New dinosaur species discovered in Spain thanks to fossil fragments

A right jaw bone, one tooth, and five vertebrae were among the fossil fragments discovered. The authors estimate the specimen was 10 to 11 meters long based on the skeletal remains. 

After a thorough analysis of the other known spinosaurid specimens, the authors concluded that the fossil belonged to a new species as well as a new genus of spinosaurids. 

Spinosaurids were large, carnivorous dinosaurs that walked on two legs. The study notes that the group consumed fish and lived in and around water. However, it is unknown whether they swam.  

The new study sheds light on the origin of spinosaurids. The new findings are significant because the only proof of their existence in Spain came from fossilized tooth remains. And to date, the majority of the recovered have been found in incomplete form.

This study adds to the evidence that spinosaurids originated in Europe. “The authors propose that this new species may indicate that spinosaurids appeared during the Early Cretaceous in Laurasia—a large area of land in the northern hemisphere—with two sub-groups of species occupying western Europe,” noted the official statement. 

Spinosaurids may have eventually migrated to Africa and Asia, where they diversified.

The study is led by Dr. Andrés Santos‑Cubedo from the UOC Open University of Catalonia in Barcelona. The results have been published in the journal Scientific Reports. 

Study abstract:

A new spinosaurid genus and species is described based on the right maxilla and five caudal vertebrae of a single specimen from the Arcillas de Morella Formation (Early Cretaceous) at the locality of Cinctorres (Castellón, Spain). Protathlitis cinctorrensis gen. et sp. nov. is diagnosed by one autapomorphic feature as well as by a unique combination of characters. The autapomorphy includes a subcircular depression in the anterior corner of the antorbital fossa in the maxilla. The new Iberian species is recovered as a basal baryonychine. The recognition of Protathlitis cinctorrensis gen. et sp. nov. as the first baryonychine dinosaur species identified from the Arcillas de Morella Formation (late Barremian) from the same time as Vallibonavenatrix cani, the first spinosaurine dinosaur from the same formation in the Morella subbasin (Maestrat Basin, eastern Spain), indicates that the Iberian Peninsula was home to a highly diverse assemblage of medium-to-large bodied spinosaurid dinosaurs. It seems that spinosaurids appeared during the Early Cretaceous in Laurasia, with the two subfamilies occupying the western part of Europe during this period. Later, during the Barremian–Aptian, they migrated to Africa and Asia, where they would diversify. In Europe, baryonychines were dominant, while in Africa, spinosaurines were most abundant.