Open Paleo

Qunkasaura

Mocho et al., 2024 KUN-kuh-SOH-ruh

From 'Qunka' (or 'Kunka'), the old Spanish name that gave rise to Cuenca in Castilla-La Mancha, Spain, where the Lo Hueco site is located, combined with Greek 'saura' meaning 'lizard'.

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

Qunkasaura is a genus of saltasauroid titanosaur dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous (Campanian-Maastrichtian) Lo Hueco site of the Villalba de la Sierra Formation of Spain. The type species is Qunkasaura pintiquiniestra.

Diagnosis

  1. Round and rudimentary epipophyses in posterior cervical vertebrae
  2. Concave postzygapophyseal facets in posterior cervical and anterior dorsal vertebrae
  3. Pedicels of neural arch at centrum midpoint in anterior dorsal vertebrae, not reaching articular surfaces
  4. M-shaped laminar structure from acpl, pcpl, acdl and pcdl of similar length on dorsal neural arches
  5. Intraprezygapophyseal lamina anteriorly pointed and projected on anterior dorsal vertebrae
  6. Dorsal neural spines markedly anteroposteriorly compressed with mediolateral width six times anteroposterior length
  7. Prespinal lamina ventral section anteroposteriorly projected
  8. Ventral longitudinal groove on first to third sacral centra
  9. Dorsomedial projected hook-shaped process on sacral plates
  10. Maximum dorsoventral height of iliac blade located above pubic peduncle
  11. Pubis 118% of ilium proximodistal length

Species

Qunkasaura pintiquiniestra Mocho et al., 2024

Type species

Named for Queen Pintiquiniestra, a character from Miguel de Cervantes's novel Don Quixote, in a nod to the Spanish provenance of the fossil site at Lo Hueco, Cuenca.

Holotype
HUE-EC-04 , Museo de las Ciencias de Castilla-La Mancha
Material
Partial skeleton with posterior cervical neural spine, 10 articulated-to-associated dorsal vertebrae, dorsal ribs, 6 fused sacral vertebrae, 11 anterior caudal vertebrae, 1 middle caudal vertebra, partial right ulna, fragmentary metacarpal, complete pelvic girdle, femur, right fibula
Horizon
upper Villalba de la Sierra Formation, Campanian–Maastrichtian, Late Cretaceous , 83.6–66.0 million years ago
Locality
Lo Hueco, Cuenca, Spain

References

  1. Mocho, P.; Escaso, F.; Marcos-Fernández, F.; Páramo, A.; Sanz, J. L.; Vidal, D.; Ortega, F. (2024). A Spanish saltasauroid titanosaur reveals Europe as a melting pot of endemic and immigrant sauropods in the Late Cretaceous. Communications Biology 7(1). Springer Science and Business Media LLC. doi:10.1038/s42003-024-06653-0 mocho2024a
  2. Jones, B. (2026). The Princeton Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs: Sauropods. Princeton University Press.

    Source of the body length estimate.

    jones2026b