Large theropod teeth from the Upper Cretaceous of Guangdong Province, Southern China

Abstract

Cretaceous dinosaur and other terrestrial tetrapod fossils are common throughout Guangdong Province (southern China), with the greatest documented concentrations in the Heyuan and Nanxiong basins and the Ganzhou area. Further south, the Sanshui Basin has a continuous Lower Cretaceous-Eocene sequence. Within the Sanshui Basin, abundant ostracod and mollusk fossils have been documented from the Upper Cretaceous sediments, but vertebrae fossils are rare. Here we report four isolated teeth collected from the Maastrichtian of the Sanshui Basin. Although fragmentary, the teeth can be confidently referred to the Tyrannosauroidea. These teeth constitute the first record of large theropods in southern Guangdong and are also the southernmost record of tyrannosauroids in China.