Blasisaurus

Blasisaurus Temporal range: Late Cretaceous, 66 Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N ↓
Skull fossils
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Clade:	Dinosauria
Clade:	†Ornithischia
Clade:	†Neornithischia
Clade:	†Ornithopoda
Family:	†Hadrosauridae
Subfamily:	†Lambeosaurinae
Tribe:	†Arenysaurini
Genus:	†Blasisaurus Cruzado-Caballero et al., 2010
Type species
†Blasisaurus canudoi Cruzado-Caballero et al., 2010

Blasisaurus is a genus of lambeosaurine hadrosaurid dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous. It is known from a partial skull and skeleton found in late Maastrichtian-age rocks of Spain.^[1] The type species is Blasisaurus canudoi, described in 2010 by Penélope Cruzado-Caballero, Xabier Pereda-Suberbiola and José Ignacio Ruiz-Omeñaca, a group of researchers from Spain.

Naming and discovery

The generic name refers to the Blasi 1 site where the fossil was found. The specific epithet honours paleontologist José Ignacio Canudo.^[1] The holotype, MPZ99/667, is housed in Huesca. It was found in a layer of the Arén Formation dating from the upper Maastrichtian, about 66 million years ago.^[1] It consists of a skull with fragmentary lower jaws.^[1]

Description

Life restoration

Blasisaurus was a medium-sized ornithopod. Its describers identified two distinct features: the cheekbone has a rear projection with a hook-shaped upper edge and the lower sleep window^{[clarification needed]} is narrow and D-shaped.^[1] From the same formation is Arenysaurus, a related species. They are distinguished by the shape of the teeth and missing secondary ridges. Blasisaurus also differs from Koutalisaurus by a downward bent front edge of the lower jaw.^[1]

Phylogeny

Blasisaurus' discoverers performed an exact cladistic analysis to determine its phylogenetic position, which placed it as the sister taxon to Arenysaurus.^[1] Together they form a tribe, the Arenysaurini, that is more derived than Tsintaosaurus and Jaxartosaurus.^[1] Blasisaurus confirmed the hypothesis that, in the Late Cretaceous, different hadrosaurids from Asia and Europe migrated across land bridges.^[1] Where in Lambeosaurinae Blasisaurus and Arenysaurus belong is disputed. Some put them in the tribe Lambeosaurini^[2] at the base of the lambeosaurin-parasaurolophin split,^[1] some in Parasaurolophini.^[3] Below is the most recent cladogram including Blasisaurus and Arenysaurus, published by Penélope Cruzado-Caballero et al. in 2013:^[3]

Hadrosauridae

Gryposaurus notabilis Aralosaurus tuberiferus Lambeosaurinae Pararhabdodon isonensis Tsintaosaurus spinorhinus Jaxartosaurus aralensis Amurosaurus riabinini Sahaliyania elunchunorum Parasaurolophini Charonosaurus jiayinensis Blasisaurus canudoi Arenysaurus ardevoli Parasaurolophus Parasaurolophus cyrtocristatus Parasaurolophus tubicen Parasaurolophus walkeri Lambeosaurini Lambeosaurus Lambeosaurus magnicristatus Lambeosaurus lambei Velafrons coahuilensis Hypacrosaurus altispinus Hypacrosaurus stebingeri Olorotitan arharensis Corythosaurus casuarius

See also

• Timeline of hadrosaur research

References

1. Cruzado-Caballero, Penélope; Xabier Pereda-Suberbiola; José Ignacio Ruiz-Omeñaca (2010). "Blasisaurus canudoi gen. et sp. nov., a new lambeosaurine dinosaur (Hadrosauridae) from the Latest Cretaceous of Arén (Huesca, Spain)". Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences. 47 (12): 1507–1517. Bibcode:2010CaJES..47.1507S. doi:10.1139/E10-081.^{[permanent dead link‍]}
2. Prieto-Márquez, A.; Dalla Vecchia, F. M.; Gaete, R.; Galobart, À. (2013). Dodson, Peter (ed.). "Diversity, Relationships, and Biogeography of the Lambeosaurine Dinosaurs from the European Archipelago, with Description of the New Aralosaurin Canardia garonnensis". PLOS ONE. 8 (7): e69835. Bibcode:2013PLoSO...869835P. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0069835. PMC 3724916. PMID 23922815.
3. Cruzado-Caballero, P. L.; Canudo, J. I.; Moreno-Azanza, M.; Ruiz-Omeñaca, J. I. (2013). "New material and phylogenetic position of Arenysaurus ardevoli, a lambeosaurine dinosaur from the late Maastrichtian of Arén (northern Spain)". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 33 (6): 1367–1384. Bibcode:2013JVPal..33.1367C. doi:10.1080/02724634.2013.772061. S2CID 86453373.