Blasisaurus

Blasisaurus is a genus of lambeosaurine hadrosaurid dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous. It is known from a partial skull and skeleton found in late Maastrichtian-age rocks of Spain.[1] The type species is Blasisaurus canudoi, described in 2010 by Penélope Cruzado-Caballero, Xabier Pereda-Suberbiola and José Ignacio Ruiz-Omeñaca, a group of researchers from Spain.

Blasisaurus
Temporal range: Late Cretaceous, 66 Ma
Skull fossils
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Clade: Dinosauria
Order: Ornithischia
Suborder: Ornithopoda
Family: Hadrosauridae
Subfamily: Lambeosaurinae
Tribe: Arenysaurini
Genus: Blasisaurus
Cruzado-Caballero et al., 2010
Type species
Blasisaurus canudoi
Cruzado-Caballero et al., 2010

Naming and discovery

The generic name refers to the Blasi 1 site where the fossil was found. The specific epithet honours paleontologist José Ignacio Canudo.[1] The holotype, MPZ99/667, is housed in Huesca. It was found in a layer of the Arén Formation dating from the upper Maastrichtian, about 66 million years old.[1] It consists of a skull with fragmentary lower jaws.[1]

Description

Blasisaurus is a medium-sized euornithopod. The describers have been able to identify two distinct features: the cheekbone has a rear projection with a hook-shaped upper edge, and the lower sleep window is narrow and D-shaped.[1] From the same formation is Arenysaurus, a related species. They are not identical, distinguished by the shape of the teeth and missing secondary ridges. Blasisaurus also differs from Koutalisaurus by a downwardly bent front edge of the lower jaws.[1]

Phylogeny

The describers performed an exact cladistic analysis to determine its phylogenetic position. The outcome of the phylogenetic analysis placed Blasisaurus as the sister taxon to Arenysaurus.[1] Together they form a clade that is higher in Lambeosaurinae than Tsintaosaurus and Jaxartosaurus. Whether this clade was more derived than Amurosaurus, the closest relative of the group, was not determined.[1] However, one study did find that they were not sister taxa, no other studies supported this.[2] Blasisaurus confirmed the hypothesis that in the Late Cretaceous, different Hadrosaurids from Asia and Europe was a sign that they migrated across land bridges that must have been present.[1] Where in lambeosaurinae Blasisaurus and Arenysaurus fall is disputed. They have been found to be in lambeosaurini,[3] as basal to the Lambeosaurini-Parasaurolophini split,[1] and in Parasaurolophini.[2][4] Below is the most recent cladogram published including Blasisaurus and Arenysaurus, found by Penélope Cruzado-Caballero et al. in 2013:[4]

Hadrosauridae

Gryposaurus notabilis

Aralosaurus tuberiferus

Lambeosaurinae

Pararhabdodon isonensis

Tsintaosaurus spinorhinus

Jaxartosaurus aralensis

Amurosaurus riabinini

Sahaliyania elunchunorum

Parasaurolophini

Charonosaurus jiayinensis

Blasisaurus canudoi

Arenysaurus ardevoli

Parasaurolophus

Parasaurolophus cyrtocristatus

Parasaurolophus tubicen

Parasaurolophus walkeri

Lambeosaurini
Lambeosaurus

Lambeosaurus magnicristatus

Lambeosaurus lambei

Velafrons coahuilensis

Hypacrosaurus altispinus

Hypacrosaurus stebingeri

Olorotitan arharensis

Corythosaurus casuarius

See also

References

  1. Cruzado-Caballero, Penélope; Xabier Pereda-Suberbiola; José Ignacio Ruiz-Omeñaca (2010). "Blasisaurus canudoi gen. et sp. nov., a new lambeosaurine dinosaur (Hadrosauridae) from the Latest Cretaceous of Arén (Huesca, Spain)". Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences. 47 (12): 1507–1517. doi:10.1139/E10-081.
  2. Cruzado-Caballero, P.; Canudo, J.I.; Moreno-Azanza, M.; Ruiz-Omeñaca, J.I. (September 22–23, 2011). "The Complex Fauna of European Maastrichtian Hadrosaurids: Contributions of the Lambeosaurines of the Iberian Peninsula" (PDF). In Braman, D.R.; Eberth, D.A; Evans, D.C.; Taylor, W. (eds.). Hadrosaur Symposium 2011 – Abstract Volume (PDF). International Hadrosaur Symposium at the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology. Drumheller, Alberta, Canada. pp. 33–37. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2015-04-24.
  3. Prieto-Márquez, A.; Dalla Vecchia, F. M.; Gaete, R.; Galobart, À. (2013). Dodson, Peter (ed.). "Diversity, Relationships, and Biogeography of the Lambeosaurine Dinosaurs from the European Archipelago, with Description of the New Aralosaurin Canardia garonnensis". PLoS ONE. 8 (7): e69835. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0069835. PMC 3724916. PMID 23922815.
  4. Cruzado-Caballero, P. L.; Canudo, J. I.; Moreno-Azanza, M.; Ruiz-Omeñaca, J. I. (2013). "New material and phylogenetic position of Arenysaurus ardevoli, a lambeosaurine dinosaur from the late Maastrichtian of Arén (northern Spain)". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 33 (6): 1367–1384. doi:10.1080/02724634.2013.772061.


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