Open Paleo

Neuquensaurus

Powell, 1992 nayoo-ken-SAWR-us

Named for the Neuquén Province and Neuquén River of Argentina where its fossils were recovered, combined with Greek 'sauros' meaning 'lizard'.

85.7–83.6 million years ago Santonian, Late Cretaceous
Late Cretaceous stages

Neuquensaurus is a genus of saltasaurid sauropod dinosaur that lived in the Late Cretaceous, about 80 million years ago in Argentina in South America. Its fossils were recovered from outcrops of the Anacleto Formation around Cinco Saltos, near the Neuquén river from which its name is derived.

Diagnosis

  1. Posterior caudal centra dorsoventrally flattened
  2. Fibular lateral tuberosity strongly developed

Species

Neuquensaurus australis (Lydekker, 1893)

Type species

First named as Titanosaurus australis

From Latin 'australis' meaning 'southern', in reference to the South American provenance of the fossils.

Holotype
MLP-Ly 1, MLP-Ly 2, MLP-Ly 3, MLP-Ly 4, MLP-Ly 5, MLP-Ly 6 , Museo de La Plata
Material
Six caudal vertebrae; the girdle and limb material often referred to the species was not directly associated with these type caudals.
Horizon
Bajo de la Carpa Formation, Santonian, Late Cretaceous , 85.7–83.6 million years ago
Locality
Right bank of the Río Neuquén, 2 to 4 km from the railway bridge near Neuquén, Neuquén, Argentina Bonaparte and Gasparini (1979) quote Huene for the type caudals' provenance, "in the elevated right cliff of the Río Neuquén, some kilometers (2-4) from the railway bridge", and give it as "possibly Bajo de la Carpa Member" of the Río Colorado Formation. Much of the referred material comes from Cinco Saltos and General Roca in Río Negro, which Otero (2010) places in the Anacleto Formation, the Cinco Saltos specimens at the "top of Anacleto Formation, early Campanian". The species is thus known from both formations.

Synonyms

  • Titanosaurus australis reassigned

    Originally described as Titanosaurus australis by Lydekker (1893); reassigned to the new genus Neuquensaurus by Powell (1992).

References

  1. 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.

    Original description of the species as Titanosaurus australis.

    lydekker1893a
  2. Powell, J. E. (1986). Revisión de los titanosáuridos de América del Sur. Doctoral thesis, Universidad Nacional de Tucumán, Tucumán, Argentina.

    Unpublished doctoral dissertation that first proposed the name Neuquensaurus; as a thesis the name was nomenclaturally unavailable and the genus was formally established by Powell (1992).

    powell1986a
  3. Powell, J. E. (1992). Osteologia de Saltasaurus loricatus (Sauropoda - Titanosauridae) del Cretácico Superior del noroeste Argentino [Osteology of Saltasaurus loricatus (Sauropoda - Titanosauridae) from the Upper Cretaceous of northwest Argentina]. Los Dinosaurios y su Entorno Biótico: Actas del Segundo Curso de Paleontología en Cuenca (Sanz, J. L.; Buscalioni, A. D., eds.) 165-230. Instituto "Juan de Valdés", Cuenca.

    Validly established the genus Neuquensaurus (type species Neuquensaurus australis), which had appeared earlier as a nomen ex dissertatione.

    powell1992a
  4. Otero, A. (2010). The appendicular skeleton of Neuquensaurus, a Late Cretaceous saltasaurine sauropod from Patagonia, Argentina. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 55(3): 399-426.

    Redescription of the appendicular skeleton of Neuquensaurus.

    otero2010a
  5. Jones, B. (2026). The Princeton Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs: Sauropods. Princeton University Press.

    Source of the hip height estimate.

    jones2026b
  6. Leanza, H. A.; Apesteguía, S.; Novas, F. E.; de la Fuente, M. S. (2004). Cretaceous terrestrial beds from the Neuquén Basin (Argentina) and their tetrapod assemblages. Cretaceous Research 25(1): 61-87. Elsevier BV.

    Places the Bajo de la Carpa at formation rank within the Río Colorado Subgroup, above the member rank Powell used.

    leanza2004a
  7. Bonaparte, J. F.; Gasparini, Z. (1979). Los saurópodos de los grupos Neuquén y Chubut, y sus relaciones cronológicas [The Sauropods of the Neuquén and Chubut Groups and their Chronological Relations]. Actas del VII Congreso Geológico Argentino 2: 393-406.

    Gives Huene's provenance for the type caudals on the right bank of the Río Neuquén, "possibly Bajo de la Carpa Member".

    bonaparte1979c