| Magnamanus | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Clade: | Dinosauria |
| Clade: | †Ornithischia |
| Clade: | †Ornithopoda |
| Clade: | †Styracosterna |
| Genus: | †Magnamanus Vidarteet al.,2016 |
| Type species | |
| †Magnamanus soriaensis Vidarteet al., 2016 | |
Magnamanus is an extinctgenus of herbivorousiguanodontiandinosaur that lived during theEarly Cretaceous in what is nowSpain in theGolmayo Formation. It contains a single species,Magnamanus soriaensis.[1]
Magnamanus is a large ornithopod measuring 9–10 metres (30–33 ft) long and weighing around 3 metric tons (3.3 short tons)—a similar size toIguanodon bernissartensis. The hand is broad and similar to other basal members ofIguanodontia, with a protruding thumb spine and a fifth finger.[1]
The descriptors established nine distinctive features for this taxon, allautapomorphies. The dentary contributes to the frontcoronoid process of the lower jaw so that the last dentary tooth is located on the slope of the protrusion, instead of on the basis of it. The length of the shoulder amounts to six times the upper width, and seven times the minimum width. In the shoulder the front processus acromion is facing on the other side of the rear projection. When thehumerus is the inner corner of the upper edge is not in the same plane as the outer bottom joint ball, which makes contact with the radius, and the outer bump is located above the level of the inner cusp which, for the ulna. In the ulna, the lower end is wider than the upper, and club-shaped. The lower end of the radius is clavate. The wrist consists of three elements, one of which is a fusion of the radial and intermedial, and the second is a fusion of the ulnar carpal, and the third and the third party is identical to the fifthcarpal. The formula of the phalanges is 1-3-3-2- (3/4). The width of the wrist is 70% of the length of the hand. Theprocessus praepubicus is straight without widening at the end or grooves, and in the base is not closed, theobturator foramen in the base and is half covered on the inside with a flat bone plate.[1]
In the early twenty-first century Carolina Fuentes and Manuel Meijide conducted excavations along with their children on the Zorralbo I site in the marshes of Golmayo, five kilometers west ofSoria. Between 2000 and 2004 they dug up the skeleton of aeuornithopod, one of the most complete skeletons of a dinosaur from the Lower Cretaceous of Spain that has been found.[1]
In 2016 thetype speciesMagnamanus soriaensis was named and described by Carolina Fuentes Vidarte, Manuel Calvo Meijide, Federico Meijide Fuentes and Manuel Fuentes Meijide. The genus name is a combination of theLatin wordmagnus "large" andmanus, "hand", a reference to the big hands of the animal. The specific name refers to its origin in Soria.[1]
The fossils, with catalogue numbers MNS 2000/132, 2001/122, 2002/95, 2003/69, 2004/54, were found in theGolmayo Formation which dates from theHauterivian -Barremian, about 130 million years old. It consists of a partial skeleton with skull and lower jaws. Have been preserved: parts of themaxilla, a piece ofpremaxilla, a leftdentary piece, a piece of the rightsurangular, pieces of thehyoid apparatus, loose edges of alveolar ridge, sixty two loose teeth from the upper jaw, thirty-six loose teeth from the lower jaw, aproatlas, a centrum of a cervicalvertebra, a neck rib, four dorsal vertebrae, thirty-six pieces of thesacrum, thirty-two caudal vertebrae, six ribs, three completechevrons, pieces of chevrons, ossifiedtendons, the right shoulder blade (scapula), bothcoracoids, bothhumeri, the right-handradius, the leftulna, the right hand thumb, the right hand, a piece of leftiliac, theprocessus praepubici of the twopubic bones, a piece of the rightfemur, a part of the righttibia, and the second and fourthmetatarsals of the right leg. The bones are not found in association but were spread over an area of eight square meters. They were considered as belonging to a single individual, an old adult animal that is seen as theholotype. The holotype is now part of the collection of the Museo Numantino in Soria (NMS).[1]
Magnamanus is classified within the groupAnkylopollexia inStyracosterna, placed in a rather basal position.[1]
