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Portellsaurus

Santos-Cubedo et al., 2021 POR-tell-SOR-us

Named after Portell de Morella, the town in Spain where the holotype was recovered, combined with Greek sauros (lizard); meaning "Portell lizard".

125.8–121.4 million years ago Barremian, Early Cretaceous
Early Cretaceous stages

Portellsaurus is a genus of hadrosauroid dinosaur from the Lower Cretaceous Margas de Mirambell Formation of Spain. The genus contains a single species, Portellsaurus sosbaynati, known from a partial right dentary.

Diagnosis

  1. Absence of bulge along ventral margin directly ventral to base of coronoid process
  2. Deep oval cavity on medial surface of mandibular adductor fossa below eleventh-twelfth tooth position
  3. Straight morphology of ventral margin of rostral ramus
  4. Dorsal and ventral dentary margins parallel
  5. Presence of dentary diastema
  6. Absence of dentary platform between tooth row and coronoid process
  7. Coronoid process caudally inclined
  8. Dentary rostral tip not raised with respect to ventral margin

Species

Portellsaurus sosbaynati Santos-Cubedo et al., 2021

Type species

Named for Vicente Sos Baynat, a Spanish geologist who was the first scientist honored by Universitat Jaume I as 'Doctor Honoris Causa'.

Holotype
MQ98-II-1 , Colección Museográfica de Cinctorres
Material
Almost complete right dentary from a large individual 6-8m long.
Horizon
Mirambell Formation, Barremian, Early Cretaceous , 125.8–121.4 million years ago
Locality
Mas de Curolles-II, Castellón, Spain

References

  1. Santos-Cubedo, A.; de Santisteban, C.; Poza, B.; Meseguer, S. (2021). A new styracosternan hadrosauroid (Dinosauria: Ornithischia) from the Early Cretaceous of Portell, Spain. PLoS ONE 16(7): e0253599:1-30. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0253599 santos-cubedo2021a
  2. Jones, B. (2026). The Princeton Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs: Ornithischians. Princeton University Press.

    Source of the body length estimate.

    jones2026a