Los terópodos barionicinos de Morella en las VI Jornadas de Salas de los Infantes

Como en todo congreso sobre paleontología de vertebrados y si está centrado en los dinosaurios con más motivo, los dinosaurios terópodos tuvieron su hueco en las VI Jornadas Internacionales sobre Paleontología de Dinosaurios y su Entorno de Salas de los Infantes (Burgos). En formato póster se presentó una puesta al día de la fauna de terópodos barinonicinos hallados hasta la fecha en la cantera del Mas de la Parreta y alrededores de Morella.

Aquí os dejamos el resumen:

Spinosaurids is a clade of megalosauroids theropods which fossil record extends from the Barremian to the Cenomanian. The clade splits into Baryonychinae and Spinosaurinae and includes Baryonyx walkeri, Suchomimus tenerensis, Ichthyovenator laosensis, Spinosaurus aegyptiacus, Irritator challengeri and Oxalaia quilombensis. Spinosaurinae spinosaurids are characterized by two dental unambiguous synapomorphies: a reduced or absent crown recurvature and no serrations in maxillary and dentary teeth. In Baryonychinae spinosaurids an accessory centrodiapophyseal lamina on the transverse processes and basal webbing on the neural spines of the posterior dorsal vertebrae are postcranial unambiguous synapomorphies whereas a V-shaped premaxilla-nasal suture is a cranial unambiguous synapomorphy that characterize the clade .
The European fossil record of spinosaurids is composed of the species Baryonyx walkeri from England and several referred sets of material from Portugal and Spain , and isolated remains of undetermined baryonychines reported from several Spanish localities. One of these Spanish localities is Morella (Castellón province, Spain) and specifically the “Mas de la Parreta” Quarry located close to Morella locality that belong to the lower Aptian Arcillas de Morella Formation.
Aside from isolated undetermined baryonychines remains the Arcillas de Morella Formation has yielded remains related to allosauroids and dromaeosaurids theropods. Nevertheless, the most common dinosaur remains reported from this Lower Cretaceous Formation are related to hadrosauriform ornithopods. Among them, most of the remains have been assigned to Iguanodon bernissartensis. Furthermore, basal ornithopods related to hypsilophodontids and a form closely related to the hadrosauriform Mantellisaurus have been found in this formation. The ankylosaur Polacanthus is also a common dinosaur reported in the Arcillas de Morella Formation.
Most of the fossil remains reported from the “Mas de la Parreta” Quarry” and ascribed to undetermined baryonychines are isolated teeth. Nevertheless, isolated postcranial remains from several specimens have been found including cervical and caudal vertebrae and a nearly complete left tibia. The discovery of new material in recent years has significantly improved knowledge about the spinosaurids from Morella Formation. A revaluation of this material and the study of new remains is consistent with the presence of a single baryonychine spinosaurid taxon closely related to Baryonyx walkeri in the lower Aptian Arcillas de Morella Formation.