Elasmosaurs (Sauropterygia, Plesiosauria) from La Colonia Formation (Campanian-Maastrichtian), Argentina

O'GORMAN, J. P.; SALGADO, L.; VARELA, J. A.; PARRAS, A.

ALCHERINGA

TAYLOR & FRANCIS LTD

Lugar: Londres; Año: 2013 vol. 37 p. 259 - 267

0311-5518

Elasmosaur postcranial remains from the La Colonia Formation (Campanian-Maastrichtian), Chubut Province, Patagonia, Argentina, are described. The new material has small dimensions and caudal vertebrae with parapophyses strongly projected laterally, characters shared with some Elasmosauridae indet. from the coeval Allen Formation, Río Negro Province, Argentina. These features reinforce the similarities between the plesiosaur faunas of the north and south of the Somún Curá Massif. The small size of these elasmosaurs may be palaeoecologically related to the marginal marine depositional environment of the sedimentary host rocks.