New materials of Laquintasaura venezuelae and their importance for the initial radiation of Ornithischia

• Grant number: 23/14183-1
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master
• Start date: March 01, 2024
• End date: December 31, 2025
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Zoology - Paleozoology
• Principal Investigator: Max Cardoso Langer
• Grantee: Ricardo José Sacamoto de Oliveira
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Filosofia, Ciências e Letras de Ribeirão Preto (FFCLRP). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Ribeirão Preto , SP, Brazil
• Associated scholarship(s): 24/08625-4 - Unravelling ornithischian diversity: Laquintasaura venezuelae, Huayangosaurus taibaii, and a new Ornithopod, BE.EP.MS

Abstract

The research plan presented includes the laboratory preparation of new skeletal parts of Laquintasaura venezuelae, as well as the anatomical and systematic review of this dinosaur. Understanding the anatomy and phylogenetic relationships of La. venezuelae is essential to understand the initial radiation of Ornithischia. In addition to this taxon being one of the oldest forms of the clade, its phylogenetic positioning suggests that it was involved in the emergence of one of its main lineages, the Tyreophora. The information obtained will be included in a comparative study with the aim of increasing knowledge of La. venezuelae anatomy, verifying whether these new elements can be attributed to the taxon, or whether they bring together greater taxonomic diversity. This new information will also serve as a parameter for a phylogenetic study, encompassing the first ornithischians and forms possibly related to the group, such as the Silesauridae, seeking to resolve doubts about the origin of ornithischians, their relationships with other groups of Dinosauria and the affinities of La. venezuelae.