Open Paleo

Volkheimeria

Bonaparte, 1979 VOLK-hie-MEER-ee-a

Named in honor of Wolfgang Volkheimer, an Argentine paleontologist and palynologist who contributed to the study of Jurassic formations in Argentina.

184.2–174.7 million years ago Toarcian, Early Jurassic
Early Jurassic stages

Volkheimeria is an extinct genus of sauropod dinosaurs that lived in what is now Argentina during the Early Jurassic, about 179-178 million years ago. Its type and only species is Volkheimeria chubutensis.

Diagnosis

  1. Ischium primitive, Cetiosaurus type, with distal thickening
  2. Ilium shorter and higher than in Patagosaurus
  3. Pubis with proximal region shorter anterior-posteriorly
  4. Tibia to femur ratio 1:1.7
  5. Neural spines of dorsal vertebrae laterally compressed
  6. Neural arches very low on dorsal vertebrae

Species

Volkheimeria chubutensis Bonaparte, 1979

Type species

Named for Chubut Province, Argentina, where the holotype was discovered.

Holotype
PVL 4077 , Colección de Paleontologia de Vertebrados de la Fundación Instituto Miguel Lillo
Material
Incomplete postcranial skeleton with distinct diagnostic features
Horizon
lower Cañadón Asfalto Formation, Toarcian, Early Jurassic , 184.2–174.7 million years ago
Locality
Cerro Cóndor South, Chubut, Argentina Pol and colleagues (2022) report that "The base of the Cañadón Asfalto Formation was dated at 179.17 ± 0.12 Ma, and the uppermost levels of this unit were dated at 178.07 ± 0.21 Ma", and that "The locality where Volkheimeria and Patagosaurus were found is stratigraphically bracketed between the horizons of these two dates", placing them "into the middle Toarcian (ca 179–178 Ma)". That replaces the early Middle Jurassic age Cúneo and colleagues (2013) gave these sauropods.

References

  1. Bonaparte, J. F. (1979). Dinosaurs: A Jurassic Assemblage from Patagonia. Science 205(4413): 1377-1379. American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). doi:10.1126/science.205.4413.1377 bonaparte1979a
  2. Cúneo, R.; Ramezani, J.; Scasso, R.; Pol, D.; Escapa, I.; Zavattieri, A. M.; Bowring, S. A. (2013). High-precision U-Pb geochronology and a new chronostratigraphy for the Cañadón Asfalto Basin, Chubut, central Patagonia: implications for terrestrial faunal and floral evolution in Jurassic. Gondwana Research 24(3-4): 1267-1275. Elsevier BV. doi:10.1016/j.gr.2013.01.010

    Dates the interval overlying the uppermost basalt flow at Cerro Cóndor, which holds this taxon, as Aalenian to probably Bajocian, with a latest Toarcian age not precluded near the basalt.

    cúneo2013a
  3. Jones, B. (2026). The Princeton Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs: Sauropods. Princeton University Press.

    Source of the body length and hip height estimates.

    jones2026b
  4. Pol, D.; Gomez, K.; Holwerda, F. M.; Rauhut, O. W. M.; Carballido, J. L. (2022). Sauropods from the Early Jurassic of South America and the Radiation of Eusauropoda. South American Sauropodomorph Dinosaurs: Record, Diversity and Evolution 131-163. Springer International Publishing. doi:10.1007/978-3-030-95959-3_4

    Brackets the type locality between U-Pb dates in the middle Toarcian.

    pol2022a
  5. Pol, D.; Ramezani, J.; Gomez, K.; Carballido, J. L.; Carabajal, A. P.; Rauhut, O. W. M.; Escapa, I. H.; Cúneo, N. R. (2020). Extinction of herbivorous dinosaurs linked to Early Jurassic global warming event. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 287(1939): 20202310. The Royal Society. doi:10.1098/rspb.2020.2310

    Source of the U-Pb dates for the base and top of the formation.

    pol2020a