Turiasauria is an unranked
clade of
basalsauropoddinosaurs known from Middle Jurassic to Early Cretaceous deposits in Europe, North America, and Africa.
Description
Turiasauria was originally erected by Royo-Torres et al. (2006) to include Turiasaurus, Galvesaurus and Losillasaurus, all of which hail from the
Villar del Arzobispo Formation (
Tithonian-
Berriasian) of
Spain. Turiasuria was defined by the authors as "all
Eusauropoda closer to Turiasaurus riodevensis than to Saltasaurus loricatus".[7]Cladistic analysis (Royo-Torres et al., 2006; 1927) of 309 characters and 33 taxa suggests that the turiasaurians lie outside the Neosauropoda and form a
monophyletic group. The clade is diagnosed by the presence of vertical neural spines, posterior centroparapohyseal laminae on the
dorsalvertebrae, the absence of pre- and postspinal laminae on the dorsal vertebrae, the absence of a
scapularacromial crest, the presence of a prominent
humeral deltopectoral crest,
medial deflection of the
proximal end of the humerus, and a distinct vertical ridge on the
caudal side of the
distal half of the
ulna.
Paleobiogeography
Turiasaurs were initially considered confined to Europe, with Turiasaurus from Spain and Zby from Portugal,[8] and the tooth taxa Cardiodon, Neosodon, and Oplosaurus were referred to the clade, but additional members were found in North America and Africa. Heart-shaped teeth are considered a synapomorphy of the turiasauria. Recently a heart shaped tooth found from the
Jaisalmer Formation confirmed the presence of this clade in India during the Middle Jurassic (
Bathonian).[9] Together with the Narindasaurus from the Bathonian of Madagascar, these are the oldest records of the group. It is therefore suggested that Turiasauria might have originated in
Gondwana during the Middle Jurassic.[9] A tooth discovered in the Lower
Pliensbachian (Lower Jurassic)
Hasle Formation of
Bornholm, NHMD 1185136, was also referred to the family, being, if truly a member, 17 My older than any previously known turiasaur.[1]
North American Mierasaurus and Moabosaurus from the Early Cretaceous are also considered to be turiasaurs.[3]
Remains of a very large species of turiasaur, not yet formally identified, have recently been unearthed from the earliest Cretaceous (
Berriasian) aged
Angeac-Charente bonebed in western France.[10][11]
Indeterminate turiasaur material, consisting of a single vertebra, has been described from an unknown locality in the Early Cretaceous
Wealden Group of England.[12]
Classification
Turiasaurus demonstrates that the
evolution of enormous body size was not restricted to neosauropod clades such as the
Diplodocidae and
Titanosauria, but developed independently at least once in a lineage of more basal sauropods, the turiasaurians.
A 2009 thesis published by
José Barco proposed that neither Galvesaurus nor Losillasaurus were turiasaurians.[13] Later, a master thesis by
Francisco Gascó (2009) and
Royo-Torres et al. (2009) reaffirmed the validity of Turiasauria.[14][15]
^
abcdArchana Sharma, Sanjay Singh, Satheesh S R (May 2022). "The first turiasaurian sauropod of India reported from the Middle Jurassic (Bathonian) sediments of Jaisalmer Basin, Rajasthan, India". Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie - Abhandlungen. 304 (2): 187-203.
doi:
10.1127/njgpa/2022/1064.
S2CID249030842.{{
cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (
link)
^Mannion PD. 2019. A turiasaurian sauropod dinosaur from the Early Cretaceous Wealden Supergroup of the United Kingdom. PeerJ 7:e6348
https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.6348
^Holtz, Thomas R. Jr. (2012) Dinosaurs: The Most Complete, Up-to-Date Encyclopedia for Dinosaur Lovers of All Ages,Winter 2011 Appendix.
^Mateus, Octávio; Mannion, Philip D.; Upchurch, Paul (16 April 2014). "Zby atlanticus, a new turiasaurian sauropod (Dinosauria, Eusauropoda) from the Late Jurassic of Portugal". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 34 (3): 618–634.
Bibcode:
2014JVPal..34..618M.
doi:
10.1080/02724634.2013.822875.
S2CID59387149.
^José Luis Barco Rodríguez, Sistemática e implicaciones filogenéticas y paleobiogeográficas del saurópodo Galvesaurus herreroi (Formación Villar del Arzobispo, Galve, España), 2009, Universidad de Zaragoza.
^Gascó, F (2009): Sistemática y anatomía funcional de Losillasaurus giganteus Casanovas, Santafé & Sanz, 2001 (Turiasauria, Sauropoda). Universidad Autónoma de Madrid.
Barco, J. L., Canudo, J. L., Cuenca-Bescós, G. & Ruíz-Omeñaca, J. I., (2005): Un nuevo dinosaurio saurópodo, Galvesaurus herreroi gen. nov., sp. nov., del tránsito Jurásico-Cretácico en Galve (Teruel, NE de España). Naturaleza Aragonesa: Vol. 15, pp 4–17
Casanovas, M. L.; Santafe, J. V.; Sanz, J. L. (2001). "Losillasaurus giganteus, un nuevo saurópodo del tránsito Jurásico-Cretácico de la Cuenca de "Los Serranos" (Valencia, España)". Paleontologia i Evolució (32–33): 99–122.
P. D. Mannion, P. Upchurch, D. Schwarz, O. Wings (2019). "Taxonomic affinities of the putative titanosaurs from the Late Jurassic Tendaguru Formation of Tanzania: phylogenetic and biogeographic implications for eusauropod dinosaur evolution". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 185 (3): 784-909.
doi:
10.1093/zoolinnean/zly068.
hdl:10044/1/64080.{{
cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (
link)