INVESTIGADORES
CARBALLIDO Jose Luis
congresos y reuniones científicas
Título:
A new sauropod dinosaur from the Early Cretaceous of Colombia and the youngest brachiosaurid record for Gondwana
Autor/es:
CARBALLIDO, JOSÉ L.; POL, DIEGO; PARAMO, MARÍA; ETAYO SERNA, F.; PARRA, MARI L.; PADILLA, SANTIAGO
Lugar:
Zapala
Reunión:
Jornada; XXVIII Jornadas Argentinas Paleontología de Vertebrados; 2014
Resumen:
Brachiosaurid sauropods first appeared during the Late Jurassic and achieved a broad (Pangeic) distribution during that time. Nevertheless, their Cretaceous record was restricted to the Aptian-Albian of North America, possibly reflecting differential extinction. Here we present a new titanosauriform dinosaur from Colombia, including caudal vertebrae that indicate brachiosaurid affinities. The specimen was recovered from the middle member of the marine Paja Formation (Barremian), close to locality of Villa de Leiva, Colombia and is currently housed in the Junta de Acción Comunal Vereda Monquira Museum (JACVM 0001). The new sauropod is represented by an isolated posterior dorsal centrum, partially preserved sacrum, and the first eight caudal vertebrae preserved in articulation. The combination of several characters indicate the basal titanosauriform affinities of the specimen, which include: opisthocoelous dorsal centrum with large pleurocoels that opens into a policamerate system and presence of accessory posterior centrodiapophyseal lamina; platycoelous/distoplatyan anterior caudal vertebrae with anteriorly placed neural arches, long centroprezygapophyseal laminae, and posteriorly directed transverse processes with a ventral bulge on them. Among titanosauriforms, the presence of a blind fossa in anterior caudal vertebrae is a character solely present in Giraffatitan, Venenosaurus, Cedarosaurus and Abydosaurus, indicating the brachiosaurid affinities of this sauropod. The weakly laterally expanded and divided transverse processes of the anteriormost caudal vertebrae allows the recognition of a new sauropod species. Although more evidence is needed to test more thoroughly the brachiosaurid affinities of this new taxon, available evidence indicates this clade could have survived at lower latitudes of Gondwana up to the Early Cretaceous.