THE SAUROPOD DINOSAUR TURIASAURUS RIODEVENSIS IN THE LATE JURASSIC OF PORTUGAL MATEUS, Octávio, New University of Lisbon (CICEGe-FCT) & Museum of Lourinhã, Lisboa, Portugal A partial sauropod was found in 1996 in Vale Pombas, north of Lourinhã, Central West of Portugal, in the Lourinhã Formation, top of Amoreira Porto Novo member dated as c. 150 M.a. (Early Tithonian, Late Jurassic) and is currently housed at Museum of Lourinhã, in Portugal. The specimen (ML368) comprises a complete tooth with root, anterior chevron and almost complete right forelimb including partial scapula, complete coracoid, humerus, ulna, radius, metacarpals I, III and V, phalanx, and ungual phalanx I. It can be ascribed to Turiasaurus riodevensis, which was previously described from the Villar del Arzobispo Formation at Riodeva (Teruel, Spain). Characters shared with T. riodevensis holotype include: curvature and asymmetry of tooth crown, expansion of crown, outline of humerus, medial deflection of the proximal end of humerus, shape and prominence of deltopectoral crest, vertical ridge in the distal half of the ulna (considered as diagnostic of Turiasauria), configuration of metacarpals, and bone proportions. It differs from T. riodevensis holotype by the smaller size and the more rectangular ungual phalanx in lateral view. The sediments from which the Riodeva specimen was recovered were previsouly thought to be Tithonian to Berriasian in age. The presence of this species in Portugal, in beds confidently dated as Early Tithonian, may allow a more precise date for the Riodeva type locality of early Tithonian in age. The humerus of the Portuguese T. riodevensis is 152 cm long. Although shorter than the Spanish specimen (790 mm), it represents a large individual. All adult sauropods recovered in Portugal thus far are very large individuals: Dinheirosaurus (estimated body length is 20- 25 m), Lusotitan (humerus length estimated to be 205 cm), Lourinhasaurus (femur length: 174 cm), and Turiasaurus here reported. The lack of of small or medium adult body-size sauropods in the Late Jurassic of Portugal, suggests browsing niches thought to be occupied by smaller forms, could be have been available for other dinosaurs, like the long necked stegosaur Miragaia longicollum.

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Book of abstracts of the 5th Symposium on Mesozoic and Decapod Crustaceans

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Abstract: The paleontological collections of the Museum of Lourinhã, in Portugal, has a rich paleontological collection, particularly of Late Jurassic dinosaurs of the Lourinhã Formation (Kimmeridgian-Tithonian). Most salient highlights comprehend the following dinosaur holotype specimens: stegosaur Miragaia longicollum, theropod Lourinhanosaurus antunesi, sauropod Dinheirosaurus lourinhanensis, ornithopod Draconyx loureiroi, theropod Allosaurus europaeus, and, a mammal, Kuehneodon hahni. Other dinosaur specimens are referred including the nest and eggs and embryos of Lourinhanosaurus. Portugal is very productive in Late Jurassic vertebrates, being the seventh country bearing more dinosaur taxa.

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Here we describe a new partial sauropod skeleton from the late Kimmeridgian (Late Jurassic) of the Lourinhã Formation, central west Portugal. The closely associated specimen comprises a complete tooth (with root), a fragment of cervical neural arch, an anterior chevron, and an almost complete right pectoral girdle and forelimb. The new sauropod, Zby atlanticus, n. gen. et sp., can be diagnosed on the basis of four autapomorphies, including a prominent posteriorly projecting ridge on the humerus at the level of the deltopectoral crest. Nearly all anatomical features indicate that Zby is a non-neosauropod eusauropod. On the basis of several characters, including tooth morphology, extreme anteroposterior compression of the proximal end of the radius, and strong beveling of the lateral half of the distal end of the radius, Zby appears to be closely related to Turiasaurus riodevensis from approximately contemporaneous deposits in eastern Spain. However, these two genera can be distinguished from each other by a number of features pertaining to the forelimb. Whereas previously described Late Jurassic Portuguese sauropods show close relationships with taxa from the contemporaneous Morrison Formation of North America, it appears that turiasaurians were restricted to Europe. All adult sauropods recovered in the Late Jurassic of Portugal thus far are very large individuals: it is possible that the apparent absence of small- or medium-sized adult sauropods might be related to the occupation of lower-browsing niches by non-sauropods such as the long-necked stegosaur Miragaia longicollum.

