Palaeobiodiversity of Sauropoda in the Blesa Formation (Lower Cretaceous) at northeast Spain

Abstract

The Blesa Formation is one of the richest formations of the Barremian of the Iberian Peninsula in terms of vertebrate biodiversity. In the La Cantalera-1 site more than 32 vertebrate taxa have been identified, but the only sauropod remains are three isolated teeth related to Euhelopodidae. In this paper, all the sauropod material studied so far in this formation is reviewed and new remains are described. The material comes from different sites in all three depositional sequences of the Blesa Formation. A new tooth, a fragmented cervical vertebra and a caudal vertebra are described in the La Cantalera-1 site and assigned tentatively to Euhelopodidae. One left tibia, one left ischium and one caudal vertebra have been recovered in different fossils sites in the Lower, Middle and Upper Blesa sequences respectively. These new sauropod remains are assigned to Titanosauriformes, the most common group of dinosaurs in the Barremian of the Iberian Peninsula. The isolated character of the fossils precludes more precise taxonomic attributions.