New vertebrate remains from the Huincul Formation (Cenomanian-Turonian; Upper Cretaceous) in Río Negro, Argentina

MOTTA, MATIAS J.; BRISSÓN EGLI, FEDERICO; ARANCIAGA ROLANDO, ALEXIS M.; ROZADILLA, SEBASTIÁN; GENTIL, ADRIEL R.; LIO, GABRIEL; CERRONI, MAURICIO A.; GARCIA MARSÀ, JORDI A.; AGNOLIN, FEDERICO L.; D ANGELO, JULIA S.; ALVAREZ-HERRERA, GERARDO P.; ALSINA, CARLOS H.; NOVAS, FERNANDO E.

Corrientes

Congreso; XXXII JORNADAS ARGENTINAS DE PALEONTOLOGÍA DE VERTEBRADOS / VII JORNADAS TÉCNICAS DE PALEONTOLOGÍA DE VERTEBRADOS; 2018

The Violante Farm is a fossiliferous locality located in the northwest of the province of RíoNegro, Argentina. In this locality, the Huincul Formation (Neuquén Group, Cenomanian-Turonian, Upper Cretaceous) is widely exposed. Numerous vertebrate remains have beencollected from this fossiliferous site and were recently published, including the enigmaticGualicho shinyae (Apesteguia et al., 2016) and the theropods Aoniraptor libertatem andTaurovenator violantei (Motta et al., 2016). In a recent exploration carried out in thislocality, a large number of vertebrate fossils were found and are preliminarily presented inthis abstract. The remains represent different vertebrate clades that include:Lepisosteiformes cf. Lepidotes sp.; Sphenodontia Eilenodontinae indet.; Squamata indet.;Chelidae indet.; Crocodyliformes cf. Neosuchia ; Titanosauria indet.; Ornithopoda indet;Carcharodontosauridae indet.; Abelisauridae indet.; Megaraptoridae indet.; andCoelulosauria indet. The two Eilenodontinae specimens represent the first sphenodontianrecords for the Huincul Formation. The coelulosaurs, abelisaurid and carcharodontosauridspecimens show distinct autapomorphic traits and are different from previously knowntheropods found in the Huincul Formation. The well preservational state and the largenumber of specimens collected will allow to increase the knowledge about the faunarepresented on the Huincul Formation. This large number of different clades of vertebratesin a single fossiliferous location positions the Huincul Formation as one of the richestvertebrate association in Patagonia.