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University of Birmingham New Specimens of the Basal Ornithischian Dinosaur Lesothosaurus Diagnosticus Galton, 1978 from the Earl University of Birmingham New specimens of the basal ornithischian dinosaur Lesothosaurus diagnosticus Galton, 1978 from the Early Jurassic of South Africa Barrett, Paul; Butler, Richard; Yates, Adam; Baron, Matthew; Choiniere, Jonah License: Creative Commons: Attribution (CC BY) Document Version Publisher's PDF, also known as Version of record Citation for published version (Harvard): Barrett, P, Butler, R, Yates, A, Baron, M & Choiniere, J 2016, 'New specimens of the basal ornithischian dinosaur Lesothosaurus diagnosticus Galton, 1978 from the Early Jurassic of South Africa', Palaeontologia africana , vol. 50. <http://hdl.handle.net/10539/19886> Link to publication on Research at Birmingham portal General rights Unless a licence is specified above, all rights (including copyright and moral rights) in this document are retained by the authors and/or the copyright holders. The express permission of the copyright holder must be obtained for any use of this material other than for purposes permitted by law. •Users may freely distribute the URL that is used to identify this publication. •Users may download and/or print one copy of the publication from the University of Birmingham research portal for the purpose of private study or non-commercial research. •User may use extracts from the document in line with the concept of ‘fair dealing’ under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 (?) •Users may not further distribute the material nor use it for the purposes of commercial gain. Where a licence is displayed above, please note the terms and conditions of the licence govern your use of this document. When citing, please reference the published version. Take down policy While the University of Birmingham exercises care and attention in making items available there are rare occasions when an item has been uploaded in error or has been deemed to be commercially or otherwise sensitive. If you believe that this is the case for this document, please contact [email protected] providing details and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate. Download date: 30. Sep. 2021 New specimens of the basal ornithischian dinosaur Lesothosaurus diagnosticus Galton, 1978 from the Early Jurassic of South Africa Paul M. Barrett1,2,*, Richard J. Butler2,3, Adam M. Yates2,4, Matthew G. Baron1,5 & Jonah N. Choiniere2,6 1Department of Earth Sciences, Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London SW7 5BD, U.K. 2Evolutionary Studies Institute, University of the Witwatersrand, Private Bag 3, WITS 2050, Johannesburg, South Africa 3School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2TT, U.K. 4Museum of Central Australia, Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Corner of Larapinta Drive and Memorial Avenue, Araluen Cultural Precinct, P.O. Box 3521, Alice Springs NT 0871, Australia 5Department of Earth Sciences, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge, CB2 3EQ, U.K. 6School of Geosciences, University of the Witwatersrand Received 7 December 2015. Accepted 1 March 2016 We describe new specimens of the basal ornithischian dinosaur Lesothosaurus diagnosticus Galton, 1978 collected from a bonebed in the Fouriesburg district of the Free State, South Africa. The material was collected from the upper Elliot Formation (Early Jurassic) and represents the remains of at least three individuals. These individuals are larger in body size than those already known in museum collections and offer additional information on cranial ontogeny in the taxon. Moreover, they are similar in size to the sympatric taxon Stormbergia dangershoeki. The discovery of three individuals at this locality might imply group-living behaviour in this early ornithischian. Keywords: Ornithischia, Free State, upper Elliot Formation, ontogeny, sociality. Palaeontologia africana 2016. ©2016 Paul M. Barrett, Richard J. Butler, Adam M. Yates, Matthew G. Baron & Jonah N. Choiniere. This is an open-access article published under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Unported License (CC BY4.0). To view a copy of the license, please visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. This license permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. This item is permanently archived at: http://wiredspace.wits.ac.za/handle/10539/19886 INTRODUCTION referred to this taxon thus far are juvenile individuals (e.g. The Early Jurassic upper Elliot Formation of South Africa Knoll et al. 2010; Porro et al. 2015). and Lesotho has yielded abundant material of primitive The lack of larger subadult or adult material for ornithischian dinosaurs and currently represents the best Lesothosaurus poses two problems