Open Paleo

Puertasaurus

Novas et al., 2005 PWER-ta-sore-us

Named for Pablo Puerta, one of the field workers who discovered the fossil specimen, combined with Greek '-saurus' meaning 'lizard'.

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

Puertasaurus is a genus of sauropod dinosaur that lived in South America during the Late Cretaceous Period. It is known from a single specimen recovered from sedimentary rocks of the Cerro Fortaleza Formation in southwestern Patagonia, Argentina, which probably is Campanian or Maastrichtian in age. The only species is Puertasaurus reuili. Described by the paleontologist Fernando Novas and colleagues in 2005, it was named in honor of Pablo Puerta and Santiago Reuil, who discovered and prepared the specimen. It consists of four well-preserved vertebrae, including one cervical, one dorsal, and two caudal vertebrae. Puertasaurus is a member of Titanosauria, the dominant group of sauropods during the Cretaceous.

Diagnosis

  1. Cervical neural spine considerably inflated, transversally wider than vertebral centrum
  2. Cervical neural spine bearing strong dorsolateral ridges
  3. Caudal cervicals with spinoprezygapophyseal laminae transversely thick and dorsoventrally deep
  4. Cranial dorsal vertebrae extremely short with centrum width/centrum length ratio of 1 (unique among titanosauriforms)
  5. Gigantic size with dorsal 2 measuring 168 cm transverse width

Species

Puertasaurus reuili Novas et al., 2005

Type species

Named for Santiago Reuil, one of the fossil hunters who discovered and prepared the holotype specimen in Patagonia, Argentina.

Holotype
MPM 10002 , Museo Padre Molina, Rio Gallegos
Material
Four disarticulated vertebrae: cervical 9 (most of it), complete dorsal 2, and centra of two caudal vertebrae
Horizon
Cerro Fortaleza Formation, Campanian–Maastrichtian, Late Cretaceous , 83.6–66.0 million years ago
Locality
Cerro Los Hornos, La Leona, Santa Cruz, Argentina

References

  1. Novas, F.; Salgado, L.; Calvo, J.; Agnolin, F. (2005). Giant titanosaur (Dinosauria, Sauropoda) from the Late Cretaceous of Patagonia. Revista del Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales 7: 31-36. Museo Argentino de Ciencia Naturales. doi:10.22179/revmacn.7.340 novas2005b