Elisabete MalafaiaUniversity of Lisbon | UL · Department of Geology
Elisabete Malafaia
PhD in Geology (specialty Paleontology and Stratigraphy)
Junior researcher. Instituto Dom Luiz (Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade de Lisboa)
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110
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Introduction
Elisabete Malafaia is graduated in Geology by the Universidade de Coimbra (Portugal) and received her M.Sc. in Geology (specialty stratigraphy, sedimentology and paleontology) and her Ph.D. in Geology (specialty paleontology and stratigraphy) from the Universidade de Lisboa in 2017. Currently is collaborating with the Grupo de Biología Evolutiva, UNED (Spain) and Instituto Dom Luiz and (Portugal) in research projects for the study of the Iberian theropod fossil record. Her main research interest is the evolutionary history of theropod dinosaurs, in particular the phylogenetic and paleobiogeographic context of the faunas from the Iberian Peninsula and North America. She has participated on several national and international paleontological expeditions in Portugal, Spain, and North America.
Additional affiliations
December 2017 - present
April 2013 - present
Education
April 2013 - November 2017
Publications
Publications (110)
Malafaia, E., Mocho, P., Escaso, F., Narvaéz, I., and Ortega, F. 2024. Taxonomic and stratigraphic update of the material
historically attributed to Megalosaurus from Portugal. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 69 (2): 127–171. https://doi.org/10.4202/app.01113.2023
Simarro, Á., Malafaia, E., Ortega, F. 2023. Geometric morphometric analysis of an Upper Jurassic allosaurid (Dinosauria, Theropoda) femur from Pombal (Portugal). Ros-Franch, S., Paredes-Aliaga, M. V., Martínez-Pérez, C. (Eds.). Valencia, 2023. p. 222
Malafaia, E.; Coria, R.A.; Escaso, F.; Ortega, F. 2023. Abelisaurid teeth from the Upper Cretaceous of Poyos (Guadalajara, Spain). In: Alba, D.M.; Marigó, J.; Nacarino-Meneses, C.; Villa, A. (Eds.) Palaeovertebrata, Special Volume 1-23, p. 155. 20th EAVP Conference. Sabadell, Spain.
Na Praia de Porto de Mós (Lagos, SW Bacia do Algarve) foi reconhecida a existência de pegadas de dinossáurio num nível do Aptiano (Cretácico Inferior). O seu estudo tem sido difícil e moroso porque a superfície só está emersa durante a baixa-mar e, na maior parte das vezes, está coberta por areia. Apesar da superfície da laje com as pegadas se enco...
Na Praia de Porto de Mós (Lagos, SW Bacia do Algarve) foi reconhecida a existência de pegadas de dinossáurio num nível do Aptiano (Cretácico Inferior). O seu estudo tem sido difícil e moroso porque a superfície só está emersa durante a baixa-mar e, na maior parte das vezes, está coberta por areia. Apesar da superfície da laje com as pegadas se enco...
Malafaia, E.; Mocho, P.; Escaso, F.; Ortega, F. 2023. O registo fóssil de vertebrados da região de Pombal: contributo para o conhecimento das faunas do Jurássico Superior da Bacia Lusitaniana. In: Lopes, F.C.; Dinis, P.A.; Duarte, L.V.; Cunha, P.P. (Eds). Livro de Resumos XI CNG 2023, 95-96.
Mocho, P.; Malafaia, E.; Escaso, F.; Gasulla, J.M.; Marcos-Fernández, F.; Narváez, I.; Orfão, J.; Páramo, A.; Vidal, D.; Ortega, F. 2023. The giant sauropod dinosaurs of Pombal: new discoveries. In: Lopes, F.C.; Dinis, P.A.; Duarte, L.V.; Cunha, P.P. (Eds). Livro de Resumos XI CNG 2023, 95-96.
Gasulla, J.M.; Escaso, F.; Malafaia, E.; Mocho, P.; Narváez, I.; Ortega, F. 2023. A new styracosternan-bearing assemblage from the Arcillas de Morella Formation in Morella (Spain). In: Alba, D.M.; Marigó, J.; Nacarino-Meneses, C.; Villa, A. (Eds.) Palaeovertebrata, Special Volume 1-23, p. 104. 20th EAVP Conference. Sabadell, Spain.
