 |
| Venetoraptor gassenae Müller, Ezcurra, Garcia, Agnolín, Stocker, Novas, Soares, Kellner & Nesbitt, 2023 |
Abstract
Dinosaurs and pterosaurs have remarkable diversity and disparity through most of the Mesozoic Era. Soon after their origins, these reptiles diversified into a number of long-lived lineages, evolved unprecedented ecologies (for example, flying, large herbivorous forms) and spread across Pangaea. Recent discoveries of dinosaur and pterosaur precursors demonstrated that these animals were also speciose and widespread, but those precursors have few if any well-preserved skulls, hands and associated skeletons. Here we present a well-preserved partial skeleton (Upper Triassic, Brazil) of the new lagerpetid Venetoraptor gassenae gen. et sp. nov. that offers a more comprehensive look into the skull and ecology of one of these precursors. Its skull has a sharp, raptorial-like beak, preceding that of dinosaurs by around 80 million years, and a large hand with long, trenchant claws that firmly establishes the loss of obligatory quadrupedalism in these precursor lineages. Combining anatomical information of the new species with other dinosaur and pterosaur precursors shows that morphological disparity of precursors resembles that of Triassic pterosaurs and exceeds that of Triassic dinosaurs. Thus, the ‘success’ of pterosaurs and dinosaurs was a result of differential survival among a broader pool of ecomorphological variation. Our results show that the morphological diversity of ornithodirans started to flourish among early-diverging lineages and not only after the origins of dinosaurs and pterosaurs.
 |
| Skeletal anatomy of Venetoraptor gassenae gen. et sp. nov. (CAPPA/UFSM 0356) |
 |
| Life reconstruction of Venetoraptor gassenae gen. et sp. nov. by Caio Fantini. |
Archosauria Cope, 1869
Pterosauromorpha Padian, 1997
Lagerpetidae Arcucci, 1986
Venetoraptor gassenae gen. et sp. nov.
Etymology. The genus name combines the word raptor, plunderer
(Latin) in reference to its raptorial beak and grasping hands and
the word Veneto in reference to ‘Vale Vêneto’, a touristic locality
within the municipality of São João do Polêsine, Rio Grande do Sul,
Brazil. The specific epithet honours Mrs Valserina Maria Bulegon
Gassen, one of the main people responsible for the foundation of
CAPPA/UFSM.
Rodrigo T. Müller, Martín D. Ezcurra, Mauricio S. Garcia, Federico L. Agnolín, Michelle R. Stocker, Fernando E. Novas, Marina B. Soares, Alexander W. A. Kellner and Sterling J. Nesbitt. 2023. New Reptile shows Dinosaurs and Pterosaurs evolved among diverse Precursors. Nature. 620, 589–594. DOI: 10.1038/s41586-023-06359-z
