The Holotype of Saturnalis tupiniquim and the cranial evolution in Sauropodomorphs

• Grant number: 24/16853-7
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master
• Start date: February 01, 2025
• End date: March 31, 2026
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Zoology - Paleozoology
• Principal Investigator: Max Cardoso Langer
• Grantee: João Alberto Leme da Silva
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Filosofia, Ciências e Letras de Ribeirão Preto (FFCLRP). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Ribeirão Preto , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 20/07997-4 - Dinosaur diversity and associated faunas in the Cretaceous of South America, AP.TEM

Abstract

Dinosaurs form a clade of archosaurs that emerged during the Triassic period, from which they began to diversify and colonize the entire globe. Among the main groups of dinosaurs, the sauropodomorphs started their evolutionary journey as animals quite distinct (bipedal, small-bodied, and not exclusively herbivorous) from their later members (from the Jurassic-Cretaceous). Among them, Saturnalia tupiniquim, from the Late Triassic of Rio Grande do Sul, deserves attention. Like other contemporary sauropodomorphs, this taxon did not yet exhibit the massive size and extremely long neck that characterize later forms of the group, but its skull was already relatively small, as known from one of its paratypes (MCP 3845-PV). In this work, for the first time, the cranial parts preserved in the holotype of the species (MCP 3844-PV) will be analyzed. This will enable a better understanding of the emergence of the synapomorphies that characterize sauropodomorphs, as well as the evolution of skull size in dinosaurs as a whole.