Second specimen of the Late Cretaceous Australian sauropod dinosaur Diamantinasaurus matildae provides new anatomical information on the skull and neck of early titanosaurs
The titanosaurian sauropod dinosaur Diamantinasaurus matildae is represented by two individuals from the Cenomanian-lower Turonian 'upper' Winton Formation of central Queensland, north-eastern Australia. The type specimen has been described in detail, whereas the referred specimen, which i...
Published in: | Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society |
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Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
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Oxford University Press (OUP)
2021
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Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/1959.3/461485 https://doi.org/10.1093/zoolinnean/zlaa173 |
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ftswinburne:tle:4f9a99b5-8a38-436b-b583-f3b4c6aeefa6:28f49f06-0da8-44be-9edc-ad1dd0a9c582:1 2023-05-15T14:05:10+02:00 Second specimen of the Late Cretaceous Australian sauropod dinosaur Diamantinasaurus matildae provides new anatomical information on the skull and neck of early titanosaurs Poropat, Stephen F. Kundrát, Martin Mannion, Philip D. Upchurch, Paul Tischler, Travis R. Elliott, David A. Swinburne University of Technology 2021 http://hdl.handle.net/1959.3/461485 https://doi.org/10.1093/zoolinnean/zlaa173 unknown Oxford University Press (OUP) http://hdl.handle.net/1959.3/461485 https://doi.org/10.1093/zoolinnean/zlaa173 Copyright © 2021 Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, Vol. 192, no. 2 (May 2021), pp. 610-674 Journal article 2021 ftswinburne https://doi.org/10.1093/zoolinnean/zlaa173 2021-06-21T22:25:53Z The titanosaurian sauropod dinosaur Diamantinasaurus matildae is represented by two individuals from the Cenomanian-lower Turonian 'upper' Winton Formation of central Queensland, north-eastern Australia. The type specimen has been described in detail, whereas the referred specimen, which includes several elements not present in the type series (partial skull, atlas, axis and postaxial cervical vertebrae), has only been described briefly. Herein, we provide a comprehensive description of this referred specimen, including a thorough assessment of the external and internal anatomy of the braincase, and identify several new autapomorphies of D. matildae. Via an expanded data matrix consisting of 125 taxa scored for 552 characters, we recover a close, well-supported relationship between Diamantinasaurus and its contemporary, Savannasaurus elliottorum. Unlike previous iterations of this data matrix, under a parsimony framework we consistently recover Diamantinasaurus and Savannasaurus as early-diverging members of Titanosauria using both equal weighting and extended implied weighting, with the overall topology largely consistent between analyses. We erect a new clade, named Diamantinasauria herein, that also includes the contemporaneous Sarmientosaurus musacchioi from southern Argentina, which shares several cranial features with the referred Diamantinasaurus specimen. Thus, Diamantinasauria is represented in the mid-Cretaceous of both South America and Australia, supporting the hypothesis that some titanosaurians, in addition to megaraptoran theropods and possibly some ornithopods, were able to disperse between these two continents via Antarctica. Conversely, there is no evidence for rebbachisaurids in Australia, which might indicate that they were unable to expand into high latitudes before their extinction in the Cenomanian-Turonian. Likewise, there is no evidence for titanosaurs with procoelous caudal vertebrae in the mid-Cretaceous Australian record, despite scarce but compelling evidence for their presence in both Antarctica and New Zealand during the Campanian-Maastrichtian. These later titanosaurs presumably dispersed into these landmasses from South America before the Campanian (~85 Mya), when seafloor spreading between Zealandia and Australia commenced. Although Australian mid-Cretaceous dinosaur faunas appear to be cosmopolitan at higher taxonomic levels, closer affinities with South America at finer scales are becoming better supported for sauropods, theropods and ornithopods. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctica Swinburne University of Technology: Swinburne Research Bank Argentina New Zealand Queensland Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 192 2 610 674 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Swinburne University of Technology: Swinburne Research Bank |
op_collection_id |
ftswinburne |
language |
unknown |
description |
