The Holotype of Saturnalia tupiniquim and the cranial evolution in Sauropodomorphs

• Grant number: 25/12567-2
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Master's degree
• Start date: October 01, 2025
• End date: March 29, 2026
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Zoology - Paleozoology
• Principal Investigator: Max Cardoso Langer
• Grantee: João Alberto Leme da Silva
• Supervisor: Alejandro Otero
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Filosofia, Ciências e Letras de Ribeirão Preto (FFCLRP). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Ribeirão Preto , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: Museo De La Plata, Argentina
• Associated to the scholarship: 24/16853-7 - The Holotype of Saturnalis tupiniquim and the cranial evolution in Sauropodomorphs, BP.MS

Abstract

Among the main dinosaur groups, sauropodomorphs started their evolutive path during the Late Triassic in the form of animals very distinct (bipedal, small sized, non-exclusively herbivorous) from their Jurassic/Cretaceous descendants. Among these early forms, Saturnalia tupiniquim, from Carnian of Brazil, and the Norian Lessemsauridae of Argentina, have key phylogenetic positions. As other contemporary sauropodomorphs, these taxa still lacked the massive size and extremely long necks that characterize later members of the group, but the skull of S. tupiniquim was already relatively small, whereas lessemsaurids approached the iconic morphology from the clade, but still preserving some plesiomorphies. In this research, the holotypic skull (MCP 3844-PV) of S. tupiniquim will be for the first time analyzed, providing the starting point for a revision of its phylogenetic relations and of cranial size evolution in Dinosauria. In addition, the pelvic girdle anatomy from two unreported lessemsaurids will be studied and described. As a whole, the proposed study has the potential to help figuring out the origins of the anatomical traits that characterize sauropodomorph dinosaurs. (AU)