Neuquensaurus robustus ( Huene, 1929 )

Otero, Alejandro, 2010, The appendicular skeleton of Neuquensaurus, a Late Cretaceous saltasaurine sauropod from Patagonia, Argentina, Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 55 (3), pp. 399-426 : 401

Neuquensaurus robustus ( Huene, 1929) nomen dubium

Lectotype: Left ulna (MLP−CS 1094), right ulna (MLP−CS 1095), left radius (MLP−CS 1171), left femur (MLP−CS 1480) ( Bonaparte and Gasparini 1978).

Remarks.—All currently materials referred to the appendicular skeleton of N. australis mentioned by Lydekker (1893), Huene (1929), Powell (2003), and Salgado et al. (2005) are listed in Appendix 1, as well as those specimens referred by Huene (1929) and Powell (2003) to N. robustus . The new specimens not yet published are also included in Appendix 1. In some cases, the original remains are presumed to be missing, so interpretations were based on illustrations in Huene (1929). In the worst cases, neither material nor drawings were available at all (see Appendix 1 for details).

Stratigraphic and geographic range.—( Fig. 1A ) The holotype and limb elements of “ Titanosaurus ” australis studied by Lydekker (1893) come from Neuquén. Unfortunately, Lydekker did not give a more precise location of the bones nor the specific stratigraphic position. The materials of “ T ”. australis and “ T ”. robustus studied by Huene (1929) come from General Roca and Cinco Saltos (“Gobernación de Río Negro ”, currently Río Negro Province), from strata belonging to the “Dinosaurier schichten” ( Keidel 1917). Those “Dinosaurs beds” where Neuquensaurus ’ remains were found correspond to the Anacleto Formation (“Senonense inferior”, Huene 1929: 11). The specimen of N. australis and associated elements cited by Salgado et al. (2005) were recovered from Cinco Saltos, Río Negro Province (top of Anacleto Formation, early Campanian) ( Salgado et al. 2005).

Figures

Fig. 1. The saltasaurine sauropod Neuquensaurus australis, from the Anacleto Formation (Upper Cretaceous), Patagonia, Argentina. A. Site map showing the Cinco Saltos area where specimens of Neuquensaurus have been recovered. B. Restoration of the skeleton mounted at the Museo de La Plata, Argentina. C. Skeletal reconstruction and body shape of Neuquensaurus showing preserved appendicular elements in dashed zones; adapted from Opisthocoelicaudia silhouette in Wilson and Sereno (1998).