Oliver W M Rauhut

Bayerische Staatssammlung für Paläontologie und Geologie · Paläontologie

Recent discoveries in Asia have greatly increased our understanding of the evolution of dinosaurs' integumentary structures, revealing a previously unexpected diversity of "protofeathers" and feathers. However, all theropod dinosaurs with preserved feathers reported so far are coelurosaurs. Evidence for filaments or feathers in noncoelurosaurian th...

Theropod dinosaurs from the Late Jurassic of Gondwana are still poorly known, with Elaphrosaurus bambergi Janensch, 1920, from the late Kimmeridgian of Tendaguru, Tanzania, being the only taxon represented by more than isolated remains from Africa. Having long been considered a coelurosaurian, more specifically an ornithomimosaur, Elaphrosaurus is...

Fragmentary remains of a large, robustly built theropod dinosaur were recovered from the marine middle Callovian Ornatenton Formation of north-eastern Northrhine- Westphalia, Germany. The specimen includes a premaxilla, maxilla, lacrimal, postor- bital, dentary, several caudal vertebrae, ribs, fibulae, astragalus, and partial calca- neum. It is her...

Tetanurae, the most successful clade of theropod dinosaurs, including modern birds, split into three major clades early in their evolutionary history: Megalosauroidea, Coelurosauria, and Allosauroidea. The oldest tetanurans occur in the earliest Middle Jurassic, but the early fossil record of the clade is still poor. Here we report one of the oldes...

The Late Jurassic 'Solnhofen Limestones' are famous for their exceptionally preserved fossils, including the urvogel Archaeopteryx, which has played a pivotal role in the discussion of bird origins. Here we describe a new, non-archaeopterygid avialan from the Lower Tithonian Mö rnsheim Formation of the Solnhofen Archipelago, Alcmonavis poeschli gen...

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...

Eusauropods are large-bodied and long-necked dinosaurs that dominated the role of large herbivores in terrestrial ecosystems since at least the late Early Jurassic (Pliensbachian–Toarcian). Their early diversification is best recorded in South America where the best-preserved eusauropods and close relatives from this period of time have been found....

Middle Jurassic sauropod taxa are poorly known, due to a stratigraphic bias of localities yielding body fossils. One such locality is Cerro Cóndor North, Cañadón Asfalto Formation, Patagonia, Argentina, dated to latest Early–Middle Jurassic. From this locality, the holotype of Patagosaurus fariasi Bonaparte 1986 is revised. The material consists of...

Late Jurassic South American theropod faunas are still extremely poorly known, with large-sized ceratosaurids and megalosaurids having been identified on the basis of isolated teeth, whereas the only named taxa, Chilesaurus and Pandoravenator, are probable tetanurans of uncertain affinities. Here we describe two new specimens of medium-sized to lar...

The Solnhofen Archipelago is well known for its fossil vertebrates of Late Jurassic age, among which figure numerous rhynchocephalian specimens, representing at least six and up to nine genera. A new taxon, named Sphenofontis velserae gen. et sp. nov., increases rhynchocephalian diversity in the Solnhofen Archipelago and is herein described based o...

Bevor die Dinosaurier zu der beherrschenden Tiergruppe des Erdmittelalters (Mesozoikum) wurden, gab es in der Zeit der Trias (vor ca. 252 bis vor 201 Millionen Jahren) eine große Fülle von Reptilien, die viele der ökologischen Nischen besetzt hatten. Die meisten dieser Reptilien gehörten dabei, wie die Dinosaurier auch, zu den »herrschenden Reptili...

A stegosaurian humerus from the Oxfordian–Tithonian(?) Cañadón Calcáreo Formation of Chubut, Argentina, extends the fossil record of this clade of thyreophoran ornithischian dinosaurs to the Upper Jurassic of South America. The element shares the derived character of an oblique ridge extending from the deltopectoral crest towards the medial distal...

Although sauropodomorph dinosaurs have been known for a long time from the Late Triassic of central Europe, sauropodomorph diversity and faunal composition has remained controversial until today. Here we review sauropodomorph material from the Canton Schaffhausen, Switzerland. The material comes from three different but geographically close localit...

Sauropods, the giant long-necked dinosaurs, became the dominant group of large herbivores in terrestrial ecosystems after multiple related lineages became extinct towards the end of the Early Jurassic (190-174 Ma). The causes and precise timing of this key faunal change, as well as the origin of eusauropods (true sauropods), have remained ambiguous...

Preprint of In Press manuscript of the Osteological redescription of Patagosaurus fariasi

A fragmentary maxilla from the middle Callovian Ornatenton Formation of the Wiehengebirge, north-western Germany, shows two autapomorphies of the theropod dinosaur genus Torvosaurus, a maxilla fenestra that is developed as a large and shallow but not sharply defined depression and an anteroposteriorly oriented ridge transversing the ventral part of...

