Portellsaurus
"Portell lizard"
Type species Portellsaurus sosbaynati
- Lived
- 126 to 121 million years ago, Early Cretaceous
- Diet
- Herbivore
- Group
- Ornithopods
- Found in
- Spain
- Named by
- Santos-Cubedo et al. 2021
Where its fossils were found
The evidence
Today
125 million years ago
Habitat
Its jaw was buried in sand deposited near a lagoon in what is now Spain. The surrounding landscape lay close to a shallow sea.
Field notes
About Portellsaurus
What it was like
Portellsaurus was a plant eater, an early relative of the duck-billed dinosaurs. It is known from a lower jaw.
Its world
It lived in the Early Cretaceous in what is now Spain. Its bone comes from the Mirambel Formation.
How it was found
Santos-Cubedo and colleagues named it in 2021. The type species is Portellsaurus sosbaynati. It is named after a nearby village.
Field gallery
More views of Portellsaurus
Scenes reconstructed from the available fossil evidence.
1 of 2
The evidence
The science behind Portellsaurus
Which parts of the picture come from its own bones, and which come from its relatives.
From its own fossils
- The original fossil is an almost complete right lower jaw bone with fragments of teeth.
- The jaw is sturdy and nearly straight, with a gap before the tooth row.
- A deep oval cavity on the inside of the jaw helps distinguish Portellsaurus from other early duck-billed relatives.
Borrowed from relatives
- The rest of the skull is restored by comparison with early duck-billed relatives such as Sirindhorna.
- The limbs and tail follow the general body plan of better-known iguanodontians such as Iguanodon.
Still unknown
- The proportions of its body and limbs.
- The shape of the upper skull.
- Its skin texture and color.
Discovery timeline
- 2012Family treeMcDonald
- 2015Close relativeShibata et al.
- 2021Named itSantos-Cubedo et al.
Key papers
The research behind what we know of Portellsaurus
Family tree
Compared iguanodontian anatomy and relationships, providing a foundation for the family-tree analysis used when Portellsaurus was named.
Phylogeny of Basal Iguanodonts (Dinosauria: Ornithischia): An Update. PLoS ONE 7: e36745
Read the paper : Phylogeny of Basal Iguanodonts (Dinosauria: Ornithischia): An Update (opens in a new tab)Close relative
Described skull and jaw bones of Sirindhorna, an early duck-billed relative used in comparisons with the Portellsaurus jaw.
A New Basal Hadrosauroid Dinosaur from the Lower Cretaceous Khok Kruat Formation in Nakhon Ratchasima Province, Northeastern Thailand. PLOS ONE 10: e0145904
Read the paper : A New Basal Hadrosauroid Dinosaur from the Lower Cretaceous Khok Kruat Formation in Nakhon Ratchasima Province, Northeastern Thailand (opens in a new tab)Named it
Described a distinctive lower jaw from Spain and identified Portellsaurus as an early duck-billed relative.
A new styracosternan hadrosauroid (Dinosauria: Ornithischia) from the Early Cretaceous of Portell, Spain. PLOS ONE 16: e0253599
Read the paper : A new styracosternan hadrosauroid (Dinosauria: Ornithischia) from the Early Cretaceous of Portell, Spain (opens in a new tab)
Close relatives
Other members of Hadrosauroidea
Sources: Wikidata