Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-vdxz6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-24T04:29:44.210Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Skin impressions of the last European dinosaurs

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 September 2016

VÍCTOR FONDEVILLA*
Affiliation:
Departament de Geologia (Estratigrafia), Facultat de Ciències, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Carrer de l'Eix central, 08193, Cerdanyola del Vallès, Barcelona, Spain
BERNAT VILA
Affiliation:
Institut Català de Paleontologia Miquel Crusafont, Carrer de l'Escola Industrial, 23, 08201, Sabadell, Spain Museu de la Conca Dellà, Carrer del Museu, 4, 25650, Isona, Lleida, Spain
ORIOL OMS
Affiliation:
Departament de Geologia (Estratigrafia), Facultat de Ciències, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Carrer de l'Eix central, 08193, Cerdanyola del Vallès, Barcelona, Spain
ÀNGEL GALOBART
Affiliation:
Institut Català de Paleontologia Miquel Crusafont, Carrer de l'Escola Industrial, 23, 08201, Sabadell, Spain Museu de la Conca Dellà, Carrer del Museu, 4, 25650, Isona, Lleida, Spain
*
Author for correspondence: [email protected]/[email protected]

Abstract

Southwestern Europe is one of the best regions for characterizing the dinosaur assemblages that prevailed just before the end-Cretaceous extinction. Aiming to better document this scenario, we provide the first evidence of dinosaur skin impressions in the red-beds of the Tremp Formation (southern Pyrenees). The impressions are assigned to sauropods (probably titanosaurians) on the basis of their scale morphology, arrangement and size. They represent a valuable tool for analysing the last occurrences of the sauropod clade before the K–Pg extinction, as they fall within chron C29r (latest Maastrichtian), thus representing some of the last in situ remains of this clade worldwide.

