Laño

Laño (Basque: Lañu) is a hamlet and concejo (a small administrative subdivision) in Condado de Treviño within the Treviño enclave; which is administratively part of the Spanish province of Burgos, but which is completely surrounded by the territory of the Basque country province of Álava. It is best known for the fossils of extinct vertebrates dating from around 70 million years before present which have been found there.

Palaeontology edit

The Paleontology Unit of the University of the Basque Country and other scientists have studied the fossil record at Laño. The fossils are from the late Cretaceous (late Campanian to lower Maastrichtian). It has been inferred that there was then a braided riverbed at the site, that the sea was nearby, and that the climate was tropical or sub-tropical.^[1]^[2]

Taxa identified at Laño include:

Arcovenator sp., a species of abelisaurid dinosaur^[3]
Acynodon iberoccitanus, a species of crocodilian in genus Acynodon
Dortoka vasconica, a species of turtle in genus Dortoka in family Dortokidae in sub-order Pleurodira
Gargantuavis, a genus of bird^[3]
Herensugea caristiorum, a species of snake in genus Herensugea in family Madtsoiidae
Lainodon orueetxebarriai, a species of placental mammal in genus Lainodon in family Zhelestidae
Lirainosaurus astibiae, a species of sauropod dinosaur in genus Lirainosaurus
Menarana laurasiae, a species of snake in genus Menarana^[4]
Musturzabalsuchus buffetauti, a species of crocodilian in genus Musturzabalsuchus
Polysternon atlanticum, a species of turtle in genus Polysternon
Solemys vermiculata, a species of turtle in genus Solemys in family Helochelydridae
Rhabdodon, a genus of ornithopod^[3]
Struthiosaurus, a genus of ankylosaur^[3]
Taveirosaurus, a genus of ornithischian dinosaur
Tarascosaurus a genus of abelisaurid dinosaur
?Pyroraptor, a genus of dromaeosaurid dinosaur^[3]

^ Astibia, H.; et al. (September 1990). "The fossil vertebrates from Lano (Basque Country, Spain); new evidence on the composition and affinities of the Late Cretaceous continental faunas of Europe". Terra Nova. 2 (5): 460–466. Bibcode:1990TeNov...2..460A. doi:10.1111/j.1365-3121.1990.tb00103.x.
^ "Iraganaren berri". zientzia.eus (in Basque). 1 June 2007. Retrieved 23 November 2017.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Isasmendi, Erik; Torices, Angelica; Canudo, José Ignacio; Currie, Philip J.; Pereda‐Suberbiola, Xabier (2022). "Upper Cretaceous European theropod palaeobiodiversity, palaeobiogeography and the intra‐Maastrichtian faunal turnover: new contributions from the Iberian fossil site of Laño". Papers in Palaeontology. 8 (1). doi:10.1002/spp2.1419. hdl:10810/56781. ISSN 2056-2799. S2CID 246028305.
^ Laduke, T.C., Krause, D.W., Scanlon, J.D. and Kley, N.J. (2010). "A Late Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) snake assemblage from the Maevarano Formation, Mahjanga Basin, Madagascar". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 30 (1): 109–138. Bibcode:2010JVPal..30..109L. doi:10.1080/02724630903409188.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)