The Lo Hueco fossil site (Cuenca, Spain) is one of the most relevant localities for the study of Late Cretaceous continental vertebrate faunas from Europe. The fossil record of theropod dinosaurs from this locality is represented by scarce isolated postcranial materials that were preliminarily attributed to abelisaurids and to a possible giant bird...
Malafaia E., Escaso F., Rauhut O.W.M., Ortega F. 2022. Isolated theropod teeth from the Tendaguru Formation (Upper Jurassic, Tanzania). In: Belvedere M., Mecozzi B., Amore O., Sardella R. (eds.). Abstract book of the XIX Annual Conference of the European Association of Vertebrate Palaeontologists, Benevento/Pietraroja, Italy, 27th-2nd July 2022. Pa...
Ortega F., Malafaia E., Escaso F., Coria R.A. 2022. New material of theropods (Abelisauroidea?) from Lo Hueco (Late Cretaceous. Cuenca, Central Spain). In: Belvedere M., Mecozzi B., Amore O., Sardella R. (eds.). Abstract book of the XIX Annual Conference of the European Association of Vertebrate Palaeontologists, Benevento/Pietraroja, Italy, 27th-2...
Ortega F., de Celis A., Malafaia E., Narváez I., Serrano-Martínez, A., Arcucci A. 2022. On the diagnosis of Iberosuchus macrodon (Crocodyliformes, Notosuchia) from the Eocene of Portugal. In: Belvedere M., Mecozzi B., Amore O., Sardella R. (eds.). Abstract book of the XIX Annual Conference of the European Association of Vertebrate Palaeontologists,...
Ortega, F.; Malafaia, E.; Narvaéz, I.; Serrano-Martínez, A.; Arcucci, A. 2022. Internal anatomy of the Iberosuchus macrodon holotype (middle eocene of portugal)
revealed by CATscan. In: Fialho, P.; Pereira, S. (Eds) Newsletter da SPdP, Sociedade Portuguesa de Paleontologia, 1, p. 28
Ortega F., Escaso F., Malafaia E., Coria R.A. 2021. Aves gigantes en el Cretácico Superior de Lo Hueco (Fuentes, Cuenca). Lucas Mallada 23. XXXVI Jornadas de la SEP. 207-208. http://revistas.iea.es/index.php/LUMALL
La Cantera del Mas de la Parreta, localizada al sureste de la localidad de Morella (Castellón, España), es una de las áreas fosilíferas más ricas en restos de vertebrados continentales de la Formación Arcillas de Morella (Cretácico Inferior, Barremiense) y ha proporcionado una fauna diversa compuesta por condrictios, osteíctios, plesiosaurios,
tort...
Malafaia E., Escaso F., Coria RA. 2021. A velociraptorine tibia from Lo Hueco (Upper Cretaceous, Central Spain). In: Belvedere M., Díez Díaz V., Mecozzi B., Sardella R (eds.). Abstract book of the XVIII annual conference of the European Association of Vertebrate Palaeontologists, online, 5th-9th July 2021. Palaeovertebrata, 44, 111
Díez Díaz, V.; Belvedere, M.; Böhmer, C.; Bueno, E.; Choiniere, J.; Darlim, G.; Drozdz, D.; Iannucci, A.; Kotthoff, U.; Malafaia, E.; Mallison, H.; Marigó, J.; Miedema, F.;Mujal, E.; Pardo, J.; Perillo, M.; Sciscio, L.; Tajika, A.; Tschopp, E.; van Heteren, A.H.; Vlachos, E. 2021. How to bring taxonomy into the third dimension: developing guideline...
Jurassic units of the Lusitanian Basin, housed at the Sociedade de História Natural in
Torres Vedras, are here described. They were collected from three different geological
formations, the Praia da Amoreira‐Porto Novo (upper Kimmeridgian) and the Alcobaça
(Kimmeridgian‐lower Tithonian) formations in the Consolação Sub‐basin and the
Freixial Fm. (m...
