Overview
- Researchers report at least five individuals from the Vegagete site in Burgos, Spain, dated to the Upper Barremian–Lower Aptian of the Early Cretaceous (~120–130 million years ago).
- Micro‑CT reconstructions of newly identified skull fragments enabled a formal diagnosis, including fused premaxillae, procumbent premaxillary teeth, a filiform first dentary tooth, an elevated jaw joint, and a distinctive jaw‑muscle insertion.
- Bone histology shows the smallest-bodied fossils include a sexually mature adult with growth and metabolic signals approaching those of small mammals or birds.
- In an expanded dataset, the species falls within Rhabdodontomorpha as sister to Australia’s Muttaburrasaurus, broadening European Rhabdodontia and tentatively reviving support for the debated Phytodinosauria grouping.
- Authors emphasize these phylogenetic results are provisional pending additional characters, broader taxon sampling, and continued fieldwork, even as the anatomy suggests a specialized feeder capable of agile, short‑burst movement in dense vegetation.