Abstract

JUAREZ VALIERI, Rubén D.; HARO, José A.; FIORELLI, Lucas E.  and  CALVO, Jorge O.. A new hadrosauroid (Dinosauria: Ornithopoda) from the Allen Formation (Late Cretaceous) of Patagonia, Argentina. Rev. Mus. Argent. Cienc. Nat. [online]. 2010, vol.12, n.2, pp.217-231. ISSN 1853-0400.

A new hadrosauroid taxon from the Late Cretaceous Allen Formation is erected, on the basis of abundant cranial and postcranial material from the Salitral Moreno locality of the Rio Negro Province, Argentina. The new taxon is here named as Willinakaqe salitralensis gen. et sp. nov., which is characterized by having an autapomorphous premaxilla with a long and convex rostrolateral surface rostral to the narial fossa and associated postcrania developing an unique character combination, including: dorsal vertebrae with a shallow fossa upon the base of the transverse processes; sacral and proximal caudal neural spines more than three times the height of the centrum; distal region of the postacetabular process of ilium ventrally deflected, among others. This new hadrosauroid closely resembles Secernosaurus koerneri, the other valid hadrosauroid species from South America, based in several synapomorphies, as: angle greater than 115° between the lateral margin of the facet for scapular articulation and the glenoid in the coracoid; supra-acetabular process of the ilium asymmetrical, caudodorsal margin of ilium with a well-defined ridge continuous with the dorsal margin of the proximal region of the postacetabular process. Moreover, previous records of Lambeosaurinae from the Late Cretaceous of South America are referred to W. salitralensis, and thus, the presence of lambeosaurines in this continent is here rejected. Accordingly, Willinakaqe salitralensis gen. et sp. nov. is currently the only hadrosauroid species reported from the Allen Formation.

Keywords : Hadrosauroidea; Morphology; Palaeobiogeography; Late Cretaceous; South America.

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