The first Early Jurassic (late Hettangian) theropod dinosaur remains from the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg
Abstract
Body fossils of earliest Jurassic (Hettangian) dinosaurs are scarce worldwide. Here we report two isolated dinosaur remains from the marine upper Hettangian (the Schlotheimia angulata ammonite Zone) Luxembourg Sandstone Formation, collected at Brouch, Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. The small to medium-sized pedal phalanx III-1 is referred to a neotheropod dinosaur based on the combination of the following features: proximal end with a lateral margin formed by two straight margins meeting at a wide angle, distal end with a well-defined semilunate extensor fossa and a proximodistally elongated shaft. The isolated tooth crown most likely belongs to an indeterminate theropod, because of its labiolingually compressed shape and the presence of sharp mesial and distal carinae and denticles along its distal edge. These remains represent the first Jurassic dinosaur specimens reported from the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, substantially enlarging the meagre record of the group immediately after the Triassic-Jurassic mass extinction event.