Type
Rapid Communication
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2016 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bell, P. R. 2012. Standardized terminology and potential taxonomic utility for hadrosaurid skin impressions: a case study for Saurolophus from Canada and Mongolia. PLoS ONE 7 (2), e31295.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bell, P. R. 2014. A review of hadrosaurid skin impressions. In Hadrosaurs (eds Eberth, D. A. & Evans, D. C.), pp. 572–90. Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press.Google Scholar
Blanco, A., Méndez, J. M. & Marmi, J. 2015. The fossil record of the uppermost Maastrichtian Reptile Sandstone (Tremp Formation, northeastern Iberian Peninsula). Spanish Journal of Paleontology 30 (1), 147–60.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brusatte, S. L., Butler, R. J., Barrett, P. M., Carrano, M. T., Evans, D. C., Lloyd, G. T., Mannion, P. D., Norell, M. A., Peppe, D. J., Upchurch, P. & Williamson, T. E. 2015. The extinction of the dinosaurs. Biological Reviews 90 (2), 628–42.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Canudo, J. I., Oms, O., Vila, B., Galobart, À., Fondevilla, V., Puértolas-Pascual, E., Sellés, A. G., Cruzado-Caballero, P., Dinarès-Turrell, J., Vicens, E., Castanera, D., Company, J., Burrel, L., Estrada, R., Marmi, J. & Blanco, A. 2016. The upper Maastrichtian dinosaur fossil record from the southern Pyrenees and its contribution to the topic of the Cretaceous–Palaeogene mass extinction event. Cretaceous Research 57, 540–51.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chiappe, L. M., Coria, R. A., Dingus, L., Jackson, F., & Chinsamy, A. & Fox, M. 1998. Sauropod dinosaur embryos from the Late Cretaceous of Patagonia. Nature 396 (6708), 258–61.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Christiansen, N. A. & Tschopp, E. 2010. Exceptional stegosaur integument impressions from the Upper Jurassic Morrison Formation of Wyoming. Swiss Journal of Geosciences 103, 163–71.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Csiki-Sava, Z., Buffetaut, E., Osi, A., Perea-Suberbiola, X. & Brusatte, S. L. 2015. Island life in the Cretaceous – faunal composition, biogeography, evolution, and extinction of land-living vertebrates on the Late Cretaceous European archipelago. Zookeys 469, 1161.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Currie, P. J., Badamgarav, D. & Koppelhus, E. B. 2003. The first late Cretaceous footprints from the Nemegt locality in the Gobi of Mongolia. Ichnos 10, 113.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Czerkas, S. 1994. The history and interpretation of sauropod skin impressions. Gaia 10, 173–82.Google Scholar
Czerkas, S.A. 1997. Skin. In Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs (eds Currie, P. J. & Padian, K.), pp. 669–75. San Diego: Academic Press.Google Scholar
del Valle Giménez, O. 2007. Skin impressions of Tehuelchesaurus (Sauropoda) from the Upper Jurassic of Patagonia. Revista del Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales nueva serie 9 (2), 119–24.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Foster, J. R. & Hunt-Foster, R. 2011. New occurrences of dinosaur skin of two types (Sauropoda? and Dinosauria Indet.) from the Late Jurassic of North America (Mygatt-Moore Quarry, Morrison Formation). Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 31 (3), 717–21.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
García Ramos, J. C., Lires, J. & Piñuela, L. 2002. Dinosaurios: rutas por el Jurásico de Asturias. Group Zeta in conjunction with La Voz de Asturias, Asturias, 204 pp.Google Scholar
Gates, T. A. & Farke, A. A. 2009. Biostratigraphic and biogeographic implications of a hadrosaurid (Ornithopoda: Dinosauria) from the Upper Cretaceous Almond Formation of Wyoming, USA. Cretaceous Research 30, 1157–63.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Herrero, L. & Farke, A. A. 2010. Hadrosaurid dinosaur skin impressions from the Upper Cretaceous Kaiparowits Formation of southern Utah, USA. PalArch's Journal of Vertebrate Palaeontology 7, 17.Google Scholar
Kim, J. Y., Kim, K. S., Lockley, M. G. & Seo, J. S. 2010. Dinosaur skin impressions from the Cretaceous of Korea: new insights into modes of preservation. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 293, 167–74.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lockley, M. G., García Ramos, J. C., Piñuela, L. & Avanzini, M. 2008. A review of vertebrate track assemblages from the Late Jurassic of Asturias, Spain with comparative notes on coeval ichnofaunas from the western USA: implications for faunal diversity in siliciclastic facies assemblages. Oryctos 8, 5370.Google Scholar
