Open Paleo

Agustinia

Bonaparte, 1999 ah-goo-STEE-nee-uh /ɑːɡəˈstɪniə/

Named for Agustin Martinelli, a student who discovered the skeleton and participated in the excavation team of the Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales.

113.2–100.5 million years ago Albian, Early Cretaceous
Early Cretaceous stages

Agustinia is a genus of sauropod dinosaur from the Early Cretaceous of South America. The genus contains a single species, A. ligabuei, known from a single specimen that was recovered from the Lohan Cura Formation of Neuquén Province in Argentina. It lived about 116-108 million years ago, in the Aptian-Albian stages of the Early Cretaceous Period.

Under dispute

The affinities of Agustinia are contested. Dedicated rebbachisaurid analyses recover it within Rebbachisauridae but disagree on where: Bellardini and colleagues (2022) found it a basal rebbachisaurid, while Lerzo and colleagues (2025b) recovered it as a derived rebbachisaurid within Nigersaurinae under implied weighting. It is an unstable operational taxonomic unit that is pruned from the consensus in several analyses (Lerzo and colleagues, 2025a, 2025b). Earlier assessments differ more broadly: D'Emic and colleagues (2009) found no diagnostic features placing it in Diplodocoidea or Titanosauria and regarded it as a neosauropod of uncertain affinity, while Mannion and colleagues (2013), reinterpreting its purported osteoderms as displaced ribs and ischia, tentatively regarded it as an indeterminate somphospondylan.

Diagnosis

  1. Posterior dorsal, sacral, and anterior caudal neural spines with deep, dorsoventrally expanded, elliptical spinoprezygapophyseal and spinopostzygapophyseal fossae, apically enclosed by transversely and anteroposteriorly expanded dorsolateral margins
  2. Most posterior anterior caudal vertebrae with V-like (Y-like), dorsally divergent lateral laminae in lateral view
  3. Metatarsal I with prominent, proximodistally elongated laminae on the proximal half of the anterior and posterior surfaces of the bone

Species

Agustinia ligabuei Bonaparte, 1999

Type species

Named for Dr. Giancarlo Ligabue, a philanthropist who provided financial support to the expedition that recovered the remains.

Holotype
MCF-PVPH 110 , Museo ‘Carmen Funes’, Plaza Huincul
Material
Partially articulated postcranial skeleton: dorsal, sacral, and caudal neural spines (plus two newly referred fragments), a cervical rib, dorsal ribs, iliac fragment, a tibia, a fibula, metatarsals
Horizon
Cullín Grande Member, Lohan Cura Formation, Albian, Early Cretaceous , 113.2–100.5 million years ago
Locality
Cerro de los Leones, Neuquén, Argentina

Synonyms of the genus

Name Type Reason
Augustia preoccupied Name preoccupied by Augustia (Lepidoptera).

References

  1. Martinelli, A. G.; Garrido, A. C.; Forasiepi, A. M.; Paz, E. R.; Gurovich, Y. (2007). Notes on fossil remains from the Early Cretaceous Lohan Cura Formation, Neuquén Province, Argentina. Gondwana Research 11(4): 537-552.

    Gives the Agustinia level "on the northwestern side of the hill (39°35′38″S/69°24′00″W)".

    martinelli2007b
  2. Bonaparte, J. F. (1999). An armoured sauropod from the Aptian of northern Patagonia, Argentina. Proceedings of the Second Gondwanan Dinosaur Symposium (Tomida, Y.; Rich, T. H.; Vickers-Rich, P., eds.) 15: 1-12. bonaparte1999c
  3. Lerzo, L. N.; Gallina, P. A.; Canale, J. I.; Otero, A.; Carballido, J. L.; Apesteguía, S.; Makovicky, P. J. (2025). The last of the oldies: a basal rebbachisaurid (Sauropoda, Diplodocoidea) from the early Late Cretaceous (Cenomanian-Turonian) of Patagonia, Argentina. Historical Biology 37(2): 208-233. Informa UK Limited. doi:10.1080/08912963.2023.2297914

    Found Agustinia an unstable taxon pruned from the phylogenetic consensus.

    lerzo2025a
  4. Lerzo, L. N.; Torcida Fernández-Baldor, F.; Canale, J. I.; Whitlock, J. A.; Otero, A.; Gallina, P. A. (2025). They all floated in the cretaceous: new rebbachisaurid (Sauropoda, Diplodocoidea) with a highly pneumatized skeleton from the Upper Cretaceous (lower Cenomanian) of Patagonia, Argentina. Historical Biology 37(8): 1795-1808. Informa UK Limited. doi:10.1080/08912963.2024.2383708

    Recovered Agustinia as a derived rebbachisaurid within Nigersaurinae under implied weighting, and as an unstable taxon pruned under equal weighting.

    lerzo2025b
  5. Bellardini, F.; Coria, R. A.; Windholz, G. J.; Martinelli, A. G.; Baiano, M. A. (2022). Revisiting the Early Cretaceous sauropod Agustinia ligabuei (Dinosauria: Diplodocoidea) from southern Neuquén Basin (Patagonia, Argentina), with implications on the early evolution of rebbachisaurids. Historical Biology 35(12). doi:10.1080/08912963.2022.2142911

    Redescription and phylogenetic analysis recovering Agustinia as a basal rebbachisaurid.

    bellardini2022b
  6. D'Emic, M. D.; Wilson, J. A.; Chatterjee, S. (2009). The titanosaur (Dinosauria: Sauropoda) osteoderm record: review and first definitive specimen from India. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 29(1): 165-177. doi:10.1671/039.029.0131

    Found Agustinia lacks features placing it in Diplodocoidea or Titanosauria; a neosauropod of uncertain affinity.

    d'emic2009a
  7. Mannion, P. D.; Upchurch, P.; Barnes, R. N.; Mateus, O. (2013). Osteology of the Late Jurassic Portuguese sauropod dinosaur Lusotitan atalaiensis (Macronaria) and the evolutionary history of basal titanosauriforms. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 168(1): 98-206. Oxford University Press (OUP). doi:10.1111/zoj.12029

    Reinterpreted Agustinia's purported osteoderms as ribs/ischia and tentatively regarded it as an indeterminate somphospondylan.

    mannion2013a