Sidersaura
From Latin 'sidus/sideris' meaning 'star', referencing the star-like shape of the preserved haemal arches, combined with Greek 'saura' (feminine form of 'sauros') meaning 'lizard'; meaning 'star lizard.'
Late Cretaceous stages
Sidersaura is an extinct monotypic genus of rebbachisaurid sauropod dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous Huincul Formation of Argentina. The genus contains a single species, S. marae, known from the remains of four individuals. Sidersaura represents one of the largest known rebbachisaurids.
Diagnosis
- Frontoparietal foramen between frontals and parietal
- Supraoccipital with two fossae separated by medial crest ventral to knob
- Crista tuberalis covering crista prootica in posterior view
- Procoelous posterior caudal vertebrae
- Middle haemal arches with anterior and posterior projections from proximal ramus
- Astragalar articular surface markedly developed as protuberance
- Crescent-shaped calcaneum
Species
Sidersaura marae Lerzo et al., 2025
Type species
Named for Mara Ripoll, fossil preparator and director of the Museo Municipal Carmen Funes where the holotype is housed.
- Holotype
- MMCH-Pv 70 , Museo Municipal ‘Ernesto Bachman’, Villa El Chocón
- Material
- Braincase with fused skull roof and neurocranium, dorsal neural spine and arch fragments, fourteen caudal vertebrae, five haemal arches, scapula fragment, pubic peduncle, both tibiae, fibulae, metatarsals and phalanges
- Horizon
- lower Huincul Formation, Cenomanian–Turonian, Late Cretaceous , 100.5–89.8 million years ago
- Locality
- Barda Atravesada de Las Campanas, Neuquén, Argentina
References
- Lerzo, L. N.; Gallina, P. A.; Canale, J. I.; Otero, A.; Carballido, J. L.; Apesteguía, S.; Makovicky, P. J. (2025). The last of the oldies: a basal rebbachisaurid (Sauropoda, Diplodocoidea) from the early Late Cretaceous (Cenomanian-Turonian) of Patagonia, Argentina. Historical Biology 37(2): 208-233. Informa UK Limited. doi:10.1080/08912963.2023.2297914 lerzo2025a