The last of the oldies: A basal rebbachisaurid (Sauropoda, Diplodocoidea) from the early Late Cretaceous (Cenomanian–Turonian) of Patagonia, Argentina

LUCAS LERZO; PABLO A. GALLINA; JUAN I. CANALE; ALEJANDRO OTERO; JOSE CARBALLIDO; SEBASTIÁN APESTEGUÍA; PETER MAKOVICKY

Historical Biology

Taylor and Francis

Año: 2024

Rebbachisauridae is the earliest branching family of diplodocoid sauropod dinosaurs, recorded from Hauterivian to Turonian (Dalla Vecchia, 1998, Salgado et al., 2006, Haluza et al., 2012; Ibiricu et al., 2013; Wilson and Allain, 2015, Canudo et al., 2018), being the last diplodocoid group to be extinct and the only that reaches the Late Cretaceous (Fanti et al., 2015; Bellardini et al. 2022). In the last two decades, the knowledge about the anatomy of Rebbachisauridae has increased considerably (Fernández-Baldor et al., 2011; Carballido et al., 2012; Lindoso et al., 2019; Salgado et al., 2022). However, skull remains, and nearly complete skeletons are rare. In fact, out of 18 species around the world, only 4 taxa preserved cranial remains and 3 have nearly complete skeletons (Calvo and Salgado, 1995; Sereno et al. 2007; Paulina Carabajal et al., 2016; Canudo et al., 2018, Bellardini et al., 2022; Salgado et al., 2022).