Open Paleo

Aniksosaurus

Martínez & Novas, 2006 ah-NIK-so-SOR-us

From Modern Greek 'anoixi' meaning 'spring' (the season) and 'sauros' meaning 'lizard'; meaning 'spring lizard', referring to the onset of spring in the Southern Hemisphere when the fossil was found

100.5–89.8 million years ago Cenomanian–Turonian, Late Cretaceous
Late Cretaceous stages

Aniksosaurus is a genus of avetheropod dinosaur from what is now Chubut Province, Argentina. It lived during the Cenomanian to Turonian of the Cretaceous period, between 96-91 million years ago. The type species, Aniksosaurus darwini, was formally described from the Bajo Barreal Formation of the Golfo San Jorge Basin by Rubén Dario Martínez and Fernando Emilio Novas in 2006; the name was first coined in 1995 and reported in the literature in 1997. The specific epithet honors Charles Darwin who visited Patagonia in 1832/1833 during the Voyage of the Beagle.

Diagnosis

  1. Cervical vertebrae with neural arch pedicels unusually deep, approximately 2.5 times the height of the centrum
  2. Wide, dorsoventrally elliptical neural canal on caudal cervical vertebrae
  3. Cranial caudal vertebrae with a single sagittal ventral keel on the centrum
  4. Manual ungual phalanges robust and transversely thick (height-to-width ratio ~1.1, much lower than other theropods)
  5. Iliac brevis shelf extremely expanded and projected lateroventrally, fan-shaped in ventral view
  6. Metatarsal IV and its corresponding digit transversely very narrow (metatarsal III/IV distal width ratio ~2.14)

Species

Aniksosaurus darwini Martínez & Novas, 2006

Type species

Named for Charles Darwin, who visited Patagonia in 1832 and 1833 during the Voyage of the Beagle.

Holotype
MDT-PV 1/48 , Museo Desiderio Torres-Paleovertebrados
Material
Articulated right hindlimb including femur, fibula, tibia, and foot.
Horizon
lower Bajo Barreal Formation, Cenomanian–Turonian, Late Cretaceous , 100.5–89.8 million years ago
Locality
Laguna Palacios ranch, Chubut, Argentina

References

  1. Martínez, R.; Novas, F. (2006). Aniksosaurus darwini gen. et sp. nov., a new coelurosaurian theropod from the Early Late Cretaceous of Central Patagonia, Argentina. Revista del Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales 8: 243-259. Museo Argentino de Ciencia Naturales. doi:10.22179/revmacn.8.325 martínez2006a