Dinosaur Innovation: Discovery of Qunkasaura in Lo Hueco

discovery of a new dinosaur species in Lo Hueco

A new taxonomic_group of dinosaur , Qunkasaura pintiquiniestra gen . et sp . nov , has been detect in the late Campanian - early Maastrichtian Margas , arcillas y yesos de Villalba de la Sierra Formation in Lo Hueco , Fuentes , Cuenca , Castilla - La Mancha , central Spain . The dodo site of Lo Hueco is know for its rich_people paleontological findings and has yield a partial_derivative skeleton of this new dinosaur species , mention to as HUE - EC-04.

The Qunkasaura pintiquiniestra is a Lithostrotian titanosaur belonging to the sauropod group . The dinosaur is phylogenetically specify as Saltasaurus loricatus , Lohuecotitan pandafilandi , their most Holocene park ancestor , and all its descendants . The discovery of this new dinosaur species attention_deficit_disorder to the diverseness of sauropod know from the late Cretaceous period.

The alone feature of Qunkasaura include autapomorphies such as round and fundamental epipophyses in buttocks cervical vertebra , concave postzygapophyseal aspect in buttocks cervical and front_tooth dorsal vertebra , and a alone combination of fictional_character in its vertebral structure . The dodo remains found at the site include elements from the neck , back , pelvis , and tail of the dinosaur , supply valuable penetration into its anatomy.

The discovery of Qunkasaura expand the cognition of titanosaur in Europe and shed light on the evolutionary history of these massive herbivorous dinosaur . The phylogenetic analysis put Qunkasaura within the Alamosaurus + ( Abditosaurus + Qunkasaura ) clade in the peer weight analysis . In the imply weight analysis , Qunkasaura is group within Opisthocoelicaudiinae , which include Alamosaurus , Opisthocoelicaudia , Abditosaurus , and Qunkasaura.

Overall , the discovery of Qunkasaura pintiquiniestra gen . et sp . nov in Lo Hueco represent an important addition to the dinosaur fauna of the late Cretaceous time_period . The findings supply valuable information about the diverseness and development of sauropod dinosaur in Europe and lend to our understanding of the ancient ecosystem in which these giant reptile once roamed.