INVESTIGADORES
PAULINA CARABAJAL ariana
congresos y reuniones científicas
Título:
PRELIMINARY STUDY OF AN UPPER CRETACEOUS DINOSAUR AND CROCODYLIFORM FAUNAL ASSOCIATION BASED ON A MICROSITE AT CERRO FORTALEZA (MATA AMARILLA FORMATION), SANTA CRUZ, ARGENTINA
Autor/es:
PAULINA CARABAJAL, A.; MENDEZ, A.; LEE, Y-N.; FERNÁNDEZ, M.; CÁRDENAS, M.
Lugar:
Mar Chiquita
Reunión:
Jornada; Jornadas Argentinas de Paleontologia de Vertebrados; 2017
Institución organizadora:
Museo de Ciencias Naturales de Mar Chiquita
Resumen:
A few number of dinosaur taxa are known from the Mata Amarilla Formation (Cenomanian?Santonian; Santa Cruz Province, Argentina), including one theropod (Orkoraptor burkei), one elasmarian ornithopod (Talenkauen santacrucensis) and two titanosaurids (Puertasaurus reuiliand Dreadnoughtus schrani), being the later the only species found in the locality of Cerro Fortaleza. The microsite at Cerro Fortaleza presented here was recently found and is approximately at the mid-section of the Mata Amarilla Formation. It is not markedly rich and most specimens consist of fractured and eroded dinosaur, crocodilian, and fish teeth (MPM-PV-18805.1-11). Eleven complete and fragmented teeth belonging to three clades of dinosaurs and one clade of crocodyliforms were recognized. A theropod tooth is small, markedly flat and ziphodont, the denticles having apically curved asymmetrical margins (Abelisauridae?). A large fragment of theropod tooth exhibits strongly marked wrinkled enamel (spinosaurid?). The sauropod tooth corresponds to a section of a pencil-like element, oval in section, characteristic of Titanosauridae. An ornithischian tooth, missing the tip, is small and leaf-shaped, with mesial and distal serrations, reminiscent of the morphology present in ankylosaurs and some ornithopods. Its morphology slightly differs from that described for Talenkauen, suggesting the presence of a different ornithopod for the formation. Finally, seven crocodyliform teeth correspond to two ziphodont caniniforms and five molariforms assigned to Peirosauridae (Mesoeucrocodylia, Notosuchia), a group identified by the first time for the Mata Amarilla Formation.