Small theropod post-cranial material from Tendaguru, Tanzania, the only known Late Jurassic theropod locality in the Southern Hemisphere, is reviewed. Material originally described as ‘coelurosaurs’ includes at least one taxon of basal tetanuran and one taxon of small abelisauroid. Together with the abelisauroid Elaphrosaurus and the presence of a...

The Society of Vertebrate Paleontology (SVP) has recently circulated a letter, dated 21st April, 2020, to more than 300 palaeontological journals, signed by the President, Vice President and a former President of the society (Rayfield et al. 2020). In this letter, significant changes to the common practices in palaeontology are requested. In our pr...

Spinosauridae, a theropod group characterized by elongated snouts, conical teeth, enlarged forelimbs, and often elongated neural spines, show evidence for semiaquatic adaptations and piscivory. It is currently debated if these animals represent terrestrial carnivores with adaptations for a piscivorous diet, or if they largely lived and foraged in a...

Research in the late 1900s has established that birds are theropod dinosaurs, with the discovery of feather preservation in non-avian theropods being the last decisive evidence for the dinosaur origin of this group. Partially due to the great interest in the origin of birds, more phylogenetic analyses of non-avian theropod dinosaurs have probably b...

The discoveries of numerous theropod dinosaurs with filamentous integumentary structures in various stages of morphological complexity from the Upper Jurassic and Lower Cretaceous of China provided striking evidence that birds represent modern predatory dinosaurs and that feathers were originally filamentous. In the shadow of these impressive disco...

A review of the type and referred material of von Huene shows that Prestosuchus is a valid taxon represented by, at least, three different species: the lectotype and paralectotype of Prestosuchus chiniquensis, an unnamed species from Brazil (UFRGS-PV- 0152-T), and the new combination Prestosuchus nyassicus (=Stagonosuchus nyassicus). Several more r...

Allosaurus , from the Late Jurassic of North America and Europe, is a model taxon for Jurassic basal tetanuran theropod dinosaurs. It has achieved an almost iconic status due to its early discovery in the late, 19th century, and due to the abundance of material from the Morrison Formation of the western U.S.A., making Allosaurus one of the best-kno...

Feathers are one of the most unique characteristics of modern birds and represent the most complex and colourful type of skin derivate within vertebrates, while also fulfilling various biological roles, including flight, thermal insulation, display, and sensory function. For years it was generally assumed that the origin of flight was the main driv...

Eine internationale Forschergruppe beschreibt in der aktuellen Ausgabe des Swiss Journal of Geosciences einen für die Wissenschaft neuen Dinosaurier aus dem Kanton Schaffhausen unter dem Namen Schleitheimia schutzi. Dabei stützen sich die Wissenschaftler sowohl auf ältere Funde eines lokalen Sammlers als auch auf Fossilien aus einer Grabung im Jahr...

The growing availability of virtual cranial endocasts of extinct and extant vertebrates has fueled the quest for endocranial characters that discriminate between phylogenetic groups and resolve their neural significances. We used geometric morphometrics to compare a phylogenetically and ecologically comprehensive data set of archosaurian endocasts...

The Late Jurassic ‘Solnhofen Limestones’ are famous for their exceptionally preserved fossils, including the urvogel Archaeopteryx, which has played a pivotal role in the discussion of bird origins. Here we describe a new, non-archaeopterygid avialan from the Lower Tithonian Mörnsheim Formation of the Solnhofen Archipelago, Alcmonavis poeschli gen....

The braincase anatomy of the sauropodomorph dinosaur Saturnalia tupiniquim from the Late Triassic (Carnian) Santa Maria Formation of Brazil is described for the first time using CT. The braincase is characterized by a semilunar depression on the lateral surface of the basisphenoid, an occipital condyle whose ventral margin lies dorsal to the ventra...

The question of whether it should be permissible to publish palaeontological specimens kept in private collections is a contentious issue. Many colleagues and scientific journals tend to reject publication of such specimens, mainly based on two objections: that private collectors fail to collect or keep important contextual data, and that such spec...

New materials of the ornithischian dinosaur Manidens condorensis highlight a strong heterodonty between the upper and lower dentitions and reveal a novel occlusion type previously unreported in herbivorous dinosaurs. The diamond-shaped maxillary teeth have prominent cingular entolophs in a V- to Z-shaped configuration that are absent in dentary tee...

The Kimmeridgian Vega, Tereñes and Lastres formations of Asturias have yielded a rich vertebrate fauna, represented by both abundant tracks and osteological remains. However, skeletal remains of theropod dinosaurs are rare, and the diversity of theropod tracks has only partially been documented in the literature. Here we describe the only non-denta...

