SAUROPODS OF PATAGONIA: SYSTEMATIC UPDATE AND NOTES ON THE SAUROPOD GLOBAL EVOLUTION

LEONARDO SALGADO Y RODOLFO A. CORIA

THUNDER-LIZARDS: THE SAUROPODOMORPH DINOSAURS

Indiana University Press

Lugar: Bloomington; Año: 2005; p. 430 - 453

Patagonian sauropods are known from the Middle Jurassic up to the Late Cretaceous. Jurassic record comprises Amygdalodon  patagonicus and the basal eusauropods Volkheimeria chubutensis, Patagosaurus fariasi and Tehuelchesaurus benitezi. Early to Mid-Cretaceous   yield a diplodocoid record that is represented by Amargasaurus cazaui, Rebbachisaurus tessonei and Rayososaurus agrioensis, these last two associated with the first Patagonian titanosauriformes, Chubutisaurus insignis, Andesaurus delgadoi and other species still under study. The Early Cenomanian is characterized by the appearance of the first titanosaurids with procoelus caudal vertebrae. Present knowledge indicates that the South American titanosaurid radiation coincides with the extinction of the diplodocoids. Patagonian titanosaurids are uninterruptedly recorded since the Cenomanian up to the end of the Cretaceous, involving several different forms like the gigantic Argentinosaurus huinculensis or the relatively small saltasaurins, the latter possibly exclusive of the South American Campanian beds.