Lockley, M. G., Houck, K., Yang, S-Y., Matsukawa, M., Lim, S.-K., García Ramos, J. C., Piñuela, L. & Avanzini, M. 2006. Dinosaur-dominated footprint assemblages from the Cretaceous Jindong Formation, Hallyo Haesang National Park area, Goseong County, South Korea: evidence and implications. Cretaceous Research 27, 70101.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lockley, M. G., Nadon, G. & Currie, P. J. 2003. A diverse dinosaur-bird footprint assemblage from the Lance Formation, Upper Cretaceous, Eastern Wyoming: implications for ichnotaxonomy. Ichnos 11, 229–49.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Manning, P. L., Morris, P. M., McMahon, A., Jones, E., Gize, A., Macquaker, J. H. S., Wolff, G., Thompson, A., Marshall, J., Taylor, K. G., Lyson, T., Gaskell, S., Reamtong, O., Sellers, W. I., van Dongen, B. E., Buckley, M. & Wogelius, R. A. 2009. Mineralized soft-tissue structure and chemistry in a mummified hadrosaur from the Hell Creek Formation, North Dakota (USA). Proceedings of the Royal Society B 276, 3429–37.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mateus, O. & Milàn, J. 2010. A diverse dinosaur ichnofauna from central-west Portugal. Lethaia 43, 245–57.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Murphy, N. L., Trexler, D. & Thompson, M. 2007. “Leonardo,” a mummified Brachylophosaurus from the Judith River Formation. In Horns and Beaks: Ceratopsian and Ornithopod Dinosaurs (ed. Carpenter, K.), pp. 117–33. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.Google Scholar
Navarrete, R., Liesa, C. L., Castanera, D., Soria, A. R., Rodríguez-López, J. P. & Canudo, J. I. 2014. A thick Tethyan multi-bed tsunami deposit preserving a dinosaur megatracksite within a coastal lagoon (Barremian, eastern Spain). Sedimentary Geology 313, 105–27.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Oms, O., Dinarès-Turell, J., Vicens, E., Estrada, R., Vila, B., Galobart, À. & Bravo, A. M. 2007. Integrated stratigraphy from the Vallcebre Basin (southeastern Pyrenees, Spain): new insights on the continental Cretaceous–Tertiary transition in southwest Europe. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 255, 3547.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pereda-Suberbiola, X., Ruiz-Omeñaca, J. I. & Company, J. 2003. Los dinosaurios hadrosaurios del registro ibérico. Descripción de nuevo material del Cretácico superior de Laño (Condado de Treviño). In Dinosaurios y otros reptiles mesozoicos en España, vol. 26 (ed. Pérez-Lorente, F.), pp. 375–88. Logroño: Instituto de Estudios Riojanos (IER).Google Scholar
Platt, B. F. & Hasiotis, S. T. 2006. Newly discovered sauropod dinosaur tracks with skin and foot-pad impressions from the Upper Jurassic Morrison Formation, Bighorn Basin, Wyoming, U.S.A. Palaios 21 (3), 249–61.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Riera, V., Oms, O., Gaete, R. & Galobart, À. 2009. The end-Cretaceous dinosaur succession in Europe: the Tremp basin record (Spain). Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 283, 160–71.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Romano, M. & Whyte, M. A. 2012. Information on the foot morphology, pedal skin texture and limb dynamics of sauropods: evidence from the ichnological record of the Middle Jurassic of the Cleveland basin, Yorkshire, UK. Zubia 30, 4592.Google Scholar
Rosell, J., Linares, R. & Llompart, C. 2001. El “Garumniense” Prepirenaico. Revista de la Sociedad Geológica de España 14, 4756.Google Scholar
Seilacher, A. 2007. Trace Fossils Analysis. Berlin : Springer Science & Business Media, 226 pp.Google Scholar
Sellés, A. G., Marmi, J., Llácer, S. & Blanco, A. 2015. The youngest sauropod evidence in Europe. Historical Biology, 111, published online 21 July 2015. doi: 10.1080/08912963.2015.1059834.Google Scholar
Sellés, A. G. & Vila, B. 2015. Re-evaluation of the age of some dinosaur localities from the southern Pyrenees by means of megaloolithid oospecies. Journal of Iberian Geology 41 (1), 125–39.Google Scholar
Sternberg, C. M. 1935. Hooded hadrosaurs of the Belly River Series of the Upper Cretaceous. National Museum of Canada Bulletin 77, 138.Google Scholar
Upchurch, P., Mannion, P. D. & Taylor, M. P. 2015. The anatomy and phylogenetic relationships of “Pelorosaurus” becklesii (Neosauropoda, Macronaria) from the Early Cretaceous of England. PLOS ONE 10 (6), e0125819.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Vicente, A., Martín-Closas, C., Arz, J. A. & Oms, O. 2015. Maastrichtian-basal Paleocene charophyte biozonation and its calibration to the Global Polarity Time Scale in the southern Pyrenees (Catalonia, Spain). Cretaceous Research 52, 268–85.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vila, B., Galobart, À., Canudo, J. I., Le Loeuff, J., Dinarès-Turell, J., Riera, V., Oms, O., Tortosa, T. & Gaete, R. 2012. The diversity of sauropod dinosaurs and their first taxonomic succession from the latest Cretaceous strata of Southwestern Europe: clues to demise and extinction. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 350–352, 1938.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vila, B., Oms, O., Fondevilla, V., Gaete, R., Galobart, À., Riera, V. & Canudo, J. I. 2013. The latest succession of dinosaur tracksites in Europe: hadrosaur ichnology, track production and palaeoenvironments. PLOS ONE 8 (9), e72579.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Vila, B., Oms, O. & Galobart, À. 2005. Manus-only titanosaurid trackway from Fumanya (Maastrichtian, Pyrenees): further evidence for an underprint origin. Lethaia 38, 211–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vila, B., Sellés, A. G. & Brusatte, S. L. 2016. Diversity and faunal changes in the latest Cretaceous dinosaur communities of south-western Europe. Cretaceous Research 57, 552–64.CrossRefGoogle Scholar