Guaibasaurus

Guaibasaurus Temporal range: Late Triassic, 216.5–212 Ma PreЄ Є O S D C P T J K Pg N ↓
Fossil skeleton (UFRGS PV0725T), with head and neck based on Herrerasaurus
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Order:	Saurischia
Suborder:	†Sauropodomorpha
Family:	†Guaibasauridae
Genus:	†Guaibasaurus Bonaparte et al., 1999
Species:	† G. candelariensis
Binomial name
Guaibasaurus candelariensis Bonaparte et al., 1999

Guaibasaurus is an extinct genus of basal dinosaur known from the Triassic of Rio Grande do Sul, southern Brazil.^[1]

Discovery

Replica of Guaibasaurus at the Museum Aristides Carlos Rodrigues, in Paleorrota geopark.

Guaibasaurus. Replica made by "Clóvis Dapper" in Floriball park in Canela.

Guaibasaurus was originally named on the basis of the holotype, MCN PV2355, a well-preserved partial postcranial skeleton and the paratype, MCN PV2356, an articulated and nearly complete left hindlimb, which were discovered in the "Sesmaria do Pinhal 2" locality near Candelária, Rio Grande do Sul, in Brazil, in the geopark of Paleorrota. Later, two additional specimens were referred to G. candelariensis: UFRGS PV0725T is an articulated and nearly complete postcranial skeleton missing one forelimb, both feet and the neck, and MCN PV 10112 is still being unprepared block containing articulated parts and some isolated elements of which, including a partial hand. The referred materials were collected from the "Linha São Luiz" locality near the town of Faxinal do Soturno, Rio Grande do Sul, also in the geopark of Paleorrota.^[1] All specimen were collected in these two localities from the lower portion of the Caturrita Formation (Rosário do Sul Group, Paraná Basin) or alternatively the uppermost Santa Maria 2 Sequence, dating to the early Norian faunal stage of the Late Triassic, about 216.5-212 million years ago.^[1][2]

Specimen UFRGS PV0725T is articulated with hindlimbs tucked underneath its body and forelimbs flexed to the side. Although most of the neck is not preserved, the vertebrae at the base of the neck are present in UFRGS PV0725T and curve to the left, suggesting the entire neck was curved toward the left side of the body. The posture of this skeleton is similar to the resting position of birds, and is otherwise known only from advanced maniraptoran dinosaurs that are closely related to birds. Like living birds, Guaibasaurus may have rested in this position to conserve body heat.^[3]

Etymology

Guaibasaurus was first named by José F. Bonaparte, Jorge Ferigolo and Ana Maria Ribeiro in 1999 and the type species is Guaibasaurus candelariensis. The generic name is named after the "Rio Guaíba Hydrographic Basin" where the holotype was found as a part of the "Prό-Guaíba Project", a scientific program supporting research on fossils from the Triassic period. The specific name is named after Candelária, a city near the fossil locality in which the holotype was found.^[4]

Phylogeny

José Bonaparte and colleagues, in their 1999 description of the genus, found it to be possible basal theropod and placed it in its own family, Guaibasauridae. Bonaparte and colleagues (2007) found another early Brazilian dinosaur Saturnalia to be very similar to it, and placed the two in the Guaibasauridae which was found to be a primitive saurischian group. Bonaparte found that these forms may have been primitive sauropodomorphs, or an assemblage of forms close to the common ancestor of the sauropodomorphs and theropods. Overall, Bonaparte found that both Saturnalia and Guaibasaurus were more theropod-like than prosauropod-like.^[5] However, all more recent cladistic analyses found the members of Guaibasauridae to be very basal sauropodomorphs,^[6][7][8] except Guaibasaurus itself which was found to be a basal theropod^[1][9] or alternatively a basal sauropodomorph.^[10][11]

References

1. Max C. Langer, Jonathas S. Bittencourt and Cesar L. Schultz (2011). "A reassessment of the basal dinosaur Guaibasaurus candelariensis, from the Late Triassic Caturrita Formation of south Brazil". Earth and Environmental Science Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 101 (3–4): 301–332. doi:10.1017/S175569101102007X.
2. Marina B. Soares, Cesar L. Schultz and Bruno L. D. Horn (2011). "New information on Riograndia guaibensis Bonaparte, Ferigolo & Ribeiro, 2001 (Eucynodontia, Tritheledontidae) from the Late Triassic of southern Brazil: anatomical and biostratigraphic implications" (PDF). Anais da Academia Brasileira de Ciências 83 (1): 329–354. doi:10.1590/S0001-37652011000100021.
3. Agnolin, F.; Martinelli, A.G. (2012). "Guaibasaurus candelariensis (Dinosauria, Saurischia) and the early origin of avian-like resting posture". Alcheringa 36 (2): 263–267. doi:10.1080/03115518.2012.634203.
4. José F. Bonaparte, Jorge Ferigolo and Ana Maria Ribeiro (1999). "A new early Late Triassic saurischian dinosaur from Rio Grande do Sol state, Brazil" (PDF). Proceedings of the Second Gondwanan Dinosaur Symposium, National Science Museum Monographs 15: 89–109.
5. Bonaparte, J.F., Brea, G., Schultz, C.L., and Martinelli, A.G. (2007). "A new specimen of Guaibasaurus candelariensis (basal Saurischia) from the Late Triassic Caturrita Formation of southern Brazil." Historical Biology, 19(1): 73-82.
6. Yates, Adam M. (2007). "The first complete skull of the Triassic dinosaur Melanorosaurus Haughton (Sauropodomorpha: Anchisauria)". In Barrett & Batten (eds.), Evolution and Palaeobiology 77: 9–55. ISBN 978-1-4051-6933-2.
7. Pol D., Garrido A., Cerda I.A. (2011). Farke, Andrew Allen, ed. "A New Sauropodomorph Dinosaur from the Early Jurassic of Patagonia and the Origin and Evolution of the Sauropod-type Sacrum". PLoS ONE 6 (1): e14572. Bibcode:2011PLoSO...614572P. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0014572. PMC 3027623. PMID 21298087.
8. Cecilia Apaldetti, Ricardo N. Martinez, Oscar A. Alcober and Diego Pol (2011). Claessens, Leon, ed. "A New Basal Sauropodomorph (Dinosauria: Saurischia) from Quebrada del Barro Formation (Marayes-El Carrizal Basin), Northwestern Argentina". PLoS ONE 6 (11): e26964. Bibcode:2011PLoSO...626964A. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0026964. PMC 3212523. PMID 22096511.
9. Bittencourt Rodrigues, 2010. Revisao filogenetica dos dinossauriformes basais: Implicacoes para a origem dod dinossauros. Unpublished Doctoral Thesis. Universidade de Sao Paulo. 288 pp.
10. Ezcurra, M. D. (2010). "A new early dinosaur (Saurischia: Sauropodomorpha) from the Late Triassic of Argentina: a reassessment of dinosaur origin and phylogeny". Journal of Systematic Palaeontology 8 (3): 371–425. doi:10.1080/14772019.2010.484650.
11. Fernando E. Novas, Martin D. Ezcurra, Sankar Chatterjee and T. S. Kutty (2011). "New dinosaur species from the Upper Triassic Upper Maleri and Lower Dharmaram formations of central India". Earth and Environmental Science Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 101 (3–4): 333–349. doi:10.1017/S1755691011020093.

External links

• Dinosaurs of Rio grande do Sul.