Yeneen

Filippi et al., 2026 YEN-een

Named after Yeneen, an entity in Tehuelche (Aonikenk) culture tied to cold and winter weather; references the type locality La Invernada, a Spanish word for the wintering location of cattle.

85.7–83.6 million years ago Santonian, Late Cretaceous

Late Cretaceous stages

Yeneen is an extinct genus of titanosaurian sauropod dinosaurs known from the Late Cretaceous (Santonian age) Bajo de la Carpa Formation of Argentina. The genus contains a single species, Yeneen houssayi, known from at least one partial skeleton. Its discovery highlights the diversity of titanosaurs in this formation, which also includes Bonitasaura, Inawentu, Overosaurus, Rinconsaurus, and Traukutitan.

Diagnosis

Subcircular fossa on the anterolateral border of the postzygapophysis of the second dorsal vertebra in anterior view, bounded laterally by the postzygodiapophyseal lamina and medially by an accessory medial lamina
Prezygapophyseal centrodiapophyseal and centrodiapophyseal fossae of the fourth dorsal vertebra subdivided by accessory laminae that meet the paradiapophyseal lamina medially, enclosing small pneumatic cavities
Centrodiapophyseal lamina of the fifth through eighth dorsal vertebrae split into anterior and posterior branches with a dorsoventral groove between them
Spinoprezygapophyseal lamina well developed in the middle and posterior dorsal vertebrae
Subelliptical pneumatic fossa in the tenth dorsal vertebra, between the anterior and posterior spinodiapophyseal laminae
Acute spinoprezygapophyseal lamina in the anterior caudal vertebra, projecting laterally over the anterolateral border of the neural spine toward its distal end and forming a deep spinoprezygapophyseal fossa with the prespinal lamina
Medial aspect of the acetabulum formed almost entirely by the third sacral rib, with only a small contribution from the second and fourth

Species

Yeneen houssayi Filippi et al., 2026

Type species

Named for Bernardo Alberto Houssay, a Nobel Prize laureate in Physiology or Medicine who was instrumental in founding CONICET, Argentina's national scientific research agency.

Holotype: MAU-Pv-LI-538 , Museo Argentino Urquiza, Rincón de los Sauces
Material: Six cervical, ten dorsal and one anterior caudal vertebra, the sacrum, both ilia, and several dorsal ribs, disarticulated but associated.
Notes: The thirty elements are numbered as parts of the one accession. A right ilium collected nearby, MAU-Pv-LI-539, is referred only as cf. Yeneen houssayi.
Horizon: Bajo de la Carpa Formation, Santonian, Late Cretaceous , 85.7–83.6 million years ago
Locality: La Invernada, Neuquén, Argentina

References

Filippi, L. S.; Bellardini, F.; Carballido, J. L.; Méndez, A. H.; Garrido, A. C. (2026). Yeneen houssayi gen. et sp. nov. and an overview of the sauropod titanosaurian diversity from Cerro Overo – La Invernada area (Bajo de la Carpa Formation, Santonian), North Patagonia, Argentina. Historical Biology 38(8): 2652-2688. Informa UK Limited. doi:10.1080/08912963.2025.2584707 filippi2026a