Open Paleo

Ilokelesia

Coria & Salgado, 2000 ee-loh-kay-LAY-see-yuh

From Mapuche 'ilo' meaning 'flesh' and 'kelesio' meaning 'lizard', giving 'flesh lizard'; the specific name reflects the Aguada Grande locality where the fossil was found.

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

Ilokelesia is an extinct genus of abelisaurid theropod dinosaurs, preserved in the layers of the earliest Late Cretaceous of the Huincul Formation (Neuquén Group) in Neuquén Province, Argentina. The only known specimen, consisting of fragmentary elements of the skull and skeleton, was described by Rodolfo Coria and Leonardo Salgado in late 1998.

Diagnosis

  1. Quadrate with lateral condyle very reduced and posterior border of articular surface formed completely from medial condyle
  2. Cervical vertebrae with poorly defined diapo-postzygapophysial laminae
  3. Posterior dorsal vertebrae with infraparapophysial laminae ventrally concave and parapophysis ventrally oriented
  4. Posterior dorsal vertebrae lacking pleurocoels
  5. Caudal vertebrae in central third of tail with distally expanded transverse processes bearing cranially and caudally projected processes
  6. Distal edge of caudal transverse processes slightly concave in mid part

Species

Ilokelesia aguadagrandensis Coria & Salgado, 2000

Type species

Named for Aguada Grande, the locality in Neuquén Province, Argentina, where the fossil was found.

Holotype
MCF-PVPH 35 , Museo ‘Carmen Funes’, Plaza Huincul
Material
Right postorbital, right quadrate, occipital condyle, cervical and dorsal vertebrae, caudal vertebrae, cervical ribs, hemal arches, phalanges
Horizon
Huincul Formation, Cenomanian–Turonian, Late Cretaceous , 100.5–89.8 million years ago
Locality
Aguada Grande, Neuquén, Argentina Baiano and colleagues (2020) attribute the Huinculsaurus holotype, found about 10 m north of this one, to the top of the Huincul Formation; they give no level for Ilokelesia.

References

  1. Coria, R. A.; Salgado, L. (2000). A basal Abelisauria Novas, 1992 (Theropoda-Ceratosauria) from the Cretaceous of Patagonia, Argentina. Gaia 15: 89-102.

    Names the unit the Huincul Member of the Río Limay Formation.

    coria2000a
  2. Jones, B. (2026). The Princeton Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs: Theropods. Princeton University Press.

    Source of the hip height estimate.

    jones2026c
  3. Baiano, M. A.; Coria, R. A.; Cau, A. (2020). A new abelisauroid (Dinosauria: Theropoda) from the Huincul Formation (lower Upper Cretaceous, Neuquén Basin) of Patagonia, Argentina. Cretaceous Research 110. Elsevier BV. doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2020.104408 baiano2020a