A new primitive Neornithischian dinosaur from the Jurassic of Patagonia with gut contents

We describe a new species of an ornithischian dinosaur, Isaberrysaura mollensis gen. et sp. nov. The specimen, consisting in an almost complete skull and incomplete postcranium was collected from the marine-deltaic deposits of the Los Molles Formation (Toarcian-Bajocian), being the first reported di...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Scientific reports 2017-02, Vol.7 (1), p.42778-42778, Article 42778
Main Authors: Salgado, Leonardo, Canudo, José I., Garrido, Alberto C., Moreno-Azanza, Miguel, Martínez, Leandro C. A., Coria, Rodolfo A., Gasca, José M.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
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Animals
Dinosaurs
Dinosaurs - anatomy & histology
Dinosaurs - physiology
Fossils - anatomy & histology
Herbivory
Humanities and Social Sciences
Intestines - anatomy & histology
Jurassic
multidisciplinary
New species
Phylogeny
Science
Seed dispersal
Stomach
Thorax
Thorax - anatomy & histology
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Summary:We describe a new species of an ornithischian dinosaur, Isaberrysaura mollensis gen. et sp. nov. The specimen, consisting in an almost complete skull and incomplete postcranium was collected from the marine-deltaic deposits of the Los Molles Formation (Toarcian-Bajocian), being the first reported dinosaur for this unit, one of the oldest from Neuquén Basin, and the first neornithischian dinosaur known from the Jurassic of South America. Despite showing a general stegosaurian appearance, the extensive phylogenetic analysis carried out depicts Isaberrysaura mollensis gen. et sp. nov. as a basal ornithopod, suggesting that both Thyreophora and neornithischians could have achieved significant convergent features. The specimen was preserved articulated and with some of its gut content place in the middle-posterior part of the thoracic cavity. Such stomach content was identified as seeds, most of them belonging to the Cycadales group. This finding reveals a possible and unexpected role of this ornithischian species as seed-dispersal agent.
ISSN:2045-2322
2045-2322
DOI:10.1038/srep42778