Speaker: Elisabete Malafaia (Instituto Dom Luiz).

Abstract: The Upper Jurassic sedimentary levels of the Lusitanian Basin (Central-West Region of Portugal) have provided the discovery of abundant fossil sites with vertebrate remains, including a rich record of theropod dinosaurs. This record is mostly composed by medium to large-sized theropods with trans-Atlantic distribution (e.g. Torvosaurus, Allosaurus). However, there are also exclusive forms, for which the relationships with other taxa from the peri-Atlantic and Tethys realm is not yet well-understood. In this context, the recent description of the new species Lusovenator santosi in the Upper Jurassic of Portugal, which represents the earliest evidence of carcharodontosaurian theropods in Laurasia, has significant implications for understanding the paleobiogeographic context and dynamics of the Late Jurassic theropod fauna of Iberia. The existence of contacts after the late Tithonian between these landmasses could explain the distribution of this clade and other dinosaur groups present in the Iberian Jurassic and in the North American Lower Cretaceous.

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