Aptien

Left dentary of rebbachisaurid sauropod Demandasaurus darwini gen. et sp. nov. from Late Barremian–Early Aptian, Early Cretaceous of Tenadas de los Vallejos II, Spain, MDS−RVII,443, in lateral (A) and dorsal (B) views. The arrow indicates a depressed area in a dorsolateral position.

Phylogenetic relationships, chronostratigraphic, and paleoecological implications of M. intrepidus. a Graphic illustrating temporal range of North American tyrannosauroids including species-level range prior to the discovery of M. intrepidus, extension of current range, and hypothesized range based on isolated teeth12. The current gap in the North American tyrannosauroid record spans from the Tithonian to the Aptian. Faunal composition of Late Cretaceous ecosystems was established between the Albian and Turonian, as recognized by the stratigraphic appearance of major clades (see refs. 7,12 and references therein). b generalized phylogenetic relationships of Tyrannosauroidea, showing the appearance of select traits related to cursoriality in tyrannosaurs that are newly optimized as a result of the discovery of M. intrepidus. Tree topology follows this study using the modified dataset of Carr and colleagues27. Coelurus and Tanycolagreus are grafted as basal tyrannosauroids following Brusatte and colleagues5. c Stratigraphic distribution of Allosauria in North America (incl. Megaraptora but see ref. 70 for alternative hypotheses regarding this clade) documents overlap with M. intrepidus in early Late Cretaceous ecosystems leading to (d) refined calibration on the origin of late diverging tyrannosauroids and clade-level faunal turnover within apex predator roles throughout the Late Jurassic–Late Cretaceous of North America. Colored polygons are stylized call-outs and are not intended to reflect two-dimensional data. Temporal data corresponding to this figure are available in Supplementary Table 5

Body mass evolution of Oviraptorosauria. Time calibrated phenograms of Log10 Body Mass (kg) versus time (Ma) for Oviraptorosauria. Blue halos represent 95% confi- dence intervals and branches indicate phylogenetic relation- ships. Each plot displays the same data, but Caenagnathidae is highlighted in green in (A) and Oviraptoridae is highlighted in red in (B) for clarity. Yellow arrows indicate nodes where important changes in body size range occur. Pie charts show ancestral estimations of biogeographic range (as in Fig. 20) for important clades of caenagnathids (A) and oviraptorids (B). Node labels from left to right in (A): Oviraptorosauria; Caenagnathidae; Anomalipes + Caenagnathinae; Caenagnathinae more derived than Apatoraptor pennatus; Anzu + Caenagnathus. Node labels from left to right in (B): Oviraptorosauria; Caenagnathoidea; Oviraptoridae; Heyuanninae (bottom); Citipatinae (top). Colours for node labels as in Fig. 20. Abbreviations: Al, Albian; Ap, Aptian; Ba, Barremian; Be, Berriasian; Ca, Campanian; Ce, Cenomanian; Co, Coniacian; Ha, Hauterivian; Ma, Maastrichtian; S, Santonian; Tu, Turonian; Va, Valanginian.

Palaeogeography of the Earth in Aptian, with location of Acrocanthosaurus fossils as green dots

Locality map for Australian eurypodan thyreophoran fossils. 1, Stegosaurian? footprint (QM F5701), Walloon Coal Measures, Balgowan Colliery, Balgowan (Bajocian–Bathonian); 2, Minmi paravertebra holotype (QM F10329) (Molnar, 1980), Minmi Member, Bungil Formation (Valanginian–Barremian); 3, Thyreophoran trackways, Broome Sandstone, Dampier Peninsula, Western Australia (Valanginian–Barremian); 4, Ankylosauria indet. (see Barrett et al., 2010) ‘Flat Rocks’ Wonthaggi Formation (upper Hauterivian–Albian); 5, NMV P216739, ‘Lake Copco–Dinosaur Cove’ Eumeralla Formation (middle upper Aptian to lower middle Albian) (Barrett et al., 2010); 6, QM F33286; 7, AM F119849 and AM F35259; 8, Kunbarrasaurus ieversi gen. et sp. nov. (formerly Minmi sp.) (QM F18101); 9, QM F33565 and QM F33566; 10, QM F44324-28. Legend: Dark Green, Toolebuc Formation (late middle–early late Albian); Green, Allaru Formation (upper Albian–(?)lower Cenomanian); Light green, Mackunda Formation (upper Albian–lower Cenomanian); Lightest green, Winton Formation (late Albian–early Turonian).

Aptian Jurabrontes Footprints