The fossil record of spinosaurid theropods from the Lower Cretaceous of the Iberian Peninsula is relatively abundant, but not very informative. This record, as generally occurs in other geographic areas, is mainly represented by isolated teeth, probably due to the distinctive features of the dentition of these theropods. However, cranial and postcr...
Carcharodontosaurian allosauroids were temporally restricted to the Cretaceous, being known from all land masses with the exception of Antarctica. In addition to Veterupristisaurus from Tanzania, exceptions to this distribution have been reported recently, consisting on fragmentary materials from Upper Jurassic strata of China, Germany, and Portuga...
The Sociedade de História Natural in Torres Vedras, Portugal houses an extensive collection of as yet undescribed dinosaur tracks with ornithopod affinities. They have been collected from different Late Jurassic (Kimmeridgian–Tithonian) geological formations (Praia de Amoreira-Porto Novo, Alcobaça, Sobral, and Freixial) that outcrop along the Portu...
Boletim do Centro Português de Geo-História e Pré-História, 2: 68-67
The Upper Jurassic sauropod faunas from the Lusitanian Basin are mainly composed by turiasaurs, diplodocines, camarasaurids, brachiosaurids and possible somphospondylans. Diplodocinae is a clade recorded from the upper Kimmeridgian up to probably the upper Tithonian of the Portuguese fossil record. This clade is represented by one described diplodo...
A new medium-sized theropod dinosaur from the Arcillas de Morella Formation (upper Barremian) in Vallibona (Castellón, Spain) is described based on a partial skeleton. Vallibonavenatrix cani, gen. et sp. nov., is diagnosed by five autapomorphies: moderately high dorsal neural spines relative to the centrum height, the presence of deep pleurocoelous...
A região norte da sub-bacia de Bombarral-Alcobaça a norte do Maciço Calcário Estremenho tem diversos locais com extensos afloramentos de sequências continentais e de transição do Jurássico Superior e nos quais é conhecido um abundante registo fóssil de vertebrados. Estas sequências pertencem sobretudo às Formações de Alcobaça e de Bombarral, corres...
A new specimen of a theropod dinosaur found in the Upper Jurassic (Freixial Formation, late Tithonian) of the Lusitanian Basin is described. It corresponds to a single individual and includes a sequence of articulated caudal vertebrae, an almost complete right pes, and other fragments of the appendicular skeleton. The specimen includes the most com...
The record of spinosaurids currently known in Spain is scarce and represented mainly by isolated teeth and other fragmentary skeletal elements. Most of these previously described specimens have been tentatively attributed to Baryonyx, but there are some differences on dental morphology that may indicate the presence of more than one spinosaurid tax...
The most common medium to large-sized ornithopod dinosaurs in the Late Jurassic are non-styracoste- rnan ankylopollexians. The ankylopollexian record from the Upper Jurassic of Portugal is not well-known and mainly based on fragmentary material from few fossil-sites located in the Lusitanian Basin. To date the presence of two species have been docu...
Malafaia E, Mocho P, Escaso F, Ortega F. 2017. The fossil record of Allosauroidea (Dinosauria, Theropoda) from the Upper Jurassic of the Lusitanian Basin: diversity and paleobiogeographic interpretation, pp. 247-247. In: Baratas Díaz A, Barroso-Barcenilla, Callapez Tonicher, P (eds.), Libro de Resúmenes de la XXII Bienal de la Real Sociedad Español...
Escaso F, Malafaia E, Mocho P, Narváez I, Ortega, F. 2017. ‘Megalosaurus insignis’ from Praia de Areia Branca (Lourinhã, Portugal): is it Theropoda or Ornithopoda?, p. 227. In: Baratas Díaz A, Barroso-Barcenilla, Callapez Tonicher, P (eds.), Libro de Resúmenes de la XXII Bienal de la Real Sociedad Española de Historia Natural. 06-09 Setembro 2017....
