El fosil de plesiosaruio( Sauropterygia) más antiguo de la Península Ibéricauna vértebra procedente del Hettangiense-Sinemurienese de Asturias

  1. Ruiz Omeñaca, José Ignacio
  2. Bardet, Nathalie
  3. Piñuela Suárez, Laura
  4. Pereda Suberbiola, Xabier
Revista:
Geogaceta

ISSN: 0213-683X

Año de publicación: 2009

Número: 46

Páginas: 79-82

Tipo: Artículo

Otras publicaciones en: Geogaceta

Resumen

In this paper, a pectoral vertebra of a plesiosaur is described. It comes from an exposure of the upper member of the Gijón Formation (lower Hettangian - basal Upper Sinemurian) in the coastal cliffs of the Villar hamlet in the Villaviciosa municipality (Asturias, Northern Spain). The specimen is not diagnostic further away from the superfamily level, and is assigned to a Plesiosauroidea indet. The Villar vertebra is the first vertebrate remain from the Gijón Formation and the oldest Mesozoic vertebrate fossil found in Asturias. Moreover, it represents currently the oldest record of plesiosaurs from the Iberian Peninsula, predating another indeterminate plesiosauroid specimen from the basalmost Pliensbachian of Villaviciosa (Asturias). It also represents the westernmost occurrence of Early Liassic plesiosaurs in the Tethys Ocean.