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

MATÍAS MOTTA; FEDERICO BRISSÓN EGLI; MAURO ARANCIAGA ROLANDO; SEBASTIÁN ROZADILLA; ADRIEL GENTIL; GABRIEL LIO; MAURICIO CERRONI; JORDI GARCÍA MARSÀ; FEDERICO AGNOLÍN; JULIA D'ANGELO; GERARDO ÁLVAREZ HERRERA; CARLOS ALSINA; FERNANDO NOVAS

Corrientes

Jornada; XXXII Jornadas Argentinas de Paleontología de Vertebrados; 2018

Centro de Ecología Aplicada del Litoral

The Violante's Farm is a fossiliferous locality located in the northwest of the province of Río Negro, Argentina. In this locality, the Huincul Formation (Neuquén Group, Cenomanian-Turonian, Upper Cretaceous) is widely exposed. Numerous vertebrate remains have been collected from this fossiliferous site and were recently published, including the enigmatic Gualicho shinyae Apesteguía et al. 2016, and the theropods Aoniraptor libertatem and Taurovenator violantei Motta et al., 2016. In a recent exploration carried out in this locality, a large number of vertebrate fossils were found and are preliminarily presented in this 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.; and Coelulosauria indet. The two Eilenodontinae specimensrepresent the first sphenodontian records for the Huincul Formation. The coelulosaurs, abelisaurid and carcharodontosaurid specimens show distinct autapomorphic traits and are different from previously known theropods found in the Huincul Formation. The good preservational state and the large number of specimens collected will allow increasing the knowledge about the fauna represented on the Huincul Formation. This large number of different clades of vertebrates in a single fossiliferous location positions the Huincul Formation as one of the richest vertebrate associations in Patagonia.