New material and phylogenetic position of Arenysaurus ardevoli, a lambeosaurine dinosaur from the late Maastrichtian of Arén (northern Spain)

ABSTRACT

Arenysaurus ardevoli is a lambeosaurine hadrosaurid from the late Maastrichtian of Arén (Huesca, northern Spain) that has recently been described. The holotype is the first and the most complete lambeosaurine with a braincase from Europe. In this paper, we present a complete description of the postcranial skeleton, which was poorly described when the taxon was named because it was partially unprepared, and new information on several cranial bones (jugal, maxilla, and dentition). A new phylogenetic analysis of Arenysaurus and the closely related Blasisaurus canudoi, also from the late Maastrichtian of Arén, places them inside the Parasaurolophini in a dichotomy with Parasaurolophus spp. Paleobiogeographically, the presence of Arenysaurus and its relationships with other lambeosaurines suggest at least one geodispersal event from Asia to Europe no later than the middle–late Campanian.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Financial support was provided by the Spanish Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (projects CGL2010-16447/BTE), the Gobierno de Aragón (Grupos Consolidados, Departamento de Educación y Cultura; J.I.C., P.C.-C.), and Principado de Asturias (University of Oviedo protocol CN-04-226; J.I.R.-O.). The excavations and restorations of the fossils were subsidized by the Gobierno de Aragón, Diputación Provincial de Huesca, and Ayuntamiento de Arén. We acknowledge T. Gates (Ohio University College of Osteopathic Medicine, Athens, Ohio, and North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina, U.S.A.) and an anonymous reviewer for their comments on the manuscript. The photographs were taken by Z. Herrera (University of Zaragoza). R. Glasgow revised the English grammar.

Handling editor: You Hailu