Evidencias de la coexistencia de dinosaurios hadrosaurinos y lambeosaurinos en el Maastrichtiano superior de la Península Ibérica (Arén, Huesca, España)

Abstract

Evidence of the coexistence of hadrosaurine and lambeosaurine dinosaurs in the upper Maastrichtian of the Iberian Peninsula (Arén, Huesca, Spain). Many cranial and postcranial remains of hadrosaurid ornithopods from the upper Maastrichtian have been recovered in Arén (Huesca, Spain) in the sites Blasi 1–5. Three of these cranial remains, found at Blasi 1 (Arén Formation), and Blasi 4 and 5 (Conques Formation) are jugals and are the only jugals described from Western Europe. The jugals from Arén differ from those of Telmatosaurus transsylvanicus (Nopcsa, 1900) by being these more slender and presenting an anterior process isosceles-triangle-like. The jugals found at Arén are assigned provisionally to the subfamilies Hadrosaurinae (Blasi 5) and Lambeosaurinae (Blasi 1 and 4). The hadrosaurine jugal presents an asymmetrical anterior process along the maxilla-lacrimal contact and a wide jugal neck, while the jugals of lambeosaurines have an anterior process very wide dorsoventrally and symmetric, narrow jugal neck and maxillary process perpendicular to the antero-posterior axis of the jugal. The hadrosaurine from Arén represents the first mention of the subfamily in Europe and, together with the remains of lambeosaurines found in Europe, shows an active interaction with the migratory route existing then between Asia and North America. Remains found in Arén are essential in the knowledge of the phylogenetic relationships and the biogeography of this clade in Europe.