Open Paleo

Menucocelsior

Aranciaga Rolando et al., 2021

From Mapudungun 'menuco' meaning 'watering hole' (a translation of the locality name Ojo del Agua) and Latin 'celsior' meaning 'higher' or 'the taller one'; translates as 'the taller one from Salitral Ojo del Agua'.

72.2–66.0 million years ago Maastrichtian, Late Cretaceous
Late Cretaceous stages

Menucocelsior is a genus of medium-sized titanosaurian sauropod dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous Allen Formation of Argentina. The type and only species is Menucocelsior arriagadai.

Diagnosis

  1. Anterior caudal centra sub-quadrangular in anterior view, ovoidal posteriorly, ventrally narrow; ventral surface with shallow longitudinal concavity
  2. Transverse processes on anterior caudals dorsoventrally low, narrow-based, posterolaterally oriented, lacking ventral tilting
  3. First caudal with well-developed anteroventral ridge extending along transverse process
  4. Humerus gracile, lacking strongly expanded ends, deltopectoral crest not extending beyond mid-shaft
  5. Fibula relatively short and stout but nearly straight, with single prominent lateral tuberosity
  6. Distal fibular end shows prominent proximodistally extended bony flange diverging strongly from shaft

Species

Type species

Named for 'Beto' Arriagada, the owner of the ranch in Río Negro, Argentina where the fossil discoveries were made.

Holotype
MPCN-PV-798 , Museo Patagónico de Ciencias Naturales
Material
First, second and third caudal vertebrae, six proximal mid-caudals and five distal mid-caudals, right humerus, left fibula.
Horizon
Allen Formation, Maastrichtian, Late Cretaceous , 72.2–66.0 million years ago
Locality
Cerro Matadero, Arriagada Farm, Río Negro, Argentina Aranciaga Rolando and colleagues (2021) print 39°30′27.08″S, 67°23′22.13″W for the Cerro Matadero site. Rozadilla and colleagues (2021) print 39°30′12″S, 67°22′19″W for Matadero Hill, where the Kelumapusaura paratypes lay with Menucocelsior bones; the two positions are about 1.6 km apart.

References

  1. Aranciaga Rolando, M.; García Marsà, J. A.; Agnolín, F. L.; Motta, M. J.; Rozadilla, S.; Novas, F. E. (2021). The sauropod record of Salitral Ojo del Agua: An Upper Cretaceous (Allen Formation) fossiliferous locality from northern Patagonia, Argentina. Cretaceous Research 129. Elsevier BV. doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2021.105029 aranciagarolando2021a
  2. Jones, B. (2026). The Princeton Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs: Sauropods. Princeton University Press.

    Source of the mass and hip height estimates.

    jones2026b
  3. Rozadilla, S.; Brissón Egli, F.; Agnolín, F. L.; Aranciaga Rolando, A. M.; Novas, F. E. (2021). A new hadrosaurid (Dinosauria: Ornithischia) from the Late Cretaceous of northern Patagonia and the radiation of South American hadrosaurids. Journal of Systematic Palaeontology 19(17): 1207-1235. Informa UK Limited. doi:10.1080/14772019.2021.2020917

    Prints the coordinate for Matadero Hill, the quarry that yielded this holotype alongside Kelumapusaura's.

    rozadilla2021a