The dentition of Manidens condorensis Pol, Rauhut and Becerra, 2011, from the Cañadón Asfalto Formation (Early Jurassic) is unique among ornithischians, with clear differences between maxillary and dentary teeth. This work describes the dental enamel microstructure of this species (specimens MPEF-PV 10862, 10863, 10865, 3821, 10823 and 10864), the...

Micro-Computed Tomography scanning of the holotype of Manidens condorensis (Pol, Rauhut and Becerra, 2011; MPEF-PV 3211) provided new data on the anatomy of this species. The micro-CT information allows the identification of the previously unknown maxillary dentition for the species, bearing at least eight teeth. These teeth are low at their apical...

The iconic primeval bird Archaeopteryx was so far mainly known from the Altmühltal Formation (early Tithonian) of Bavaria, southern Germany, with one specimen having been found in the overlying Mörnsheim Formation. A new specimen (the 12th skeletal specimen) from the earliest Tithonian Painten Formation of Schamhaupten (Bavaria) represents the so f...

The braincase anatomy of the sauropodomorph dinosaur Efraasia minor (Late Triassic, Norian, Löwenstein Formation of Germany) is redescribed in detail, adding new information based on CT-Scan data. We discuss the evolution of sauropodomorph braincases from a phylogenetic perspective, focusing on non-neosauropodan representatives. For this, we revise...

The evolutionary history of dinosaurs might date back to the fist stages of the Triassic (c. 250– 240 Ma), but the oldest unequivocal records of the group come from Late Triassic (Carnian – c. 230 Ma) rocks of South America. Here, we present the fist braincase endocast of a Carnian dinosaur, the sauropodomorph Saturnalia tupiniquim, and provide new...

Sauropod dinosaurs were quadrupedal herbivores with a highly specialized body plan that attained the largest masses of any terrestrial vertebrates. Recent discoveries have shown that key traits associated with sauropod gigantism appeared stepwise during the Late Triassic and Early Jurassic in evolutionary ‘cascades’ of associated changes, in which...

Background Archaeopteryx is an iconic fossil that has long been pivotal for our understanding of the origin of birds. Remains of this important taxon have only been found in the Late Jurassic lithographic limestones of Bavaria, Germany. Twelve skeletal specimens are reported so far. Archaeopteryx was long the only pre-Cretaceous paravian theropod k...

Eusauropods were a group of herbivorous dinosaurs that evolved during the Early Jurassic and dominated the terrestrial ecosystems throughout the Jurassic and Cretaceous. A peak of diversity is represented by the Late Jurassic, when most of the lineages of the derived clade, Neosauropoda, are represented. Different lineages of eusauropods differ in...

A fragmentary postcranial skeleton from the Late Jurassic (Oxfordian-Tithonian) Cañadón Calcáreo Formation of Chubut, Argentina, represents a new taxon of theropod dinosaur, which is here described as Pandoravenator fernandezorum gen. et sp. nov. This material represents the first Late Jurassic theropod known from Argentina. Pandoravenator fernande...

The evolutionary history of dinosaurs might date back to the first stages of the Triassic (c. 250–240 Ma), but the oldest unequivocal records of the group come from Late Triassic (Carnian – c. 230 Ma) rocks of South America. Here, we present the first braincase endocast of a Carnian dinosaur, the sauropodomorph Saturnalia tupiniquim, and provide ne...

The braincase anatomy of the sauropodomorph dinosaur Efraasia minor (Late Triassic, Norian, Löwenstein Formation of Germany) is redescribed in detail, adding new information based on CT scan data. We discuss the evolution of sauropodomorph braincases from a phylogenetic perspective, focusing on non-neosauropodan representatives. For this, we revise...

The locality of Brunn, Oberpfalz, represents the oldest setting within the area usually included within the Solnhofen Archipelago, dating to the Subeumela Subzone of the Late Kimmeridgian. The locality has yielded a rich vertebrate fauna from eight different levels of plattenkalks, dominated by actinopterygian osteichthyans. Apart from rare chondri...

Pterosaurs are an extinct group of highly modified flying reptiles that thrived during the Mesozoic. This group has unique and remarkable skeletal adaptations to powered flight, including pneumatic bones and an elongate digit IV supporting a wing-membrane. Two major body plans have traditionally been recognized: the primitive, primarily long-tailed...

Supplementary Material

New ornithischian remains reported here (MPEF-PV 3826) include two complete metatarsi with associated phalanges and caudal vertebrae, from the late Toarcian levels of the Cañadón Asfalto Formation. We conclude that these fossil remains represent a bipedal heterodontosaurid but lack diagnostic characters to identify them at the species level, althou...