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Argyrosaurus

Lydekker, 1893 AR-jy-roh-SOR-uhs /ˌɑːrdʒaɪroʊˈsɔːrəs/

From Greek 'argyros' meaning 'silver' and 'sauros' meaning 'lizard', meaning 'silver lizard', named for Argentina (from Latin 'argentum', silver).

83.6–66.0 million years ago Campanian–Maastrichtian, Late Cretaceous
Late Cretaceous stages

Argyrosaurus is a genus of titanosaurian sauropod dinosaur that lived about 70 million years ago, during the Late Cretaceous Period of what is now Argentina.

Diagnosis

  1. Humerus with more squared proximal extremity than Titanosaurus australis
  2. Postaxial border of humerus shaft much less curved than T. australis
  3. More strongly developed and shorter deltoid crest than T. australis
  4. Distinct prominent ridge on inner border of posterior surface of proximal half of femur
  5. Caudal vertebrae lacking hollowed and squared surface on inferior aspect unlike Titanosaurus
  6. Much deeper anterior cup in caudal vertebrae than Titanosaurus
  7. Posterior articular surface of caudals cone-shaped rather than nearly spherical

Species

Argyrosaurus superbus Lydekker, 1893

Type species

From Latin 'superbus' meaning 'proud'.

Holotype
MLP 77-V-29-1 , Museo de La Plata
Material
Associated bones of left forelimb: humerus, radius, ulna, one carpal, and metacarpus. Also imperfect left femur and posterior caudal vertebrae.
Horizon
Lago Colhué Huapi Formation, Campanian–Maastrichtian, Late Cretaceous , 83.6–66.0 million years ago
Locality
near Pampa Pelada, northeast of Lago Colhué Huapi, Chubut, Argentina The horizon is inferred from the locality, not from a collection record. Lydekker (1893) gives only that the forelimb was procured "on the Rio Chubut"; the site was refined to Pampa Pelada 36 years later, and successive workers hedged the unit — "possibly", "unspecified levels", and Mannion and Otero's (2012) "probably upper member of the Bajo Barreal Formation", made before the Lago Colhué Huapi Formation was erected above that member. Santucci and Filippi (2022) give the modern assignment for this locality.

References

  1. Santucci, R. M.; Filippi, L. S. (2022). Last titans: Titanosaurs from the Campanian–Maastrichtian age. South American Sauropodomorph Dinosaurs: Record, Diversity and Evolution 341-391. Springer International Publishing. doi:10.1007/978-3-030-95959-3_10

    Gives the holotype horizon for the Pampa Pelada locality as the Lago Colhué Huapi Formation, Campanian-Maastrichtian.

    santucci2022a
  2. Lydekker, R. (1893). Contributions to a knowledge of the fossil vertebrates of Argentina. I. — The dinosaurs of Patagonia. Anales del Museo de La Plata. Paleontología Argentina 2: 1-16.

    The original description, which places the forelimb only "on the Rio Chubut in the Territory of Chubut" and names no unit.

    lydekker1893a
  3. Jones, B. (2026). The Princeton Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs: Sauropods. Princeton University Press.

    Source of the hip height estimate.

    jones2026b
  4. Mannion, P. D.; Otero, A. (2012). A reappraisal of the Late Cretaceous Argentinean sauropod dinosaur Argyrosaurus superbus, with a description of a new titanosaur genus. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 32(3): 614-638. Informa UK Limited. doi:10.1080/02724634.2012.660898 mannion2012a