Overview
- Dieudonné and colleagues formally described Foskeia pelendonum in Papers in Palaeontology (DOI: 10.1002/spp2.70057).
- Fossils from the Vegagete site in the Castrillo de la Reina Formation (Burgos Province) represent at least five individuals.
- Bone microstructure shows the largest specimen was sexually mature with a relatively high metabolic rate comparable to small mammals or birds.
- Phylogenetic analysis places Foskeia within Rhabdodontomorpha as sister to Muttaburrasaurus and provisionally revives support for Phytodinosauria, which the authors stress requires further testing.
- Distinct cranial features—including fused premaxillae, forward-tilted premaxillary teeth, an elevated jaw joint, and a modified jaw-muscle attachment—suggest a novel feeding mode in a roughly half-meter-long ornithischian.