. Is Dzharatitanis kingi the youngest Rebbachisauridae and the first record of a rebbachisaurid sauropod in Asia?

LERZO, L.; CARBALLIDO, J.L; GALLINA, P. A.

Mendoza

Jornada; 34º Jornadas Argentinas de Paleontología de Vertebrados; 2021

IANIGLA-CONICET

attributed to titanosaurian sauropods, but recently, in a redescription of this material, it was interpreted as the first caudalvertebra of a new species of Rebbachisauridae. This record would drastically impact in both biogeographical andchronological aspects of the group, as could represent the first record of the clade outside Gondwana and Europe, and theyoungest one worldwide. Nevertheless, some ?rebbachisaurid? characters recognized in it seems to have been incorrectlyinterpreted or having a more widespread distribution amongst Neosauropoda. The transverse process was incorrectlyrecognized as wing-like, a widespread character amongst diplodocoids, but is actually similar to the high transverseprocess present in some lognkosaurian titanosaurs (e.g., Patagotitan), whereas the neural spine is short and does notpresent the triangular expansion that characterize Rebbachisaurinae; instead, it is dorsally expanded as in the lognkosaursFutalognkosaurusand Patagotitan. Dzharatitanishas a well-developed and anterolaterally placed spinoprezygapophyseallamina that reaches the dorsal edge of the neural spine like in several titanosaurs, instead of being laterally projected as inmost diplodocoids.The presence of a marked spinodiapophyseal lamina in the anterior caudal vertebrae is widespreadamongst Lognkosauria and Rebbachisauridae, whereas the prespinal lamina is dorsally expanded, a character shared withinLognkosauria. The phylogenetic analysis carried out recovered Dzharatitanisas a lognkosaurian titanosaur. So, there is noreliable evidence to assume that rebbachisaurid sauropods have inhabited Asia. Additionally, these results suggest a widerdistribution of Lognkosauria during the Cretaceous.