Macrocollum axial skeleton osteology + turiasaur tooth from Middle Jurassic of India
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Ben Creisler
Apr 7, 2026, 11:09:17 AMApr 7
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Ben Creisler
New sauropodomorph papers:
André O Fonseca, Fabiula P de Bem, Vitória Z Dalle-Laste, Maurício S Garcia & Rodrigo T Müller (2026)
Osteology of the axial skeleton of Macrocollum itaquii (Dinosauria: Sauropodomorpha) and its implications for early sauropodomorph cervicalization
Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 206(4): zlag034
doi: https://doi.org/10.1093/zoolinnean/zlag034
https://academic.oup.com/zoolinnean/article-abstract/206/4/zlag034/8614670
Macrocollum itaquii represents one of the most complete early-diverging sauropodomorphs ever described. The skeletons of Macrocollum itaquii were excavated from the Early Norian beds of the Candelária Sequence, southern Brazil. Therefore, its stratigraphic position, between the earliest Carnian forms and the typical sauropodomorphs of the Late Norian, provides a rare glimpse into a crucial evolutionary moment for the group. Despite its completeness, the axial skeleton of Macrocollum has not been described in detail until now. Given the significant role of the axial skeleton in the evolutionary history of sauropodomorphs, the osteology of the axial column of Macrocollum itaquii is described here. Congruent with its stratigraphic position, the axial skeleton combines derived (e.g. highly elongated neck, pneumatic features, and convex projection of dorsal neural spine) and plesiomorphic (e.g. nine cervical vertebrae and three sacral vertebrae) traits. The remarkable preservation of the type series allows for the evaluation of the third record of an articulated gastral apparatus in non-sauropod sauropodomorphs. An updated phylogenetic analysis reinforces the position of Macrocollum and unaysaurids as part of an earlier radiation than the typical ‘prosauropods’ and outside Plateosauria, yet branching later than all Carnian sauropodomorphs.
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Triparna Ghosh, Matthew T. Carrano, Advait M. Jukar, Edward L. Stanley, Krishna Kumar & Sunil Bajpai (2026)
A new turiasaur (Dinosauria, Eusauropoda) specimen from the Middle Jurassic of India
Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology e2618183
doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/02724634.2026.2618183
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02724634.2026.2618183
Turiasaurs are large-bodied eusauropods found in Early Jurassic to Early Cretaceous deposits across Gondwana and Laurasia. However, their early history is poorly known. Here, we report a lower-middle Bathonian turiasaur tooth from the Jaisalmer Basin in western India. Morphologically, the tooth is heart-shaped, typical of turiasaurs, and bears resemblance to a maxillary tooth. Although this is not the first turiasaur tooth reported from the basin, it represents the oldest occurrence of the clade in the Indian Subcontinent, approximately coeval with the oldest known turiasaurs elsewhere in Gondwana, advancing our spatio-temporal understanding of sauropod diversity in the Middle Jurassic.
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André O Fonseca, Fabiula P de Bem, Vitória Z Dalle-Laste, Maurício S Garcia & Rodrigo T Müller (2026)
Osteology of the axial skeleton of Macrocollum itaquii (Dinosauria: Sauropodomorpha) and its implications for early sauropodomorph cervicalization
Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 206(4): zlag034
doi: https://doi.org/10.1093/zoolinnean/zlag034
https://academic.oup.com/zoolinnean/article-abstract/206/4/zlag034/8614670
Macrocollum itaquii represents one of the most complete early-diverging sauropodomorphs ever described. The skeletons of Macrocollum itaquii were excavated from the Early Norian beds of the Candelária Sequence, southern Brazil. Therefore, its stratigraphic position, between the earliest Carnian forms and the typical sauropodomorphs of the Late Norian, provides a rare glimpse into a crucial evolutionary moment for the group. Despite its completeness, the axial skeleton of Macrocollum has not been described in detail until now. Given the significant role of the axial skeleton in the evolutionary history of sauropodomorphs, the osteology of the axial column of Macrocollum itaquii is described here. Congruent with its stratigraphic position, the axial skeleton combines derived (e.g. highly elongated neck, pneumatic features, and convex projection of dorsal neural spine) and plesiomorphic (e.g. nine cervical vertebrae and three sacral vertebrae) traits. The remarkable preservation of the type series allows for the evaluation of the third record of an articulated gastral apparatus in non-sauropod sauropodomorphs. An updated phylogenetic analysis reinforces the position of Macrocollum and unaysaurids as part of an earlier radiation than the typical ‘prosauropods’ and outside Plateosauria, yet branching later than all Carnian sauropodomorphs.
=====
Triparna Ghosh, Matthew T. Carrano, Advait M. Jukar, Edward L. Stanley, Krishna Kumar & Sunil Bajpai (2026)
A new turiasaur (Dinosauria, Eusauropoda) specimen from the Middle Jurassic of India
Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology e2618183
doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/02724634.2026.2618183
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02724634.2026.2618183
Turiasaurs are large-bodied eusauropods found in Early Jurassic to Early Cretaceous deposits across Gondwana and Laurasia. However, their early history is poorly known. Here, we report a lower-middle Bathonian turiasaur tooth from the Jaisalmer Basin in western India. Morphologically, the tooth is heart-shaped, typical of turiasaurs, and bears resemblance to a maxillary tooth. Although this is not the first turiasaur tooth reported from the basin, it represents the oldest occurrence of the clade in the Indian Subcontinent, approximately coeval with the oldest known turiasaurs elsewhere in Gondwana, advancing our spatio-temporal understanding of sauropod diversity in the Middle Jurassic.
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