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Titanosaur cranial and atlas bones from Late Cretaceous of Brazil
Ben Creisler
bcreisler@gmail.com
Agustín G. Martinelli, Thiago da Silva Marinho, Leonardo S. Filippi,
Luiz Carlos Borges Ribeiro, Mara Lúcia da Fonseca Ferraz, Camila
Lourencini Cavellani & Vicente de Paula Antunes Teixeira (2015)
Cranial bones and atlas of titanosaurs (Dinosauria, Sauropoda) from
Late Cretaceous (Bauru Group) of Uberaba, Minas Gerais State, Brazil.
Journal of South American Earth Sciences (advance online publications)
doi:10.1016/j.jsames.2015.02.009
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0895981115000358
Highlights
First cranial bones and atlas vertebra of titanosaurs from Peirópolis
(Minas Gerais State, Brazil).
Cranial bones reminiscent of derived lithostratian titanosaurs.
Atlas vertebra possible constitutes a more conservative morphology
than other vertebral elements.
Abstract
Isolated left prefrontal, left squamosal and atlas of titanosaur
dinosaurs are described and compared. They come from the Late
Cretaceous Serra da Galga Member of the Marília Formation at the Serra
do Veadinho region, Peirópolis (Uberaba County, Minas Gerais State,
Brazil). Due to the sparse cranial elements of titanosaurs already
known from Brazil, these specimens are noticeable to be presented. In
addition, the atlas vertebra is described for the first time for
Brazilian titanosaurs. The morphology of the cranial bones closely
resembles lithostratian titanosaurs, such as Rapetosaurus, rather than
basal titanosaurs. The atlas is similar to that of other titanosaurs,
suggesting that the anatomy of this element seems to be more
conservative than other vertebral elements, in which vertebral laminae
play an important rule in titanosaur taxonomy.