CONICET | Buscador de Institutos y Recursos Humanos

We describe a new genus and species of Titanosauridae. The material include cervical, dorsal and caudal vertebrae, chevrons, scapula, coracoids, humerus, pubis, ilium, femur and metacarpals. The material comes from Río Colorado Formation (Coniacian-Santonian) at Cañadón Río Seco, placed 2 km north of Rincón de los Sauces, Neuquén Province. No cranial material has been found. Cervical vertebra centra are opisthocoelous. The ventral face is anteroposteriorly concave and the lateral faces do not have pleurocoels. The neural spines is low and it is distally stout. Dorsal vertebra neural arches are reduced and directed backward. The laminae arrangement and the aliform shape of the neural spine differentiate this specimen from saltasaurids and the Series B Titanosaur from Brazil. Anterior caudal vertebrae are strongly procoelous. Transverse processes are directed laterally. The neural spines, directed vertically, are slender anteroposteriorly with a small distal expansion. Most medium caudals are strongly procoelous. Prezygapophysis are directed slightly upward and they have a small platform proximally. There is also a sequence of three articulated caudals, the first one is procoelous, the second is biconcave and the third is biconvex. Two other caudals are the first opisthocoelous and the following is biconvex. Posterior caudals are strongly procoelous with lateral faces flat and the ventral one is slightly convex. The acromial process is wide forming an angle of almost 90º. The coracoid has a quadrangular shape while the sternal plate has a semilunar shape. The humerus is slender with a deltopectoral crest very prominent. The strong backward direction and aliform shape of the neural spine in dorsals, the pataform on prezygapophysis and the aleatory caudal bodies in caudals allow us to propose a new species of Titanosauridae.

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