The last dinosaurs of Brazil: The Bauru Group and its implications for the end-Cretaceous mass extinction

Brusatte, Stephen L.; Candeiro, Carlos Roberto A.; Simbras, Felipe Medeiros

doi:10.1590/0001-3765201720160918

Cited by 39 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 77 publications

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“…Dinosaurs are so far unknown from Caiuá Group deposits, whereas those from the Bauru Group include several titanosaur sauropods, as well as very fragmentary theropod remains 36,37 , including mostly abelisaurids 36–44 , but also megaraptorids 45,46 , unenlagiids 47 , noasaurids 48 , and improbably carcharodontosaurids 49 . Here, we describe the first dinosaur remains from the Caiuá Group, which also represent, to date, the most completely known theropod for the entire Bauru Basin.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A new desert-dwelling dinosaur (Theropoda, Noasaurinae) from the Cretaceous of south Brazil

Langer

Martins²,

Manzig³

et al. 2019

Sci Rep

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Noasaurines form an enigmatic group of small-bodied predatory theropod dinosaurs known from the Late Cretaceous of Gondwana. They are relatively rare, with notable records in Argentina and Madagascar, and possible remains reported for Brazil, India, and continental Africa. In south-central Brazil, the deposits of the Bauru Basin have yielded a rich tetrapod fauna, which is concentrated in the Bauru Group. The mainly aeolian deposits of the Caiuá Group, on the contrary, bear a scarce fossil record composed only of lizards, turtles, and pterosaurs. Here, we describe the first dinosaur of the Caiuá Group, which also represents the best-preserved theropod of the entire Bauru Basin known to date. The recovered skeletal parts (vertebrae, girdles, limbs, and scarce cranial elements) show that the new taxon was just over 1 m long, with a unique anatomy among theropods. The shafts of its metatarsals II and IV are very lateromedially compressed, as are the blade-like ungual phalanges of the respective digits. This implies that the new taxon could have been functionally monodactyl, with a main central weight-bearing digit, flanked by neighbouring elements positioned very close to digit III or even held free of the ground. Such anatomical adaptation is formerly unrecorded among archosaurs, but has been previously inferred from footprints of the same stratigraphic unit that yielded the new dinosaur. A phylogenetic analysis nests the new taxon within the Noasaurinae clade, which is unresolved because of the multiple alternative positions that Noasaurus leali can acquire in the optimal trees. The exclusion of the latter form results in positioning the new dinosaur as the sister-taxon of the Argentinean Velocisaurus unicus .

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A new desert-dwelling dinosaur (Theropoda, Noasaurinae) from the Cretaceous of south Brazil

Langer

Martins²,

Manzig³

et al. 2019

Sci Rep

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“…The dinosaur record in Brazil is still quite meager compared to the potential of the country 1 , 2 . So far, most specimens were recovered from the Bauru Group, including non-avian theropods 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The first theropod dinosaur (Coelurosauria, Theropoda) from the base of the Romualdo Formation (Albian), Araripe Basin, Northeast Brazil

