Turiasauria

Paleobiogeography

Turiasaurs were initially considered confined to Europe, with Turiasaurus from Spain and Zby from Portugal,^[8] and the tooth taxa Cardiodon, Neosodon, and Oplosaurus were referred to the clade, but additional members were found in North America and Africa. Heart-shaped teeth are considered a synapomorphy of the turiasauria. Recently a heart shaped tooth found from the Jaisalmer Formation confirmed the presence of this clade in India during the Middle Jurassic (Bathonian).^[9] Together with the Narindasaurus from the Bathonian of Madagascar, these are the oldest records of the group. It is therefore suggested that Turiasauria might have originated in Gondwana during the Middle Jurassic.^[9] A tooth discovered in the Lower Pliensbachian (Lower Jurassic) Hasle Formation of Bornholm, NHMD 1185136, was also referred to the family, being, if truly a member, 17 My older than any previously known turiasaur.^[1]

North American Mierasaurus and Moabosaurus from the Early Cretaceous are also considered to be turiasaurs.^[3]

Remains of a very large species of turiasaur, not yet formally identified, have recently been unearthed from the earliest Cretaceous (Berriasian) aged Angeac-Charente bonebed in western France.^[10][11]

Indeterminate turiasaur material, consisting of a single vertebra, has been described from an unknown locality in the Early Cretaceous Wealden Group of England.^[12]

Classification

Turiasaurus demonstrates that the evolution of enormous body size was not restricted to neosauropod clades such as the Diplodocidae and Titanosauria, but developed independently at least once in a lineage of more basal sauropods, the turiasaurians.

A 2009 thesis published by José Barco proposed that neither Galvesaurus nor Losillasaurus were turiasaurians.^[13] Later, a master thesis by Francisco Gascó (2009) and Royo-Torres et al. (2009) reaffirmed the validity of Turiasauria.^[14][15]

References