Malafaia E, Mocho P, Escaso F, Dantas P, Ortega F. 2017. Analysis of the cranial anatomy of
Allosaurus from the Andrés fossil site (Portugal, Upper Jurassic). p.157. In: Farke A, MacKenzie A,
Miller-Camp J (eds.), Society of Vertebrate Paleontology, August 2017, Abstract of papers, 77th
Annual Meeting, TELUS Convention Center, Calgary, AB, Canad...
Malafaia E, Mocho P, Escaso F, Ortega F. 2017. Carcharodontosaurian evidence in the Upper
Jurassic of Portugal: Filling the Gap. Zitteliana, 91: 57-56.
Purpose
Isolated theropod teeth are abundant in the Upper Jurassic of the Lusitanian Basin and are an important source to reconstruct the diversity of this group as well as its geographic and stratigraphic distribution. However, reliably identification of isolated teeth is complex, especially for those morphotypes related to poorly represented grou...
Sauropod remains are relatively abundant in the Upper Jurassic sediments of the Lusitanian Basin. These dinosaurs are recorded in several sub-basins formed during the third rifting episode related to the evolution of the Lusitanian Basin. The Kimmeridgian-Tithonian sedimentary sequence is dominated by siliciclastic deposits, indicating a continenta...
A shell coming from an upper Oxfordian section of the Lusitanian Basin located in Alqueidão da Serra (Municipality of Porto de Mós, West Central Portugal) is here presented. It corresponds to the oldest remain of a turtle identified in Portugal. In fact, the record of Jurassic turtles identified in pre-Kimmeridgian levels of Europe is very scarce....
Ortega F, Escaso F, Malafaia E, Mocho P, Pérez-García A. 2017. Reptilian record from the Late Jurassic of the Lusitanian Basin. An update, pp.407-412. In: Barrios de Pedro S, Blanco Moreno C, de Celis A, Colmenar J, Cuesta E, García-Martínez D, Gascó F, Jacinto A, Malafaia E, Martín Jiménez M, de Miguel Chaves C, Mocho P, Pais V, Páramo Blázquez A,...
A set of cranial and postcranial specimens, including two partial maxillae, several isolated teeth, vertebrae and appendicular elements of theropod dinosaurs is described. These specimens were collected in different Upper Jurassic sites from the Lusitanian Basin (Portugal) and show several characters that allow its identification as belonging to me...
The Upper Jurassic of the Lusitanian Basin has yielded an important fossil record of sauropods, but little information is available about the tooth morphotypes represented in this region. A large sample of teeth, both unpublished and published, is described and discussed here. Four main tooth morphologies are identified: spatulate, heart-shaped, pe...
The Upper Jurassic of the Lusitanian Basin (Portugal) is particularly rich in sauropod fossil remains, with four established taxa: Dinheirosaurus, Lusotitan, Lourinhasaurus and Zby. The presence of sauropod caudal procoelous vertebrae is reported for the first time in the Upper Jurassic of Portugal, with specimens described from the localities of B...
Malafaia, E., Ortega, F., Mocho, P., Escaso, F. 2016. New specimen of Allosauroidea (Dinosauria, Tetanurae) from the Upper Jurassic of Portugal, p.181. In: Farke A, MacKenzie A, Miller-Camp J (eds.), Society of Vertebrate Paleontology, October 2016, Abstract of papers, 76th Annual Meeting, Grand America Hotel, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA, October 26–...
A new specimen of a theropod dinosaur found in Upper Jurassic sedimentary levels of the Lusitanian Basin (Portugal) is described. The specimen includes axial (cervical, dorsal, and caudal vertebrae and ribs) and pelvic elements, corresponding to a small-sized and juvenile individual. This specimen is one of the most complete theropod dinosaur from...
Mocho P, Royo-Torres R, Escaso F, Malafaia E, Miguel Chaves C de, Narváez I, Pérez-García A, Ortega F. 2016. New data on Late Jurassic sauropods of the Turcifal Sub-basin (Portugal). In: Holwerda F, Madern A, Voeten D, van Heteren A, Meijer H, den Ouden N (eds.), XIV Annual Meeting of the European Association of Vertebrate Palaeontologists, 6-10 Ju...
