CONICET researchers’ studies were selected in the paleontological publications’ ranking of this year

Through the site blogs.plos.org, PLOS ONE invited its readers to vote for the best paleontological finds of 2016 published in open access scientific journals. Among the ten studies selected, there were four in which CONICET researchers participated.

The presentation of Gualicho shinyae by Sebastián Apesteguía, independent researcher of the Council and director of the Paleontology Area of the Fundación Azara, ranked first; whereas the find of the remains and the characterization of the Murusraptor barrosaensis led by Rodolfo Coria, independent researcher of the Council at Museo “Carmen Funes” (province of Neuquén), ranked seventh.

Gualicho shinyae is a carnivorous dinosaur whose almost complete skeleton was found in 2007 in the province of Río Negro by the chief fossil preparator of the Field Museum (Chicago, USA), Akiko Shinyar from Japan, during one expedition with Apesteguía’s team. After some problems that delayed its research, the fossil could be finally analyzed by Apesteguía and other researchers at the Museo Patagónico de Ciencias Naturales.

The Murusraptor barrosaensis is also a carnivore dinosaur from Patagonia who lived about 80 millions of years ago. After two campaigns carried out in 2001, in which the remains were obtained, and 15 years of analysis, Rodolfo Coria and Philip Currie, researcher at the University of Alberta, Canada, the find and the description of this species were published.

In the top ten list, the Lunaophis aquaticus –an aquatic snake of Northern South America- find made by Adriana Albino, CONICET independent researcher at the Biology Department of the Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata, ranked third. And finally, the discovery of Sarmientosaurus musacchioi -in which Fernando Novas, researcher of the Council at the Argentine Museum of Natural Sciences “Bernardino Rivadavia” (MACNBR), participated- obtained the 8th place.