for our current under- available window on early ornithischian evolution. The standing of early ornithischian diversity and evolution. fauna includes four heterodontosaurid taxa (Abrictosaurus The first of these is taxonomic: it has been suggested that consors, Heterodontosaurus tucki, Lycorhinus angustidens and Stormbergia might be an adult morph of Lesothosaurus Pegomastax africanus: e.g. Porro et al. 2011; Sereno 2012) and rather than a distinct genus (Knoll et al. 2010). Stormbergia the basal ornithischians Lesothosaurus diagnosticus and was distinguished from Lesothosaurus on the basis of Stormbergia dangershoeki (e.g. Butler 2005). Several of these ischial morphology (Butler 2005), but all of the available taxa are represented by multiple individuals and include specimens of Stormbergia represent individuals that are excellently preserved skull and postcranial material as in substantially larger than those referred to Lesothosaurus. Heterodontosaurus (Santa Luca et al. 1976; Santa Luca 1980; Consequently, it has been suggested that the proposed Butler et al. 2008a; Norman et al. 2011; Sereno 2012; Galton ischial differences might be of ontogenetic, rather than 2014) and Lesothosaurus (Thulborn 1970, 1972; Galton taxonomic, significance (Knoll et al. 2010). Secondly, the 1978; Santa Luca 1984; Sereno 1991; Knoll 2002a,b; Porro lack of adult material may affect the position of et al. 2015). However, although Lesothosaurus is known on Lesothosaurus in phylogenetic analyses. Lesothosaurus has the basis of three-dimensionally preserved skulls and been recovered in several positions within the ornithischian partial postcranial material, complete skeletons have yet tree, including as a non-genasaurian ornithischian, a to be recovered. Moreover, numerous features of the skull non-cerapodan neornithischian, and a basal thyreophoran anatomy (e.g. relatively large orbits, lack of fusion between (Sereno 1986, 1999; Butler et al. 2007, 2008b; Boyd 2015). braincase elements), the small size of the material, and This instability may be the result of genuine character some histological evidence suggests that all of the specimens conflict, lack of key character data, or incomplete lineage *Author for correspondence. E-mail: [email protected] sorting close to the base of the ornithischian tree, but it Palaeontologia africana 50: 48–63 — ISSN 2410-4418 [Palaeontol. afr.] Online only Permanently archived on the 23rd of March 2016 at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa (http://wiredspace.wits.ac.za/handle/10539/19886) might also result from the phenomenon whereby juvenile centimetres across, but one of the specimens (BP/1/6581) individuals included in analyses cause taxa to move was found ex situ lying immediately below the level of the stem-ward due to the absence of more derived, adult bench, although it is likely that it was derived from the morphologies (e.g. Tsuihiji et al. 2011; Campione et al. same accumulation. Two isolated bones, a surangular 2013). (BP/1/6580) and a scapula (BP/1/6583) were found in the Here we describe new material of Lesothosaurus repre- same horizon a few metres distant from the main accumu- senting a minimum of three individuals derived from a lation. At least three individuals are represented within single bonebed. Two of these are larger than either of the the sample on the basis of scapula size, with scapula syntype specimens of Lesothosaurus or of any of the midshaft diameters of 11, 18 and 27 mm, in BP/1/6581, referred specimens previously reported in the literature BP/1/6582 and BP/1/6583, respectively. It is possible that (Thulborn 1970, 1972; Santa Luca 1984; Sereno 1991; Knoll the isolated surangular (BP/1/6580) pertained to one of the 2002a,b; Butler 2005). larger individuals present (e.g. BP/1/6582), but it might also represent a fourth individual. Charlton Dube (BP), LOCALITY AND HORIZON A.M.Y. and Scott Moore-Fay (formerly NHMUK) pre- In 2007, the Keyser family mentioned the presence of pared the fossils mechanically using an airscribe. Breaks dinosaur bones on their property, known as Aushan Grey, were repaired with cyanoacrylate glue. Some fossil bones to A.M.Y. Subsequent investigations by A.M.Y. in March were consolidated after preparation with an approxi- 2007 revealed that Aushan Grey (formerly part of the farm mately 10% solution of Paraloid B-72 solid grade thermo- Landkloof 73: situated at S 28°35’25.6” E 28°03’0.56”), in the plastic acrylic resin in 100% acetone solvent. Fouriesburg district of Free State Province, South Africa, Although the available material of the individuals contained exposures of the upper part of the ‘Stormberg present is largely non-overlapping, there are no clear group’ (the upper part of the Karoo Supergroup) and that differences in morphology that
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