The Upper Jurassic’s central and northern sectors of the Bombarral Sub-basin are relatively poor in sauropod material, highlighting the specimens (mainly teeth) found in the Guimarota mine (Leiria) and the Andrés (Pombal) fossil site. The study of published and the unpublished sauropod material allows for a revision of the present state of sauropod...
The Museu Geológico collections house some of the first sauropods found in the Upper Jurassic sediments of the Lusitanian Basin, including the Lourinhasaurus alenquerensis and Lusotitan atalaiensis lectotypes, previously considered as new species of the genera Apatosaurus and Brachiosaurus, respectively. Several fragmentary specimens have historica...
Mocho P, Royo-Torres R, Malafaia E, Escaso F, Ortega F. 2015. New sauropod material from the Upper Jurassic of Pombal, Leiria and Batalha (Portugal), p. 205-206. In: Reolid M (ed.), Libro de resúmenes de las XXXI Jornadas de Paleontología de la Sociedad Española de Paleontología.
Mocho P, Royo-Torres R, Malafaia, E, Escaso F, Ortega F. 2015. Opening cabinets with historical sauropod material from the Portuguese Upper Jurassic: Systematic update, p. 199-200. In: Reolid M (ed.), Libro de resúmenes de las XXXI Jornadas de Paleontología de la Sociedad Española de Paleontología.
Mocho P, Royo-Torres R, Escaso F, Malafaia E, Miguel Chaves C de, Narváez I, Pérez-García A, Silva B, Ortega F. 2015. Sauropod fossil record in the Lusitanian Basin Upper Jurassic, p. 203-204. In: Reolid M (ed.), Libro de resúmenes de las XXXI Jornadas de Paleontología de la Sociedad Española de Paleontología.
Mocho P, Royo-Torres R, Malafaia E, Escaso F, Ortega F. 2015. Anteriormost caudal vertebrae morphotypes present in the Lusitanian Basin Upper Jurassic (Portugal), p. 201-202. In: Reolid M (ed.), Libro de resúmenes de las XXXI Jornadas de Paleontología de la Sociedad Española de Paleontología: 201-202.
Dryosauridae is a monophyletic clade of small, cursorial, plant-eating ornithopod dinosaurs that lived in both Gondwana and Laurasia. This wide distribution is particularly evident during the Late Jurassic with the Laurasian Dryosaurus and Eousdryosaurus, and the Gondwanan Dysalotosaurus. The dryosaurid record from the Upper Jurassic of Portugal is...
Turiasauria is a clade of eusauropods with a wide stratigraphic range that could extend from the Bathonian to the lower Aptian including Turiasaurus, Losillasaurus, Zby and putatively, Galveosaurus, Atlasaurus and isolated remains from Middle Jurassic-to-Lower Cretaceous. Some are characterised by the presence of heart-shaped teeth. Several tooth o...
A theropod assigned to Ceratosaurus was previously reported from the Portuguese Lusitanian Basin based on a limited number of elements of a single individual. Here, we describe newly discovered elements that likely pertain to same, earlier described, specimen. The new elements provide additional evidence that the range of Ceratosaurus spanned from...
A new dryosaurid ornithopod, Eousdryosaurus nanohallucis, gen. et sp. nov., is described here based on a single specimen from the Late Jurassic Alcoba¸ca Formation of Portugal. Eousdryosaurus nanohallucis is distinguished from all other dryosaurids by eight autapomorphic features and an unique combination of characters, some of which are also share...
phylogenetic covariance and Procrustes distance matrices. Phylogenetic ANOVAs reveal that size and surface traction are phylogenetically constrained within Ceratopsia, whereas von Mises stress is not. Additionally, von Mises stress is not significantly different among the ceratopsian clades. Ceratopsids possess a lower surface traction than psittac...
The Andrés fossil-site is one of the most noteworthy examples of an association of multiple vertebrate taxa preserved in the same quarry from the Late Jurassic of the Portuguese Lusitanian Basin. The quarry is known since the 90s decade when it was described a specimen assigned to Allosaurus fragilis, which constituted the first evidence of this sp...
