New Species Of Spinosaurid Discovered In Spain

[Prehistory Resurrection]

- A new genus and species of spinosaurid dinosaur has been discovered in Spain, named Protathlitis cinctorrensis. It has been discovered by palaeontologist Andrés Santos-Cubedo and his team.

Meet Protathlitis cinctorrensis. Image credit: Grup Guix.

- Protathlitis means "champion" in Greek in reference to football club Villareal CF's (the local football team) Europa League victory in 2021 and its scientific name "cinctorrensis" is as such because it was discovered in the locality of Cinctorres in Spain.

-Protathlitis lived during the Early Cretaceous (Late Barremian Age), between 130 and 126 million years ago in what is now the Arcillas de Morellas Formation of Castellón/ the locality of Cinctorres, Spain. Another spinosaurid also lived around the same time and in the same region called Vallibovenatrix—although it is possible that this spinosaurid, also known from a handful of fossil fragments, was actually the same animal as the newly discovered Protathlitis. Other dinosaurs that co-existed in the same environment were herbivorous dinosaurs such as the ornithopod Iguanodon and its likes and titanosaur-like sauropod dinosaurs.

Protathlitis cinctorrensis in the environment where it lived, along with other contemporary dinosaurs. Image credit: Oscar Sanisidro/ Grup Guix.

- The clade of Spinosauridae or spinosaurids are a clade of large theropod carnivorous bipedal dinosaurs having long, crocodile-like snouts and high dorsal spines. Traditionally, Spinosauridae is divided into two subfamilies; Spinosaurinae and Baryonychinae. Conclusion led to Protathlitis being an early baryonychine. The contemporary spinosaurine Vallibovenatrix, was oppositely a spinosaurine. Well-known examples of spinosaurids include Spinosaurus and Baryonyx, after which the sub-groups Spinosaurinae and Baryonychinae have been named.

- Only a small collection of the dinosaur's bones have been found since paleontologists started searching the site in 2002: part of the upper right maxilla/ jaw, one tooth and five caudal (tail) vertebrae.

Skeletal diagram showing in red the recovered elements of Protathlitis cinctorrensis gen. et sp. nov., modified from figure in Mateus and Estraviz-López1 under a CC BY license 4.0.

- "Based on the remains, we estimate that this individual is around 10 to 11 m long," (more than 30 feet long; around 32 to 36 feet long— about the length of a telephone pole) the paleontologists said.

-"We compared the specimen to data on other spinosaurids to determine its evolutionary relationship to other species." The researchers said.

-The discovery of Protathlitis cinctorrensis suggests that the Iberian Peninsula may have been a diverse area for medium-to-large bodied spinosaurid dinosaurs and sheds light on the origin and evolution of spinosaurids.

-The researchers propose that this species may indicate that spinosaurids appeared during the Early Cretaceous in Laurasia — a large area of land in the northern hemisphere — with two sub-groups of species occupying western Europe.

- "The establishment of this new European species seems to confirm that spinosaurids appeared during the Early Cretaceous in Laurasia, with the two subfamilies occupying the western part of Europe," they said.

-"Later, during the Barremian-Aptian, they migrated to Africa and Asia, where they would diversify." The researchers said.

- Not enough of Protathlitis is known to determine whether the dinosaur was snapping after fish or preferred more terrestrial fare. "Adequate evaluation of the aquatic hypothesis requires biomechanical tests, as well as body and limb comparisons," Santos-Cubedo says.

- Such studies are difficult because spinosaur fossils are "not very abundant," he notes, but future discoveries may provide the necessary bones to investigate why some spinosaurs preferred to hunt on land while others lurked along the water's edge.

[Prehistory Resurrection]

The link to the scientific report for anyone interested; https://rdcu.be/dcHnl