NEW VERTEBRATE REMAINS FROM THE HUINCUL FORMATION (CENOMANIAN–TURONIAN; UPPER CRETACEOUS) IN RÍO NEGRO, ARGENTINA

CERRONI MAURICIO; AGNOLIN, FEDERICO; MOTTA J. MATIAS,; ALEXIS M. ARANCIAGA ROLANDO

Corrientes

Jornada; XXXIII Jornadas Argentinas de Paleontología de Vertebrados; 2019

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. Numerousvertebrate remains have been collected from this fossiliferous site and were recently published, including the enigmaticGualicho 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 preliminarilypresented in this abstract. The remains represent different vertebrate clades that include: Lepisosteiformes cf. Lepidotessp.; Sphenodontia Eilenodontinae indet.; Squamata indet.; Chelidae indet.; Crocodyliformes cf. Neosuchia; Titanosauriaindet.; Ornithopoda indet.; Carcharodontosauridae indet.; Abelisauridae indet.; Megaraptoridae indet.; and Coelulosauriaindet. The two Eilenodontinae specimens represent the first sphenodontian records for the Huincul Formation. The coelulosaurs,abelisaurid and carcharodontosaurid specimens show distinct autapomorphic traits and are different from previouslyknown theropods found in the Huincul Formation. The good preservational state and the large number of specimenscollected will allow increasing the knowledge about the fauna represented on the Huincul Formation. This large number ofdifferent clades of vertebrates in a single fossiliferous location positions the Huincul Formation as one of the richest vertebrateassociations in Patagonia.