SAUROPODOMORPHA

LEONARDO SALGADO Y JOSÉ F. BONAPARTE

PATAGONIAN MESOZOIC REPTILES

Indiana University Press

Lugar: Bloomington; Año: 2005; p. 1 - 40

The record of Patagonian sauropodomorphs ranges from the Upper Triassic to the Upper Cretaceous. Basal members of this dinosaur group are represented in Patagonia by Mussaurus patagonicus, from uppermost Triassic deposits of Santa Cruz Province. The Middle Jurassic sauropod record consists of Amygdalodon patagonicus and the basal eusauropods Volkheimeria chubutensis and Patagosaurus fariasi, all from Chubut Province. From the same province, the Kimmeridgian species Tehuelchesaurus benitezi and Brachytrachelopan mesai are, to date, the earliest Patagonian neosauropods (macronarian the first, diplodocoid, the second). Early to mid-Cretaceous sediments yield diplodocoids including Amargasaurus cazaui, Limaysaurus tessonei, and Rayososaurus agrioensis, and the oldest Patagonian unquestionable titanosauriforms: Chubutisaurus insignis and Andesaurus delgadoi. The early Cenomanian witnessed the appearance of the first titanosaurians with procoelous caudal vertebrae (here designated as titanosauroids). Present knowledge indicates that the South American eutitanosaurian radiation coincided with the extinction of diplodocoids. Patagonian eutitanosaurians are continuously recorded from the Cenomanian up to the end of the Cretaceous. Saltasaurids pertaining to Aeolosaurini and Saltasaurini (nov.) are possibly exclusive to South American Campanian-Maastrichtian beds.