First nonavian dinosaur from Lebanon: a brachiosaurid sauropod from the Lower Cretaceous of the Jezzine District

Buffetaut, Éric; Azar, Dany; Nel, André; Ziadé, Kamil; Acra, A.

doi:10.1007/s00114-006-0124-z

Cited by 23 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 12 publications

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“…Brachiosaurid remains are known from the earliest Cretaceous of southern Africa (McPhee et al, 2016), and possibly from Afro-Arabia too (Buffetaut et al, 2006). Several taxa ( Abydosaurus , Cedarosaurus , Sonorasaurus and Venenosaurus ) and additional indeterminate remains (see Taylor, 2009) from the late Early Cretaceous of the USA are referable to Brachiosauridae (Chure et al, 2010; D’Emic, 2012; D’Emic, 2013; D’Emic, Foreman & Jud, 2016).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The earliest known titanosauriform sauropod dinosaur and the evolution of Brachiosauridae

Mannion

Allain

Moine

2017

PeerJ

112

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Brachiosauridae is a clade of titanosauriform sauropod dinosaurs that includes the well-known Late Jurassic taxa Brachiosaurus and Giraffatitan. However, there is disagreement over the brachiosaurid affinities of most other taxa, and little consensus regarding the clade’s composition or inter-relationships. An unnamed partial sauropod skeleton was collected from middle–late Oxfordian (early Late Jurassic) deposits in Damparis, in the Jura department of eastern France, in 1934. Since its brief description in 1943, this specimen has been informally known in the literature as the ‘Damparis sauropod’ and ‘French Bothriospondylus’, and has been considered a brachiosaurid by most authors. If correctly identified, this would make the specimen the earliest known titanosauriform. Coupled with its relatively complete nature and the rarity of Oxfordian sauropod remains in general, this is an important specimen for understanding the early evolution of Titanosauriformes. Full preparation and description of this specimen, known from teeth, vertebrae and most of the appendicular skeleton of a single individual, recognises it as a distinct taxon: Vouivria damparisensis gen. et sp. nov. Phylogenetic analysis of a data matrix comprising 77 taxa (including all putative brachiosaurids) scored for 416 characters recovers a fairly well resolved Brachiosauridae. Vouivria is a basal brachiosaurid, confirming its status as the stratigraphically oldest known titanosauriform. Brachiosauridae consists of a paraphyletic array of Late Jurassic forms, with Europasaurus, Vouivria and Brachiosaurus recovered as successively more nested genera that lie outside of a clade comprising (Giraffatitan + Sonorasaurus) + (Lusotitan + (Cedarosaurus + Venenosaurus)). Abydosaurus forms an unresolved polytomy with the latter five taxa. The Early Cretaceous South American sauropod Padillasaurus was previously regarded as a brachiosaurid, but is here placed within Somphospondyli. A recent study contended that a number of characters used in a previous iteration of this data matrix are ‘biologically related’, and thus should be excluded from phylogenetic analysis. We demonstrate that almost all of these characters show variation between taxa, and implementation of sensitivity analyses, in which these characters are excluded, has no effect on tree topology or resolution. We argue that where there is morphological variation, this should be captured, rather than ignored. Unambiguous brachiosaurid remains are known only from the USA, western Europe and Africa, and the clade spanned the Late Jurassic through to the late Albian/early Cenomanian, with the last known occurrences all from the USA. Regardless of whether their absence from the Cretaceous of Europe, as well as other regions entirely, reflects regional extinctions and genuine absences, or sampling artefacts, brachiosaurids appear to have become globally extinct by the earliest Late Cretaceous.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The earliest known titanosauriform sauropod dinosaur and the evolution of Brachiosauridae

Mannion

Allain

Moine

2017

PeerJ

112

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“…Under all circumstances it is apparent, that termite and cryptocercid ancestors were pre-adapted for lignin decay and, likely, provided a limited sanitation to herbivorous reptiles. Based on the correlation of distribution of reptiles and the dominance of the blattulid cockroaches in Mesozoic ecosystems, and their coeval occurrence in the present amber-bearing strata [82], these herbivorous reptiles were most likely the dominant sauropod dinosaurs.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cockroaches Probably Cleaned Up after Dinosaurs

et al. 2013

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Dinosaurs undoubtedly produced huge quantities of excrements. But who cleaned up after them? Dung beetles and flies with rapid development were rare during most of the Mesozoic. Candidates for these duties are extinct cockroaches (Blattulidae), whose temporal range is associated with herbivorous dinosaurs. An opportunity to test this hypothesis arises from coprolites to some extent extruded from an immature cockroach preserved in the amber of Lebanon, studied using synchrotron X-ray microtomography. 1.06% of their volume is filled by particles of wood with smooth edges, in which size distribution directly supports their external pre-digestion. Because fungal pre-processing can be excluded based on the presence of large particles (combined with small total amount of wood) and absence of damages on wood, the likely source of wood are herbivore feces. Smaller particles were broken down biochemically in the cockroach hind gut, which indicates that the recent lignin-decomposing termite and cockroach endosymbionts might have been transferred to the cockroach gut upon feeding on dinosaur feces.

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“…Published occurrences include isolated teeth and bones of Cretaceous brachiosaurid (Neocomian) and titanosaurian (Maastrichtian) sauropods from Lebanon [1] and Jordan [2] respectively, indeterminate sauropod limb material from Oman (Maastrichtian [3]), large theropod postcranial elements from Oman (Maastrichtian [4]) and Syria (Cenomanian or Turonian/Senonian [5]), and fragmentary ornithopod (Maastrichtian) remains from Oman [3] and Jordan [6]. The partial skeleton of an enantiornithine bird has also been documented from the Late Cretaceous of Lebanon (Cenomanian [7]), together with feather inclusions in amber from the Early Cretaceous (Neocomian) of Lebanon [8] and Jordan [9].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

First Dinosaurs from Saudi Arabia

et al. 2013

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Dinosaur remains from the Arabian subcontinent are exceedingly rare, and those that have been documented manifest indeterminate affinities. Consequently the discovery of a small, but diagnostic, accumulation of elements from Campanian-Maastrichtian (∼75 Ma) deposits in northwestern Saudi Arabia is significant because it constitutes the first taxonomically identifiable dinosaur material described from the Arabian Peninsula. The fossils include a series of possible lithostrotian titanosaur caudal vertebrae, and some isolated theropod marginal teeth that share unique character states and metric parameters (analyzed using multivariate statistical methods) with derived abelisaurids – this is the first justifiable example of a non-avian carnivorous dinosaur clade from Arabia. The recognition of titanosaurians and abelisaurids from Saudi Arabia extends the palaeogeographical range of these groups along the entire northern Gondwanan margin during the latest Cretaceous. Moreover, given the extreme paucity of coeval occurrences elsewhere, the Saudi Arabian fossils provide a tantalizing glimpse into dinosaurian assemblage diversity within the region.

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First nonavian dinosaur from Lebanon: a brachiosaurid sauropod from the Lower Cretaceous of the Jezzine District

Cited by 23 publications

References 12 publications

The earliest known titanosauriform sauropod dinosaur and the evolution of Brachiosauridae

The earliest known titanosauriform sauropod dinosaur and the evolution of Brachiosauridae

Cockroaches Probably Cleaned Up after Dinosaurs

First Dinosaurs from Saudi Arabia

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