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- Title
A New Sauropod Dinosaur from the Middle Jurassic of the United Kingdom.
- Authors
Manning, Phillip L.; Egerton, Victoria M.; Romano, Mike
- Abstract
A new record of a sauropodomorph dinosaur is here described from the Middle Jurassic (Aalenian) Saltwick Formation of Whitby (Yorkshire), UK. A single caudal vertebra represents an early sauropodomorph and signifies the earliest recognised eusauropod dinosaur from the United Kingdom. The absence of pleurocoels and a narrow, dorsoventrally deep, but craniocaudally short centrum, suggests a primitive sauropodomorph. Distinct spinopostzygopophyseal laminae rise from the lateral margins of the postzygapophyses and pass caudally along what remains of the neural spine, a character unique to a subgroup of sauropods that includes Barapasaurus, Omeisaurus and other neosauropods and eusauropods. The lack of phylogenetically robust characters in sauropod caudal vertebrae usually makes it difficult to establish affinities, but the absence of mild procoely excludes this specimen from both Diplodocoidea and Lithostrotia. The vertebra cannot be further distinguished from those of a wide range of basal sauropods, cetiosaurids and basal macronarians. However, this plesiomorphic vertebra still signifies the earliest stratigraphic occurrence for a British sauropod dinosaur.
- Subjects
UNITED Kingdom; WHITBY (England); SAURISCHIA; SAUROPODOMORPHA; PHYLOGENY; VERTEBRAE
- Publication
PLoS ONE, 2015, Vol 10, Issue 6, p1
- ISSN
1932-6203
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1371/journal.pone.0128107