new Spanish Spinosaurus, Protathlitis cinctorrensis have been reconstructed of the right maxilla and five caudal vertebrae from one specimen from Morella Clay Formationimportant Depositing vertebrate fossil records and references from the Lower Cretaceous of Europe located in the Port area of ​​Maestrazgo de Els, Castellón, specifically in the town of Cinctorres.

Scientists coordinated by paleontologist and researcher in the field of Crystallography and Mineralogy at the Universitat Jaume I (UJI), Andrés Santos-Cubedo, published their findings in Scientific Report, from the Nature group.

This is an important paleontological discovery because it shows that the origin of this lineage of large lizards that inhabited Western Europe millions of years ago could be in this area.

That spinosaurs or spinosaurids, a family of theropod dinosaurs, were large, bipedal predators that stalked their prey from the water in a manner similar to modern crocodiles. The city of Cinctorres, which gives the name to the new species, was in the Cretaceous period a large estuary and home to this giant lizard.

This new Iberian skink is the first baryonychin dinosaur species to be identified from the Arcillas de Morella Formation (upper Barremian) at the same time as Vallibonavenatrix canithe first spinosaurid dinosaurs from the same formation in the Morella sub-basin, indicating that the Iberian Peninsula was home to a very diverse assemblage of medium to large-bodied spinosaurid dinosaurs,” the authors wrote in the study, of which they were also part of Carlos de Santisteban, Begoña Poza and Sergi Meseguer.

“It appears that the spinosaurids appeared during the Early Cretaceous in Laurasia, and two subfamilies occupied western Europe during this period. Then, during the Barremian period, they migrated into what is now Africa and Asia, where they would diversify. In Europe, the baryonychines dominant, whereas in Africa, spinosaurus was the most abundant.”

Cinctorres is located about 100 km northwest of Castellón de la Plana (Castelón province, eastern Spain) and 12 km from the city of Morella. Geologically they are located in the tectonosedimentary domain of the Iberian Cordillera Link Zone. This fossil site, discovered in 1998 by geologist Ramón Ortí, remained unexcavated until 2002, when a paleontological team consisting of members of the Institut de Paleontology Miquel Crusafont in Sabadell (Barcelona) and the Guix Group in Vila-real (Castellón) unearthed the fossils. First from locality.

The fossil record of the family Spinosauridae is only one contribution to the ongoing debate about the nature and paleobiology of the South American, African, Asian, and European spinosaurids. Spinosaurid remains have been found in western Europe, especially in Portugal, Spain and the United Kingdom, and the most common fossil is that of a tooth “It seems clear that the origin of the family may be in Western Europe (…) and it also seems clear that at least two distinct spinosaurid taxa coexisted in Western Europe during the Barremian All findings seem to indicate that the group originated in Western Europe during the Barremian. Upper Jurassic or Lower Limestone and then spread to Africa and Asia.”

For example, in Iberian Peninsula, spinosaurids remain the most common theropods in the Lower Cretaceous formation and both baryonychines and spinosaurines are documented in areas, such as the Cameros and Maestrazgo basins during the Lower Cretaceous (Barremian-Aptian). During the Barremian-Aptian period, spinosaurids moved from Europe to Africa and diversified there during the Aptian-Cenomanian period. Several migration routes between Gondwana and Laurasia have been suggested during the Early Cretaceous, such as the “Apulian route” or during the Late Cretaceous based on footprints and skeletal remains.

Therefore, the possible scenario is as follows: spinosaurids appeared during the Lower Cretaceous in Europe and diversified, emerging as members of two subfamilies and occupying much of western Europe. Then, during the Barrmian period, they migrated to Africa and Asia, where they diversified again. In Europe, baryonychines were dominant, whereas in Africa, spinosaurs were most abundant.

Sci Rep 13, 6471 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-33418-2