The titanosaurian sauropod dinosaur Diamantinasaurus matildae is represented by two individuals from the Cenomanian-lower Turonian 'upper' Winton Formation of central Queensland, north-eastern Australia. The type specimen has been described in detail, whereas the referred specimen, which includes several elements not present in the type series (partial skull, atlas, axis and postaxial cervical vertebrae), has only been described briefly. Herein, we provide a comprehensive description of this referred specimen, including a thorough assessment of the external and internal anatomy of the braincase, and identify several new autapomorphies of D. matildae. Via an expanded data matrix consisting of 125 taxa scored for 552 characters, we recover a close, well-supported relationship between Diamantinasaurus and its contemporary, Savannasaurus elliottorum. Unlike previous iterations of this data matrix, under a parsimony framework we consistently recover Diamantinasaurus and Savannasaurus as early-diverging members of Titanosauria using both equal weighting and extended implied weighting, with the overall topology largely consistent between analyses. We erect a new clade, named Diamantinasauria herein, that also includes the contemporaneous Sarmientosaurus musacchioi from southern Argentina, which shares several cranial features with the referred Diamantinasaurus specimen. Thus, Diamantinasauria is represented in the mid-Cretaceous of both South America and Australia, supporting the hypothesis that some titanosaurians, in addition to megaraptoran theropods and possibly some ornithopods, were able to disperse between these two continents via Antarctica. Conversely, there is no evidence for rebbachisaurids in Australia, which might indicate that they were unable to expand into high latitudes before their extinction in the Cenomanian-Turonian. Likewise, there is no evidence for titanosaurs with procoelous caudal vertebrae in the mid-Cretaceous Australian record, despite scarce but compelling evidence for their presence in both Antarctica and New Zealand during the Campanian-Maastrichtian. These later titanosaurs presumably dispersed into these landmasses from South America before the Campanian (~85 Mya), when seafloor spreading between Zealandia and Australia commenced. Although Australian mid-Cretaceous dinosaur faunas appear to be cosmopolitan at higher taxonomic levels, closer affinities with South America at finer scales are becoming better supported for sauropods, theropods and ornithopods. |
author2 |
Swinburne University of Technology |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Poropat, Stephen F. Kundrát, Martin Mannion, Philip D. Upchurch, Paul Tischler, Travis R. Elliott, David A. |
spellingShingle |
Poropat, Stephen F. Kundrát, Martin Mannion, Philip D. Upchurch, Paul Tischler, Travis R. Elliott, David A. Second specimen of the Late Cretaceous Australian sauropod dinosaur Diamantinasaurus matildae provides new anatomical information on the skull and neck of early titanosaurs |
author_facet |
Poropat, Stephen F. Kundrát, Martin Mannion, Philip D. Upchurch, Paul Tischler, Travis R. Elliott, David A. |
author_sort |
Poropat, Stephen F. |
title |
Second specimen of the Late Cretaceous Australian sauropod dinosaur Diamantinasaurus matildae provides new anatomical information on the skull and neck of early titanosaurs |
title_short |
Second specimen of the Late Cretaceous Australian sauropod dinosaur Diamantinasaurus matildae provides new anatomical information on the skull and neck of early titanosaurs |
title_full |
Second specimen of the Late Cretaceous Australian sauropod dinosaur Diamantinasaurus matildae provides new anatomical information on the skull and neck of early titanosaurs |
title_fullStr |
Second specimen of the Late Cretaceous Australian sauropod dinosaur Diamantinasaurus matildae provides new anatomical information on the skull and neck of early titanosaurs |
title_full_unstemmed |
Second specimen of the Late Cretaceous Australian sauropod dinosaur Diamantinasaurus matildae provides new anatomical information on the skull and neck of early titanosaurs |
title_sort |
second specimen of the late cretaceous australian sauropod dinosaur diamantinasaurus matildae provides new anatomical information on the skull and neck of early titanosaurs |
publisher |
Oxford University Press (OUP) |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/1959.3/461485 https://doi.org/10.1093/zoolinnean/zlaa173 |
geographic |
Argentina New Zealand Queensland |
geographic_facet |
Argentina New Zealand Queensland |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctica |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctica |
op_source |
Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, Vol. 192, no. 2 (May 2021), pp. 610-674 |
op_relation |
http://hdl.handle.net/1959.3/461485 https://doi.org/10.1093/zoolinnean/zlaa173 |
op_rights |
Copyright © 2021 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1093/zoolinnean/zlaa173 |
container_title |
Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society |
container_volume |
192 |
container_issue |
2 |
container_start_page |
610 |
op_container_end_page |
674 |
_version_ |
1766276876890800128 |