Dentes de terópodes da Formação Marília (Neomaastrichtiano) do sítio paleontológico de Peirópolis do estado de Minas Gerais, Brasil

Abstract

Theropods comprise the most common vertebrate remains in the fossil assemblage from the Serra da Galga Member, Marília Formation (late Maastrichtian) in the Bauru Basin Peirópolis paleontological site (Uberaba Town, Minas Gerais State), in southeastern Brazil. In this study, cross-sectional outlines of the teeth and wrinkles on the surfaces of the crowns were used to group the teeth into nine morphological classes. The tooth cross-sections were drawn using a copper wire to contour the outlines of the most proximal portions of the tooth crowns. Other features were analyzed using a microscope. Within the nine morphological classes, morphotypes one and two can be assigned to the Abelisauridae, and morphotypes three to seven belong to the Carcharodontosauridae. This is the most abundant record of Abelisauridae in Minas Gerais State, Brazil. Morphotypes eight and nine were not identified because they do not have any diagnostic features of known Gondwanan or Laurasian taxa. The presence of Carcharodontosauridae teeth in the Member of Serra da Galga (late Maastrichtian) is the youngest record for this family.