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| Copyright Ivan Gromicho/SHN |
Despite being one of the first
species of dinosaur to be described in Portugal , the classification of
sauropod Lourinhasaurus was contested
in recent years . Discovered in 1949, it is a standard reference on European
sauropod dinosaurs literature since its publication in the 50s. Recently, a
team of Portuguese and Spanish paleontologists, lead by Sociedade de História
Natural (Torres Vedras, Portugal) researchers Pedro Mocho and Francisco Ortega,
reviewed the fossil Lourinhasaurus
alenquerensis deposited in the Geological Museum of Lisbon.
Discovered in 1949, it is a
standard reference on European sauropod dinosaurs literature since its
publication in the 50s. Recently, a team of Portuguese and Spanish
paleontologists, lead by Sociedade de História Natural (Torres Vedras, Portugal)
researchers Pedro Mocho and Francisco Ortega, reviewed the fossil Lourinhasaurus alenquerensis deposited
in the Geological Museum of Lisbon.
Since the 50s, the big showy femur exposed in the rooms of the Geological Museum Lourinhasaurus received thousands of visitors, but to date, neither the public nor the researchers had a clear idea about what group of sauropods this specimen belong to. It was found in 1949 in the field near Moinho do Carmo ( Alenquer, Portugal ) and first studied by Albert Lapparent and George Zbyszewski in 1957 .
A team of Portuguese and Spanish researchers , from the Laboratory of Paleontology and Paleoecology of the Sociedade de História Natural (Torres Vedras, Portugal ) and the Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia ( UNED), carried out a thorough review of the remains of Lourinhasaurus alenquerensis and concluded that this dinosaur is a European representative of the same group as the North American Camarasaurus dinosaur known .
" The Lourinhasaurus sauropod found in Moinho do Carmo is one of the classics of European dinosaurs fossil record, and there where proposed quite divergent classifications for it, reaching a point that we did not know what their true phylogenetic position , and is relationship with other sauropod dinosaurs. This is problematic at the time when we build our interpretations about paleobiogeography " said Portuguese Pedro Mocho, lead author of the study published in the Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, and also a researcher of the Sociedade de História Natural (Torres Vedras, Portugal) and in the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (were he is a Phd candidate).
This dinosaur lived in the Iberian Peninsula in the Upper Jurassic , 150 million years ago . With the appearance of a typical sauropod: Long neck and tail, small head and four sturdy legs , could weigh up to 10 tonnes and measuring 15 meters , very similar to the famous Diplodocus and Brachiosaurus physically.
Since the 50s, the big showy femur exposed in the rooms of the Geological Museum Lourinhasaurus received thousands of visitors, but to date, neither the public nor the researchers had a clear idea about what group of sauropods this specimen belong to. It was found in 1949 in the field near Moinho do Carmo ( Alenquer, Portugal ) and first studied by Albert Lapparent and George Zbyszewski in 1957 .
A team of Portuguese and Spanish researchers , from the Laboratory of Paleontology and Paleoecology of the Sociedade de História Natural (Torres Vedras, Portugal ) and the Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia ( UNED), carried out a thorough review of the remains of Lourinhasaurus alenquerensis and concluded that this dinosaur is a European representative of the same group as the North American Camarasaurus dinosaur known .
" The Lourinhasaurus sauropod found in Moinho do Carmo is one of the classics of European dinosaurs fossil record, and there where proposed quite divergent classifications for it, reaching a point that we did not know what their true phylogenetic position , and is relationship with other sauropod dinosaurs. This is problematic at the time when we build our interpretations about paleobiogeography " said Portuguese Pedro Mocho, lead author of the study published in the Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, and also a researcher of the Sociedade de História Natural (Torres Vedras, Portugal) and in the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (were he is a Phd candidate).
This dinosaur lived in the Iberian Peninsula in the Upper Jurassic , 150 million years ago . With the appearance of a typical sauropod: Long neck and tail, small head and four sturdy legs , could weigh up to 10 tonnes and measuring 15 meters , very similar to the famous Diplodocus and Brachiosaurus physically.
.
Systematic Review
Systematic Review
Researchers from the Sociedade de História Natural and the UNED, which counted with the collaboration of expert Rafael Royo - Torres from the Fundación Conjunto Paleontológico de Teruel-Dinópolis , reviewed in depth all the elements that were extracted in the excavation of the Moinho do Carmo and that are today deposited in the Geological Museum of Lisbon.
"These remains are very
numerous, constituting one of the most complete European sauropods "
refers Rafael Royo - Torres. This review led to reinterpret some of their bony
elements and thereby realize its phylogenetic position. " The most interesting
was that we were able to find nowadays a number of former remains of
Lourinhasaurus never before described in the extensive collections of the
Geological Museum in Lisbon. Several weeks were required to review all the
boxes with leftovers of Lourinhasaurus and we can now reveal it to the
scientific community . The collections of the Geological Museum remain a mine
of knowledge for all of us to explore", believes Pedro Mocho.
"The specimen was described in the '50s with the name Apatosaurus alenquerensis (a diplodocíd sauropod). In 1998 we published a preliminary review and realized that it did not belong to the North American genus Apatosaurus and established a new genus named Lourinhasaurus " explains Francisco Ortega, a researcher from Evolutionary Biology Group at UNED and also from the Laboratory of Paleontology and Paleoecology from the Sociedade de História Natural, and co-author. " Since then, some authors suggested the possibility of a European camarasaurid, but without performing a detailed systematic review ".
The deposits of fossil vertebrates from the Portuguese central coast are a key to the interpretation of peninsular ecosystems during the Upper Jurassic . The close relationship of Lourinhasaurus with North American genus Camarasaurus continues to add information on the process of continental separation of Europe and America!
"The specimen was described in the '50s with the name Apatosaurus alenquerensis (a diplodocíd sauropod). In 1998 we published a preliminary review and realized that it did not belong to the North American genus Apatosaurus and established a new genus named Lourinhasaurus " explains Francisco Ortega, a researcher from Evolutionary Biology Group at UNED and also from the Laboratory of Paleontology and Paleoecology from the Sociedade de História Natural, and co-author. " Since then, some authors suggested the possibility of a European camarasaurid, but without performing a detailed systematic review ".
The deposits of fossil vertebrates from the Portuguese central coast are a key to the interpretation of peninsular ecosystems during the Upper Jurassic . The close relationship of Lourinhasaurus with North American genus Camarasaurus continues to add information on the process of continental separation of Europe and America!
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