The richness of Late Jurassic vertebrates in Portugal is known since the 19th century by Paul Choffat, Henri Sauvage and other. The Kimmeridgian Guimarota fauna assemblage is the best known, followed by the fauna of Lourinhã formation. Here is presented an attempt to provide a checklist of the reptiles and amphibians of the Late Jurassic. Amphibia: Lissamphibia (Celtedens, cf. Marmorerpeton, Discoglossidae indet.). Chelonia: Eucryptodira (Pleurosternidae indet., Platychelyidae indet., Plesiochelys cf. etalloni, Plesiochelys choffati, Anosteirinae indet.). Squamata: Scincomorpha (Becklesius hoffstetteri; Paramacellodus sp., Saurillodon proraformis, S. henkeli, S. cf. obtusus). Squamata: Anguimorpha (Dorsetisaurus pollicidens, Parviraptor estesi). Crown Lepidosauromorpha (Marmoretta sp.). Choristodera: Cteniogenidae (Ctenogenys reedi). Sauropterygia: Plesiosauria: Cryptoclidoidea: Cryptoclididae indet. Crocodylomorpha (Lisboasaurus estesi, L. mitrocostatus). Crocodyliformes: Neosuchia (Machimosaurus hugii, Goniopholis cf. simus, Goniopholis baryglyphaeus, cf. Bernissartia, Atoposauridae, Theriosuchus guimarotae, cf. Alligatorium, Metriorhynchus sp.). Pterosauria (Rhamphorhynchus sp., Pterodactylus sp.). Dinosauria: Theropoda (Ceratosaurus sp. , Torvosaurus sp., Lourinhanosaurus antunesi, Allosaurus europaeus, Cf. Compsognathus sp., cf. Richardoestesia sp., Dromaeosaurinae indeter., Velociraptorinae indeter., cf. Archaeopteryx sp., aff. Paronychodon). Dinosauria: Sauropoda: Eusauropoda (Dinheirosaurus lourinhanensis, Lourinhasaurus alenquerensis, Lusotitan atalaiensis, Apatosaurus sp.). Dinosauria: Ornithischia: Thyreophora (Dacentrurus armatus, Stegosaurus sp., Dracopelta zbyszewskii). Dinosauria: Ornithischia: Ornithopoda (Phyllodon henkeli, Dryosaurus sp., Hypsilophodon sp., Alocodon kuehnei, Trimucrodon cuneatus, Draconyx loureiroi).

Although nonavian theropod have received considerable interest in the last years, their ontogeny still remains poorly understood, especially the ontogenetical changes affecting their skull (Rauhutand Fechner, 2005). The quadrate, for instance, is preserved in several embryos and juvenile specimens belonging to many clades of theropods such as the Tyrannosauridae (Carr, 1999), Compsognathidae (Dal Sasso and Maganuco, 2011), Therizinosauroidea (Kúndrat et al., 2007), Oviraptoridae (Norell et al., 1994; Norell et al., 2001; Weishampel et al., 2008) and Troodontidae (Varrichio et al., 2002) but very little is usually said about the anatomy of this bone and no one has ever investigated ontogenetical variation in the nonavian theropod quadrate. The discovery of two quadrates belonging to embryos of the sinraptorid Lourinhanosaurus antunesi from Portugal and five isolated quadrates pertaining to juvenile, subadult and adult specimens of Spinosauridae from Morocco fills this gap and allows some ontogenetic information to be drawn for this bone in these two specific clades of Theropoda.

The amniote eggshell functions as a respiratory structure adapted for the optimal transmission of respiratory gasses to and from the embryo according to its physiological requirements. Therefore amniotes with higher oxygen requirements, such as those that sustain higher metabolic rates, can be expected to have eggshells that can maintain a greater gas flux to and from the egg. Studies of extant amniotes have found that eggshells of reduced porosity impose a limit on the metabolic rate of the offspring. Here we show a highly significant relationship between metabolic rates and eggshell porosity in extant amniotes that predicts highly endothermic metabolic rates in dinosaurs. This study finds the eggshell porosity of extant endotherms to be significantly higher than that of extant ectotherms. Eggshell porosity values of dinosaurs are found to be significantly higherthan that of extant ectotherms, but not extant endotherms. Dinosaur eggshells are commonly preserved in the fossil record, and porosity may be readily identified and measured. This provides a simple tool to identify metabolic rates in extinct egg-laying tetrapods whose eggs possessed a mineralized shell

A newly discovered dinosaur track-assemblage from the Upper Jurassic Lourinha˜ Formation (Lusitanian Basin, central-west Portugal), comprises medium- to large-sized sauropod tracks with well-preserved impressions of soft tissue anatomy, stegosaur tracks and tracks from medium- to large-sized theropods. The 400-m-thick Lourinha˜ Formation consists of mostly aluvial sediments, deposited during the early rifting of the Atlantic Ocean in the Kimmeridgian and Tithonian. The stratigraphic succession shows several shifts between flood-plain mud and fluvial sands that favour preservation and fossilization of tracks. The studied track-assemblage is found preserved as natural casts on the underside of a thin bivalve-rich carbonate bed near the Tithonian–Kimmeridgian boundary. The diversity of the tracks from the new track assemblage is compared with similar faunas from the Upper Jurassic of Asturias, Spain and the Middle Jurassic Yorkshire Coast of England. The Portuguese record of Upper Jurassic dinosaur body fossils show close similarity to the track fauna from the Lourinha˜ Formation.

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