Genus
Valid Extinct

Protathlitis

Santos-Cubedo et al. 2023

Protathlitis is a potentially dubious and chimeric genus of theropod dinosaur from the Early Cretaceous (Barremian) Arcillas de Morella Formation of Castellón, Spain. The type and only species is Protathlitis cinctorrensis, known from a partial skeleton. It was originally identified as a basal member of the Baryonychinae. If a spinosaurid identity of the material is correct, its discovery, as well as those of the spinosaurids Camarillasaurus, Iberospinus, Riojavenatrix, and the contemporary Vallibonavenatrix shows that the Iberian Peninsula held a diverse assemblage of these theropods during the Early Cretaceous.

Temporal range
Triassic
Jurassic
Cretaceous
Paleogene
Neogene
252 201 145 66 0 Ma
PBDB occurrences
1
Group
Dinosaures
Carnivore Ground dwelling, solitary Terrestrial
Protathlitis
click to enlarge
3ANA83 Mid caudal vertebrae of Protathlitis in anterior (A), posterior (B), lateral (C, D), dorsal (E) and ventral (F). Abbreviations: acdf, anterior centrodiapophyseal fossa; cdl, centrodiapophyseal lamina; ch, chevron articulation; nc, neural canal; ns, neural spine; pcdf, posterior centrodiapophyseal fossa; prdl, prezygadiapophyseal lamina; poz, postzygapophysis; prz, prezygapophysis; sprf, spinoprezygapophyseal fossa; sprl, spinoprezygapophyseal lamina; spof, spinopostzygapophyseal fossa; tp, transverse process. 4ANA-69 Mid caudal vertebrae of Protathlitis in anterior (G), posterior (H), lateral (I, J), dorsal (K) and ventral (L). 5ANA-78 Mid caudal vertebrae of Protathlitis in anterior (M), posterior (N), lateral (O, P), dorsal (Q) and ventral (R). Scale bar equals 5 cm. © A. Santos-Cubedo, C. de Santisteban, B. Poza & S. Meseguer · CC BY 4.0 · Wikimedia
PBDB ↗ Wikipedia ↗
Classification
Dinosauria Unranked clade
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Theropoda Unranked clade
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Neotheropoda Unranked clade
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Averostra Unranked clade
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Tetanurae Unranked clade
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Megalosauroidea Superfamily
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Spinosauridae Family
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Baryonychinae Subfamily
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Protathlitis Genus
Fossil sites 1 geolocated sites
Distribution
Top countries
🇪🇸 Spain
1
Geological formations
Arcillas de Morella
1
Temporal distribution
Barremian (125.77–121.4 Ma)
1
Species (1)
Protathlitis cinctorrensis 126 Ma
Images 1
Bibliography
Original description
A. Santos-Cubedo, C. de Santisteban, and B. Poza, S. Meseguer. 2023. A new spinosaurid dinosaur species from the Early Cretaceous of Cinctorres (Spain). Scientific Reports 13:6471:1-13 DOI ↗
Bibliography (1)
A. Santos-Cubedo, C. de Santisteban, and B. Poza, S. Meseguer. 2023. A new spinosaurid dinosaur species from the Early Cretaceous of Cinctorres (Spain). Scientific Reports 13:6471:1-13 DOI ↗