Osteology of the Patagonian ornithopod Talenkauen santacrucensis (Dinosauria, Ornithischia)

ROZADILLA, SEBASTIÁN; AGNOLÍN, FEDERICO LISANDRO; NOVAS, FERNANDO EMILIO

JOURNAL OF SYSTEMATIC PALAEONTOLOGY

CAMBRIDGE UNIV PRESS

Año: 2019 vol. 17 p. 2043 - 2089

1477-2019

Talenkauen santacrucensis represents one of the most complete South American ornithopods yet discovered. Thisdinosaur comes from the Mata Amarilla Formation (Turonian) of Santa Cruz Province, Argentina. The aim of thiscontribution is to present a detailed description of Talenkauen santacrucensis. Features of the cervical series ofTalenkauen, which are shared with other elasmarians, indicate that these dinosaurs have a proportionally longer neckthan other ornithopods. These traits were convergently acquired by several saurischian clades. Additionally, somefeatures, including an ornamented labial surface of the mandibular teeth and a sigmoidal greater trochanter of femur, aretraits shared by most elasmarians, and may prove to be synapomorphies of this clade. A phylogenetic analysis recoversmost Cretaceous Gondwanan ornithopods in the clade Elasmaria. This analysis indicates that Elasmaria was distributedmore widely geographically and temporally than previously though