Aeolosaurini dinosaur (Titanosauria) in Upper Cretaceous, Argentina (free pdf)

[Ben Creisler <bcreisler@gmail.com>]

From: Ben Creisler
bcreisler@gmail.com


A new paper in open access:


Leonardo S. Filippi, Agustín G. Martinelli & Alberto C. Garrido (2013)
Record of an Aeolosaurini dinosaur (Sauropoda, Titanosauria) in the
Upper Cretaceous (Plottier Formation) of Northern Neuquén Province,
Argentina, and comments on the South American Aeolosaurini.
REVISTA BRASILEIRA DE PALEONTOLOGIA 16 (1): 147-156
doi:10.4072/rbp.2013.1.11
http://www.sbpbrasil.org/revista/edicoes/16_1/11_Filippi_Martinelli_&_Garrido.pdf


The clade Aeolosaurini is represented by several specimens found, so
far, only in Argentina and Brazil. The material reported here
corresponds to a sauropod titanosaur consisting of four incomplete
anterior caudal vertebrae, from the Narambuena Paleontological Site,
Rincón de los Sauces, Neuquén Province, Argentina. The specimen comes
from the Plottier Formation (late Coniacian-lower Santonian, Upper
Cretaceous), Neuquén Group. The specimen has a combination of features
that includes it into the clade Aeolosaurini: anterior caudal centra
with anterodorsal margin bent forward; prezygapophyses elongated in
anterior caudal, in correlation with the extreme displacement of the
neural arch forward; and anteroposteriorly elongated articular facets
of prezygapophyses, at least in the anterior caudals. However, it
differs from other Aeolosaurini by having postzygapophysis with
anteroposteriorly short articular facets, not as elongated in the
prezygapophyses. This specimen corresponds not only to the fi rst
discovery of an Aeolosaurini in the north of the Neuquén Basin
(because Rinconsaurus caudamirus Calvo & Gonzalez Riga has been
included in another clade, Rinconsauria), but also the oldest record
of the group.