Malafaia, E., Ortega, F., Mocho, P.; Escaso, Silva, B., Cachão, M. (2014).Novas evidências de dinossáurios terópodes do Jurássico Superior da Bacia Lusitânica. IV CJIG, LEG 2014, Livro de Actas. Pereira, I; Amaral, F.; Vinhas, A. (Eds.). Pólo de Estremoz de UÉvora, 89-92.
Mocho, P.; Royo-Torres, R.; Malafaia, E.; Escaso, F.; Ortega, F. (2014). A preliminary evaluation of Diplodocidae record from the Upper Jurassic of Lusitanian Basin (W, Portugal). IV CJIG, LEG 2014, Livro de Actas. Pereira, I; Amaral, F.; Vinhas, A. (Eds.). Pólo de Estremoz de UÉvora, 85-88.
Escaso, F.; Ortega, F.; Malafaia, E.; Gasulla, J. M.; Mocho, P.; Narváez, I.; Sanz, J. L. (2014) Diversidad y distribución estratigráfica de los iguanodontios del Jurásico Superior de Portugal. In: Royo-Torres, R.; Verdú, F.J.; Alcalá, L. (coord.). XXX Jornadas de Paleontología de la Sociedad Española de Paleontología. ¡Fundamental! 24: 91-92.
Santos, V.F.; Alho, J.M.; Razzolini, N.L.; Castanera, D.; Reis, J.; Ribeiro, B.; Malafaia, E.; Rodrigues, NPC. (2014). Twenty years chasing dinosaurs at Galinha tracksite (Portugal). XV Congreso Internacional sobre Património Geológico y Minero, Libro de Resumenes. María Mata-Perelló, J.; Mark, A.; Ortiz, H.; García, E.O. (eds.). Logrósan, España,...
Malafaia, E., Ortega, F., Cachão, M., Escaso, F. and Mocho, P. 2014. Morphometric analysis of theropod teeth from the Late Jurassic of the Lusitanian Basin (central-west of Portugal). In: Sousa, A.M.; Alpedrinha, J.; Alves, J.; Martins, N., Ramiro, N. and Keller, R. (eds.), X Encontro Nacional de Biologia Evolutiva, 22 Dezembro 2014, Museu Nacional...
Mocho, P.; Royo-Torres, R.; Ortega, F.; Malafaia, E. and Escaso, F. 2014. Tracing the evolution of the Portuguese Upper Jurassic sauropods. In: Sousa, A.M.; Alpedrinha, J.; Alves, J.; Martins, N., Ramiro, N. and Keller, R. (eds.), X Encontro Nacional de Biologia Evolutiva, 22 Dezembro 2014, Museu Nacional de História Natural, Livro de Resumos/Abstr...
Ortega, F., Escaso, F., Malafaia, E., Mocho, P. & Pérez-García, A. (2013) Paleobiogeografia dos répteis peri-Atlânticos do Jurássico Superior português: resposta a padrões de vicariância ou dispersão. Livro de Actas III Congresso Jovens Investigadores em Geociências, LEG 2013 & 6th Meeting of Post-Graduation in Physics and Earth Sciences of UÉ, 17-...
RESUMO As primeiras faunas com dinossáurios bem representadas na Península Ibérica correspondem ao Kimmeridgiano-Titoniano da Bacia Lusitânica, na zona centro-ocidental portuguesa. Nestes níveis foram reconhecidos mais de trinta táxons de tetrápodes que incluem anfíbios, mamíferos primitivos, tartarugas, neodiápsidos basais coristoderos, lepidossau...
Malafaia, E.; Ortega, F.; Escaso, F. & Mocho, P. (2013): Rediscovery of a lost portion of the holotype of Suchosaurus girardi (Sauvage, 1897-98), now related to the spinosaurid theropod Baryonyx. In: Torcida Fernández-Baldor, F.; Huerta, P. (Eds.). Abstract book of the VI International Symposium about Dinosaurs Palaeontology and their Environment:...
