The oldest South American occurrence of Spinosauridae (Dinosauria, Theropoda)

Abstract

A new fossil site, called ‘Canafístula 01’, has yielded the first archosaur remains from the Berriasian–Valanginian Feliz Deserto Formation, Sergipe-Alagoas Basin, northeastern Brazil. Most of them comprise crocodylomorph teeth and osteoderms. However, the most remarkable specimen is a partial tooth assigned to Spinosauridae, based on the unique combination of the following features: (1) unfluted root almost as wide as the crown base, with a large pulp cavity; (2) straight and more regularly spaced flutes of the crown, formed by both the enamel and the dentine; and (3) unserrated carina on a mesiodistal plane coinciding with the main plane of curvature of the crown. This is the oldest occurrence of a spinosaurid from South America. In addition, given the unserrated distal carina, this tooth might have closer affinities with the subfamily Spinosaurinae, which would also represent the oldest spinosaurine record worldwide. Thus, the occurrence of a spinosaurid in the Feliz Deserto Formation points to a latent potential for new relevant findings in northeastern Brazil and the necessity for greater collection efforts in this region.