Open Paleo

Galvesaurus

Barco et al., 2005 GAL-vay-SOR-us

Galve lizard; named after Galve, the town in Spain where fossils were found, combined with Greek sauros (lizard)

154.8–143.1 million years ago Kimmeridgian–Tithonian, Late Jurassic
Late Jurassic stages

Galvesaurus, or Galveosaurus (meaning "Galve lizard"), is a genus of titanosauriform sauropod dinosaur from the Late Jurassic period. Fossils of the only known species, G. herreroi, were found in Galve, Spain, hence its generic name. The specific name herreroi honors the discoverer, José María Herrero. Some researchers suggest that the taxon might represent a junior synonym of the Portuguese genus Lusotitan.

Under dispute

Galvesaurus has been recovered within Turiasauria, outside Neosauropoda (Royo-Torres and colleagues, 2006; Mocho and colleagues, 2014), but most later analyses recover it as a macronarian outside Titanosauriformes, as the sister of Titanosauriformes or a basal camarasauromorph (Carballido and colleagues, 2011; Mannion and colleagues, 2017; Gomez and colleagues, 2024; Zhang and colleagues, 2026). Pérez-Pueyo and colleagues (2019) instead recover it within Titanosauriformes, as a brachiosaurid with Lusotitan.

Diagnosis

  1. Elongation Index in mid-dorsal vertebrae is approximately 0.5.
  2. In mid-dorsal vertebrae, centrum and neural arch connected only by anterior and posterior centrodiapophysial laminae, with no contact of centroprezygapophysial or centropostzygapophysial laminae with the centrum.
  3. Parapophyses in dorsal vertebrae situated in the centroprezygapophysial lamina rather than dividing the anterior centrodiapophysial lamina as in other sauropods.
  4. In mid-dorsal vertebrae, accessory laminae connect intraprezygapophysial laminae with centroprezygapophysial laminae.
  5. Composite lamina formed by union of lateral spinopostzygapophysial and spinodiapophysial laminae runs along the posterior margin of the spine in mid-dorsal vertebrae.
  6. Deep cavity between spinoprezygapophysial and spinodiapophysial laminae in mid-dorsal vertebrae, bridged by an accessory lamina connecting both.

Species

Galvesaurus herreroi Barco et al., 2005

Type species

Named for José María Herrero, the local amateur fossil hunter who discovered the specimen near Galve, Spain.

Holotype
CLH-16 , Museo Paleontológico de Galve
Material
Dorsal vertebra
Horizon
lower Villar del Arzobispo Formation, Kimmeridgian–Tithonian, Late Jurassic , 154.8–143.1 million years ago
Locality
Cuesta Lonsal-1, Teruel, Spain

Synonyms of the genus

Name Type Reason
Galveosaurus junior subjective Controversial near-simultaneous publication; Galvesaurus (Barco and colleagues, July 2005) generally accepted as senior over Galveosaurus (Sánchez Hernández, August 2005), though publication-date disputes and ethical concerns remain.

References

  1. Barco, J. L.; Canudo, J. I.; Cuenca-Bescós, G.; Ruiz-Omeñaca, J. I. (2005). Un nuevo dinosaurio saurópodo, Galvesaurus herreroi gen. nov., sp. nov., del tránsito Jurásico-Cretácico en Galve (Teruel, NE de España) [A new sauropod dinosaur, Galvesaurus herreroi gen. nov., sp. nov., from the Jurassic-Cretaceous transition in Galve (Teruel, NE Spain)]. Naturaleza Aragonesa 15: 4-17. barco2005a
  2. Sánchez-Hernández, B. (2005). Galveosaurus herreroi, a new sauropod dinosaur from Villar del Arzobispo Formation (Tithonian-Berriasian) of Spain. Zootaxa 1034(1): 1-20. Magnolia Press. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.1034.1.1 sánchez-hernández2005a
  3. Paul, G. S. (2024). The Princeton Field Guide to Dinosaurs (3rd ed.). Princeton University Press.

    Source of the appearance features.

    paul2024a
  4. Royo-Torres, R.; Cobos, A.; Alcalá, L. (2006). A Giant European Dinosaur and a New Sauropod Clade. Science 314(5807): 1925-1927. American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). doi:10.1126/science.1132885

    Recovered Galvesaurus within Turiasauria as a non-neosauropod eusauropod.

    royo-torres2006a
  5. Mocho, P.; Royo-Torres, R.; Ortega, F. (2014). Phylogenetic reassessment of Lourinhasaurus alenquerensis, a basal Macronaria (Sauropoda) from the Upper Jurassic of Portugal. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 170(4): 875-916. Oxford University Press (OUP). doi:10.1111/zoj.12113

    Recovered Galvesaurus within Turiasauria on both of its matrices.

    mocho2014a
  6. Mannion, P. D.; Allain, R.; Moine, O. (2017). The earliest known titanosauriform sauropod dinosaur and the evolution of Brachiosauridae. PeerJ 5: e3217. PeerJ. doi:10.7717/peerj.3217

    Recovered Galvesaurus as a macronarian, the sister of Titanosauriformes.

    mannion2017a
  7. Jones, B. (2026). The Princeton Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs: Sauropods. Princeton University Press.

    Treats Galvesaurus as a basal titanosauriform or macronarian.

    jones2026b
  8. Pérez-Pueyo, M.; Moreno-Azanza, M.; Barco, J. L.; Canudo, J. I. (2019). New contributions to the phylogenetic position of the sauropod Galvesaurus herreroi from the late Kimmeridgian-early Tithonian (Jurassic) of Teruel (Spain). Boletín Geológico y Minero 130(3): 375-392. doi:10.21701/bolgeomin.130.3.001

    Recovered Galvesaurus as a brachiosaurid, the sister of Lusotitan.

    pérez-pueyo2019a
  9. Carballido, J. L.; Rauhut, O. W. M.; Pol, D.; Salgado, L. (2011). Osteology and phylogenetic relationships of Tehuelchesaurus benitezii (Dinosauria, Sauropoda) from the Upper Jurassic of Patagonia. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 163(2): 605-662. Wiley. doi:10.1111/j.1096-3642.2011.00723.x

    Recovered Galvesaurus as a camarasauromorph, the sister of Tehuelchesaurus.

    carballido2011a
  10. Gomez, K. L.; Carballido, J. L.; Pol, D. (2024). Cranial anatomy of Bagualia alba (Dinosauria, Eusauropoda) from the Early Jurassic of Patagonia and the implications for sauropod cranial evolution. Journal of Systematic Palaeontology 22(1): 2400471. doi:10.1080/14772019.2024.2400471

    Recovered Galvesaurus as a macronarian outside Titanosauriformes.

    gomez2024a
  11. Zhang, X. Q.; Wang, Y. M.; Wang, Z. J.; Wang, Y. C.; Wang, T.; Wang, G. F.; Zou, Y.; Dong, Q. X.; Su, X.; Jiang, H.; Wang, Y. J.; You, H. L. (2026). The first turiasaurian sauropod (Dinosauria: Eusauropoda) from East Asia. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 206(2): zlaf201. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/zoolinnean/zlaf201

    Recovered Galvesaurus within Macronaria in all four analyses.

    zhang2026a