; pcdl, posterior centrodiapophyseal lamina; pocdf, postzygapophyseal centrodiapophyseal fossa; poz, postzygapophysis; pp, parapophysis; ppdl, paradiapophyseal lamina; prcdf, prezygapophyseal centrodiapophyseal fossa; prdl, prezygodiapophyseal lamina; prz, prezygapophysis; spof, spinopostzygapophyseal fossa; spol, spinopostzygapophyseal lamina; tp, transverse process; vg, ventral groove; vr, ventral ridge.
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| Figure 1. Geographic location of the locality of Vallibona (Castellón province, Spain) where the material of the holotype of Vallibonavenatrix was found. |
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Reconstruction: José Antonio Peñas
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Systematic Paleontology
Dinosauria Owen, 1842.
Theropoda Marsh, 1881.
Megalosauroidea (Fitzinger, 1843)
Spinosauridae Stromer, 1915.
Vallibonavenatrix gen. nov.
Etymology. Vallibona-, as the town where the holotype specimen was found, and -venatrix, as the Latin for huntress.
Vallibonavenatrix cani sp. nov.
Etymology. The species epithet honours Juan Cano Forner, who found the holotype specimen.
Type locality and type horizon. The specimen was collected in the locality of Santa Águeda, near the town of Vallibona (Castellón province, Spain). The sediments that contained the fossils belong to the Arcillas de Morella Fm., late Barremian in age (Bover-Arnal et al., 2016).
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| Figure 11. Time-calibrated reduced consensus tree from phylogenetic analysis after pruning Xuanhanosaurus. Capitalized terminal clades have been summarized, but are fully shown in a version of this tree in Table 5 of the Supplementary material. Note that Vallibonavenatrix is nested within “Spinosaurinae”, which is highlighted by a violet box. |
Elisabete Malafaia, José Miguel Gasulla, Fernando Escaso, Iván Narváez, José Luis Sanz and Francisco Ortega. 2019. A New Spinosaurid Theropod (Dinosauria: Megalosauroidea) from the late Barremian of Vallibona, Spain: Implications for Spinosaurid Diversity in the Early Cretaceous of the Iberian Peninsula. Cretaceous Research. In Press. DOI: 10.1016/j.cretres.2019.104221
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