En las pasadas XXXVII Jornadas de Paleontología de la SEP en Cuenca se presentó una comunicación oral sobre los titanosaurios de la Formación Villalba de la Sierra, y en particular, los hallazgos del yacimiento de Lo Hueco (Cuenca) y Poyos (Guadalajara). Los ejemplares de Lo Hueco aportan importante información sobre la sistemática de los titanosaurios de la region ibero-armoricana, y durante la charla se expusieron los resultados preliminares de los análisis filogenéticos. El resumen es el siguiente:
The titanosaurian fossil record from the Upper Cretaceous of Iberia is abundant and diverse. In recent years, two important fossil localities have been discovered, Lo Hueco (Fuentes, Cuenca) and Poyos (Sacedón, Guadalajara), from the Campanian–Maastrichtian levels of the Villalba de la Sierra Formation (southwestern branch of the Iberian Ranges). Lo Hueco is a multitaxic bonebed which has yielded more than 10,000 fossils, nearly half of them are titanosaurian remains, including several partial skeletons, mostly articulated or with low dispersion. Poyos fossil-site is also yielding new titanosaurian fossils (eggs and bones) from the same formation. Cladistic analyses and new methodologies, including CT scanning, palaeohistology and 3D-geometric morphometrics, allow to understand the evolutionary scenario of the Villalba de la Sierra Fm titanosaurs, and help to constrain the details on the diversity, intraspecific variability and palaeobiology of these Late Cretaceous sauropods. In Lo Hueco, the presence of more than two taxa is supported by the redescription of Lohuecotitan and the study of several so far unpublished specimens, including HUE-EC-02, one of the most complete titanosaur individuals of Europe. On the other hand, at least, three partial titanosaur individuals have been identified from Poyos fossil-site, and their preliminary study suggests for the presence of titanosaurs with morphological features not shared with the Lo Hueco forms. A highly diverse lithostrotian fauna seems to characterize the Late Cretaceous of Iberia, and our preliminary phylogenetic analyses are recovering the Iberian and Southern France forms as possible members of the European lithostrotian clade, Lirainosaurinae.
Más información:
- Referencia: Mocho, P., Escaso, F., Marcos-Fernández, F., Páramo, A., Vidal, D., Ortega, F. 2022. Titanosaurs from Lo Hueco (Cuenca) and Poyos (Guadalajara): how Villalba de la Sierra Fm helps in understanding the Late Cretaceous titanosaurs of Europe. In: Blanco et al. (Eds.), Libro de Resúmenes de las XXXVII Jornadas SEP y V Congreso Ibérico de Paleontología. Palaeontological publications 2, 117.
- Imagen: Pedro Mocho durante su exposición (Foto de Sofia Pereira)
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