Limaysaurinae

Whitlock, 2011 Type genus Limaysaurus

Its genera lived 100.5–89.8 million years ago Late Cretaceous
Late Cretaceous stages

Limaysaurinae is a subfamily of rebbachisaurid sauropod dinosaurs, one of the two subfamilies recognized within the rebbachisaurid clade Khebbashia. It is a stem-based group that gathers those rebbachisaurids more closely related to Limaysaurus than to Nigersaurus, and in current usage is typically restricted to the South American genera Limaysaurus and Cathartesaura. Its members were medium-sized, long-necked sauropods that lived in Patagonia during the mid- to Late Cretaceous. Like other rebbachisaurids, they were among the last surviving diplodocoids, persisting alongside the titanosaurs until fairly late in the Cretaceous.

Diagnosis

  1. Accessory lateral lamina on the posterior cervical vertebrae connecting the postzygodiapophyseal and spinoprezygapophyseal laminae
  2. Anterior caudal neural spines with contact between the spinoprezygapophyseal and spinopostzygapophyseal laminae

Genera placed directly in Limaysaurinae

  • Cathartesaura Gallina & Apesteguía, 2005 Cenomanian–Turonian (100.5–89.8 Ma)Argentina
  • Limaysaurus Salgado et al., 2004 Cenomanian (100.5–93.9 Ma)Argentina

References

  1. Whitlock, J. A. (2011). A phylogenetic analysis of Diplodocoidea (Saurischia: Sauropoda). Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 161(4): 872-915. doi:10.1111/j.1096-3642.2010.00665.x

    Erected the subfamilies Limaysaurinae and Nigersaurinae.

    whitlock2011a