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- History of the discovery of the ankylosaur Dracopelta zbyszewskii (Upper Jurassic), with new data about the type specimen and its localityPublication . Russo, João; Mateus, OctávioAbstract: Dracopelta zbyszewskii is a poorly known ankylosaur dinosaur from the Upper Jurassic of Portugal. Even its early history has hitherto remained problematic, mostly due to scarce recorded information. By reviewing published literature, unpublished photos and notes, and field observations, we identify the type locality as a roadcut 400 m Southeast of Praia da Assenta Sul, approximately 1 km West of Barril, Mafra. Western Portugal, and date the discovery to early 1964 and the excavation to December 1964. This improves the existing records and allows to trace the early history of the holotype, providing important historical context on one of the most complete ankylosaurs from Europe. Furthermore, we preliminarily identify additional holotype material, i.e., putative pelvic elements, right hindlimb elements (distal femur, tibia, and fibula), one ungual, ribs, and osteoderms, which will help ascertain its position within Ankylosauria. We also propose that a single repository number be used for the specimen.
- Type specimens alone have a strong correlation with taxa record by geological epoch: the case study of the fossil vertebrates named from Portuguese typesPublication . Mateus, Octávio; Estraviz López, Darío; Madeira Mateus, Simão GustavoABSTRACT: Type specimens (holotypes, neotypes, syntypes, etc.) are of crucial importance because they are the only tangible evidence of the nomenclatural act that supports the understanding of paleobiodiversity. The list of the vertebrate species whose type specimen is based on fossils from Portugal is presented here. We counted 206 species, of which there are 45 bony fishes, 39 Late Jurassic Mammaliamorpha, 33 Cenozoic mammals, 28 non-avian dinosaurs, 25 non-dinosaur reptiles, 11 Cenozoic Aves, 22 Chondrichthyes and three other vertebrates. Except for the Quaternary fossil record, the type specimens can be used as a shortcut for measuring the fossil record and paleobiodiversity through geological time and rock units because they correlate in 95% with the fossil record by epoch in the case-study of fossil vertebrates of Portugal.