Updating titanosaurian diversity (Sauropoda) from the Late Cretaceous of Spain: the fossil sites of Laño and Chera

Abstract

Three titanosaurian sauropods are well-known from the Campanian-Maastrichtian of the Ibero-Armorican Island (southwestern Europe): Lirainosaurus astibiae from Spain, and Ampelosaurus atacis and Atsinganosaurus velauciensis from France. However, a higher titanosaurian diversity has been suggested for this island, a hypothesis that has gained traction in recent years as a result of new discoveries in fossil sites from Spain and southern France. An estimation of the titanosaurian diversity in the late Campanian-early Maastrichtian of the Iberian Peninsula is made here on the basis of the available information from the three fossil sites that have yielded the best preserved fossil remains: Lano (Condado de Trevino), Chera (Valencia), and Lo Hueco (Cuenca). The results confirm the hypothesis of a higher titanosaurian diversity in the Iberian Peninsula: from one to, at least, three taxa. Moreover, we also suggest the presence of two different titanosaurian morphotypes in the site of Chera, with one of them representing Lirainosaurus