The sediments that emerge in the region of Els Ports de Morella (Castellón) contain an abundant record of dinosaurs from the Lower Cretaceous, about 122 million years ago. In fact, some of the first dinosaur remains found in Spain were discovered in the area of Morella.
In recent years, numerous fossils of Mesozoic vertebrates have been found in the vicinity of the town, some of them with enormous relevance, including an important collection of ornithopod dinosaurs, among which Morelladon beltrani stands out.
In this context, a team of paleontologists has published (September 28, 2023) in the Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society the results of a study that describes a new species of dinosaur that they have named Garumbatitan morellensis, a sauropod that could reach 10 meters in height. The research has been led by Pedro Mocho, from the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Lisbon (Portugal) and is part of the projects developed by the UNED Evolutionary Biology Group in the Morella area, notes SINC. The team that signed the article is Fernando Escaso, José M Gasulla, Àngel Galobart, Begoña Poza, Andrés Santos-Cubedo, José L Sanz and Francisco Ortega.
The new species belongs to the popular group of sauropods, which is made up of quadrupedal herbivores with long tails and necks that could reach colossal dimensions. The remains of this new dinosaur were discovered in the sediments that emerge around the town of Morella.
The material was found in the years 2005 and 2008 at the Sant Antoni de la Vespa site (Morella), where fossil elements of at least four individuals were identified, three of them belonging to the new species.
In this site, one of the largest concentrations of sauropod dinosaur remains from the Lower Cretaceous found so far in all of Europe has been recognized. Sant Antoni de la Vespa thus constitutes a key locality for the study of the dinosaur faunas of Spain in this time interval.
One of the individuals found stands out for its large size, with vertebrae more than 1 meter wide, and a femur that could be close to two meters high. Exceptionally, two almost complete articulated feet were found at the site, which are particularly rare in the fossil record.
The article presents a detailed description of the fossil remains found in Sant Antoni de la Vespa and identifies a set of anatomical characteristics different from those of the rest of the sauropod dinosaurs.
Garumbatitan is characterized by the unique morphology of the femur (the upper leg bone) and the elements of the foot. The femur presents a common morphology in sauropods from the Upper Cretaceous.
On the other hand, this new study analyzes the kinship relationships of Garumbatitan morellensis and the rest of the sauropod dinosaurs from the Lower Cretaceous of the Iberian Peninsula, with the new species described in Morella being one of the most primitive members of a group of sauropods. called Somphospondyli. This group is one of the most diverse and abundant during the Cretaceous and became extinct at the end of the Mesozoic.
Finally, the study reveals the complex evolutionary history of sauropods from the European Cretaceous, particularly from the Iberian Peninsula, with species related to lineages present in Asia and North America, as well as with some groups close to forms on the African continent. This suggests the existence of moments of faunal dispersal between these continents.
The future restoration of the rest of the fossil material found at this site will add key information to understand the initial evolution of the sauropods that will dominate the dinosaur faunas during the millions of years that the Mesozoic era lasts.
The name of the new species Garumbatitan morellensis contains a double reference: Garumbatitan means “the Garumba giant” considering that the specimen was found at the base of the Muela de la Garumba, one of the highest reliefs in the Els Ports region. . The specific name morellensis refers to the locality in which the site is located.
The fossil remains of Garumbatitan morellensis form part of one of the largest collections of vertebrate fossils from the Spanish Mesozoic deposited in the Museum Temps de Dinosaures de Morella and which is part of the Network of Museums of the Generalitat Valenciana.
