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A complete skull of an early cretaceous sauropod and the evolution of advanced titanosaurians.

ABSTRACT: Advanced titanosaurian sauropods, such as nemegtosaurids and saltasaurids, were diverse and one of the most important groups of herbivores in the terrestrial biotas of the Late Cretaceous. However, little is known about their rise and diversification prior to the Late Cretaceous. Furthermore, the evolution of their highly-modified skull anatomy has been largely hindered by the scarcity of well-preserved cranial remains. A new sauropod dinosaur from the Early Cretaceous of Brazil represents the earliest advanced titanosaurian known to date, demonstrating that the initial diversification of advanced titanosaurians was well under way at least 30 million years before their known radiation in the latest Cretaceous. The new taxon also preserves the most complete skull among titanosaurians, further revealing that their low and elongated diplodocid-like skull morphology appeared much earlier than previously thought.

SUBMITTER: Zaher H

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3034730 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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A complete skull of an early cretaceous sauropod and the evolution of advanced titanosaurians.

Zaher Hussam H Pol Diego D Carvalho Alberto B AB Nascimento Paulo M PM Riccomini Claudio C Larson Peter P Juarez-Valieri Rubén R Pires-Domingues Ricardo R da Silva Nelson Jorge NJ Campos Diógenes de Almeida Dde A

PloS one 20110207 2

Advanced titanosaurian sauropods, such as nemegtosaurids and saltasaurids, were diverse and one of the most important groups of herbivores in the terrestrial biotas of the Late Cretaceous. However, little is known about their rise and diversification prior to the Late Cretaceous. Furthermore, the evolution of their highly-modified skull anatomy has been largely hindered by the scarcity of well-preserved cranial remains. A new sauropod dinosaur from the Early Cretaceous of Brazil represents the e ...[more]

PMID: 21326881

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Dataset Information

A complete skull of an early cretaceous sauropod and the evolution of advanced titanosaurians.

Publications

A complete skull of an early cretaceous sauropod and the evolution of advanced titanosaurians.

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