Giant titanosaur (Dinosauria, Sauropoda) from the Late Cretaceous of Patagonia

FERNANDO E. NOVAS; LEONARDO SALGADO; CALVO, JORGE O; FEDERICO AGNOLIN

Revista del Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales

Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales

Año: 2005 vol. 7 p. 37 - 41

1514-5158

We report the discovery of a new titanosaurian taxon, Puertasaurus reuli gen. et sp. nov., from Maastrichtian beds of SW Patagonia. Four vertebrae were recovered. The nwe form is diagnosed on the basis of an inflated neural spine on cervical vertebra, and extremely short second dorsal vertebra, among other features. Puertasaurus is one of the largest known sauropod dinosaurs, with dorsal vertebra 2 measuring 168 cm in transverse width. This is the first time that a cervical vertebra is reported for a giant titanosaur, giving a new insight on neck anatomy of neosauropod dinosaurs.