Nuevos restos de ornitópodo (Ornithischia: Ankylopollexia) del Jurásico Superior de Tazones, Asturias (Formación Tereñes)

Abstract

Two dorsal vertebral centra of an ornithopod dinosaur from the Late Jurassic of the Principality of Asturias (north Spain) are described. They come from an outcrop of the Tereñes Formation (Kimmeridgian) at Tazones harbour (Villaviciosa). They are identified as a juvenile indeterminate ankylopollexian. The vertebrae are the first dinosaur bony remains found to date in the Tereñes Formation, where dinosaur footprints are, on the other hand, very abundant. We estimate that the owner of the vertebrae was 4.6-5 meters in total length. When adult, the Tazones ankylopollexian were capable of make the big ornithopod footprints recovered in the Kimmeridgian-Tithonian of both Asturias and Portugal, made by individuals up to 2.8 m in hip height (~7.8 m of total length)