14-05-2014
Zby atlanticus is the name of a new species of dinosaur from the Late Jurassic, aged 150 million years old, discovered in Lourinhã, Portugal.
This dinosaur, discovered in 1996 by the paleontologist Octávio Mateus, professor at the Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia (Faculty of Science and Technology) of the Universidade Nova de Lisboa (New University of Lisbon) and collaborator of the Museum of Lourinhã, has now been described as a new genus and species. The study was published in the prestigious scientific journal "Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology" by Octávio Mateus with the English paleontologists Philip Mannion and Paul Upchurch, from the Imperial College of London and London's University College, respectively.
From this dinosaur, a forelimb, one tooth, and a bone from the tail were discovered in 1996, 2000, and 2002, at the Paimogo locality, north of Lourinhã, in Portugal, close to a site where dinosaur eggs from another specie had been previously discovered. This dinosaur is a sauropod of large dimensions, with an estimated length between 18 and 19 meters.
Zby is classified within the turiasaur sauropods, first discovered in Spain and it differs from other dinosaurs found in Portugal, which share affinities with North American species. Turiasaurs appear to have been restricted to Iberia, which at that time was an island, and were long-necked, plant-eating dinosaurs, with larger teeth than the majority of other sauropods.
Initially, these bones were thought to belong to Turiasaurus, a sauropod genus found in Teruel, Spain, but it is now known to represent a distinct genus and species based on anatomical differences in the limb bones, thus receiving a new name: Zby atlanticus. The genus name honours the geologist Georges Zbyszewski (1909-1999), who worked for many years in Portugal. This scientist, of Russian origin, dedicated his career to the study of Portugal's geolology and left his mark on Portuguese paleontology. He authored the important work “The Dinosaurs of Portugal”, published in 1957 together with Albert de Lapparent. The name of the new dinosaur is the nickname by which he used to be often called, and has the peculiarity of being one of the shortest genus names of dinosaurs, with only three letters and no vowels: Zby. The specific name, atlanticus, refers to the scenic view overlooking the Atlantic Ocean in the locality of Paimogo where it was discovered, and because it was the formation of this ocean that influenced the existence of such a rich dinosaur fauna in Portugal.
This new species was found near the area where other giant sauropod dinosaurs, Lusotitan and Dinheirosaurus, were collected, and these animals lived alongside other herbivorous dinosaurs (including the stegosaur Miragaia), as well as meat-eating dinosaurs.
The original bones are on display at the Museum of Lourinhã in Portugal and a replica can be found in the University of Bristol, UK, and at the Saurier Museum in Aathal, Switzerland.
In March, Mateus announced another new species of dinosaur, the meat-eater Torvosaurus guerneyi, with Christophe Hendrickx, also from the Faculty of Science and Technology of the New University of Lisbon. These discoveries are adding to our knowledge of dinosaur evolution, and help us to understand how different regions of the world were connected in the past. They also continue to demonstrate the rich dinosaur fauna of Portugal 150 million years ago.