Sayão

Saraiva

Brum

et al. 2020

Sci Rep

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The Romualdo Formation (Araripe Basin) is worldwide known for the large number of well-preserved fossils but the dinosaur record is rather scarce. Here we describe a new coelurosaur, which is the first tetrapod recovered from the basal layers of this stratigraphic unit that consist of dark shales. Aratasaurus museunacionali gen. et sp. nov. is known by an incomplete but articulated right hind limb with the distal portion of the femur, proximal half of tibia and incomplete pes. The new species differs from other coelurosaurs by a medial fossa in the tibia and digits II, III and IV being symmetric. The phylogenetic analysis recovered Aratasaurus museunacionali closely related to Zuolong salleei, forming a basal coelurosaur lineage. The paleohistology indicate that the specimen is a juvenile, with an estimated body length around 3.12 m. The new taxon represents the first occurrence of basal coelurosaurians in the Araripe Basin and suggests a widespread distribution of this group during the Lower Cretaceous. The dinosaur record in Brazil is still quite meager compared to the potential of the country 1,2. So far, most specimens were recovered from the Bauru Group, including non-avian theropods 3,4,5,6,7. The latter are less numerous in these deposits than other reptiles 8 , leading to several discussions, including niche partitioning 7. The limited amount of theropod material is not exclusive of Brazil 9. Among the regions where such reptiles are found in the country is the Araripe Basin 10. This tectonic structure is worldwide known for the well preserved and diverse fossil biota 11,12,13,14. The most fossiliferous units are the Lower Cretaceous Crato and Romualdo formations, comprising the majority of fossil vertebrates of this basin 14. As has been reported several times, the most common tetrapod in both units are pterosaurs 15 , while others tend to be rare 16,17,18. Until now all non-avian dinosaur from the Araripe Basin came exclusively from the Romualdo Formation and are represented by the spinosaurids Irritator challengeri 19 and Angaturama limai 1 and the non-avian coelurosaurs Santanaraptor placidus 20,21 and Mirischia assymetrica 22. All were preserved in the level of carbonate concretions from the upper portion of this stratigraphic unit 14,23,24. Here we describe a new theropod dinosaur from the Romualdo Formation that was collected in the lower section. The fossil is preserved in a slab of dark shale, housed at the Museu de Paleontologia Plácido Cidade

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“…The theropods from the Bauru Group include members of Ceratosauria (Abelisauria) and Tetanuare (Carcharodontosauridae, Coelurosauria, Maniraptora, Unenlagiidae; references in Brusatte et al, 2017). Although it is not possible to assign the specimen Paleo-UFG/V0035 to a more inclusive taxonomic level, this new fossil indicates that theropods was also geographically distributed during the Late Cretaceous in areas of the Bauru Group that formed in today's southern Goiás State.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 95%

“…Research, Society and Development, v. 9, n. 8, e563985261, 2020 (CC BY 4.0) | ISSN 2525-3409 | DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.33448/rsd-v9i8.5261 An extensive and diverse record of carnivorous theropod dinosaurs from the Bauru Group has previously been catalogued. These specimens have been found at different localities in western São Paulo State and in the Triângulo Mineiro region, southeastern Brazil (Bittencourt & Langer, 2011;Brusatte, Candeiro & Simbras, 2017). Teeth are the most abundant fossil elements of Bauru Group theropods.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

First record of a theropod (Dinosauria, Theropoda) from the Late Cretaceous of the Bauru Group, southern Goiás State, Brazil

Candeiro

Brusatte

Costa

et al. 2020

RSD

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The objective of this article is to describe the first record of a theropod carnivorous dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous of the Adamantina Formation (Bauru Group, Paraná Basin) in the south of the state of Goiás in the Midwest region of Brazil. The methodology of this work was based on a bibliographic survey about the characteristics of teeth of theropods and the geology of the region, in addition to the description and morphological comparisons. This specimen was found in a geodiversity site called Serra da Portaria, in the Paraúna State Park, municipality of Paraúna, where residuals from the Adamantina Formation is exposed. The specimen, a fragmentary tooth covered with iron oxide, but with a partially preserved crown, was assigned as a percentage to an undetermined theropod for having a labiolingually compressed crown and cross section. In addition to the Bauru Group in the state of Goiás, only remnants of sauropod herbivorous dinosaurs are known for the Adamantina and Marília formations, the tooth described here is the first osteological record of a theropod from the south of Goiás.

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The last dinosaurs of Brazil: The Bauru Group and its implications for the end-Cretaceous mass extinction

Cited by 39 publications

References 77 publications

A new desert-dwelling dinosaur (Theropoda, Noasaurinae) from the Cretaceous of south Brazil

A new desert-dwelling dinosaur (Theropoda, Noasaurinae) from the Cretaceous of south Brazil

The first theropod dinosaur (Coelurosauria, Theropoda) from the base of the Romualdo Formation (Albian), Araripe Basin, Northeast Brazil

First record of a theropod (Dinosauria, Theropoda) from the Late Cretaceous of the Bauru Group, southern Goiás State, Brazil

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