- Anabisetia
Taxobox|
name = "Anabisetia"
fossil_range =Late Cretaceous
regnum =Animal ia
phylum =Chordata
classis =Sauropsida
superordo =Dinosauria
ordo =Ornithischia
subordo =Ornithopoda
infraordo =Iguanodontia
genus = "Anabisetia"
binomial = "Anabisetia saldiviai"
binomial_authority = Coria & Calvo,2002 "Anabisetia" (pronEng|ˌɑːnəbiːˈsɛtiə AH-nah-bee-SET-ee-a) is a
genus ofornithopod dinosaur from the LateCretaceous Period ofPatagonia ,South America . It was a smallbiped alherbivore , almost seven feet (2 meters) long.Argentine
paleontologist sRodolfo Coria andJorge Calvo named "Anabisetia" in2002 . The generic name honors the lateAna Biset , an influentialarcheologist fromNeuquén Province in Argentina, where the remains of this animal were found. The one namedspecies is called "A. saldiviai", after Roberto Saldivia, a local farmer who discovered thefossil s in1993 .There are four specimens known, all listed in the original 2002 description. The
holotype is the most complete of the four. It consists of fragmentaryskull material, including a partial braincase and both dentary (lower jaw) bones, as well as a complete forelimb from shoulder to hand, a complete hindlimb and foot, and representativevertebra e from all sections of thespinal column . The other three specimens are less complete, but include elements not seen in the holotype, including more vertebrae, a completepelvis and a nearly complete, articulated tail. When all four specimens are considered, the skeleton is more or less completely known except for the skull. These specimens are housed at theMuseo Carmen Funes inPlaza Huincul , Argentina.All four specimens were discovered at a locality called Cerro Bayo Mesa, south of Plaza Huincul in the Neuquén province of Argentina. This locality is part of the
Cerro Lisandro Formation , which is ageologic formation within the Rio Limay subgroup of theNeuquén Group . The sediments in this formation preserve aswamp which existed from the lateCenomanian through earlyTuronian stages of theLate Cretaceous Period, or about 95 to 92 million years ago (Leanza et al., 2004).This dinosaur is thought to be closely related to another Patagonian ornithopod, "
Gasparinisaura ", although the lack of skull material makes it difficult to place with precision. When originally described, "Gasparinisaura" and "Anabisetia" were thought to be basaliguanodontia ns, morederived than "Tenontosaurus ". However, more recentcladistic analyses performed by Coria and others indicate that "Gasparinisaura" actually lies just outside of Iguanodontia, closer toNorth America n ornithopods like "Thescelosaurus " and "Parksosaurus " (Norman et al., 2004). "Anabisetia" would probably fall in a similar position.References
*Coria, R.A. & Calvo, J.O. 2002. A new iguanodontian ornithopod from Neuquen Basin, Patagonia, Argentina. "Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology". 22(3): 503–509.
*Leanza, H.A., Apesteguia, S., Novas, F.E., & de la Fuente, M.S. 2004. Cretaceous terrestrial beds from the Neuquén Basin (Argentina) and their tetrapod assemblages. "Cretaceous Research" 25(1): 61-87.
*Norman, D.B., Sues, H-D., Witmer, L.M., & Coria, R.A. 2004. Basal Ornithopoda. In: Weishampel, D.A., Dodson, P., & Osmolska, H. (Eds.). "The Dinosauria" (2nd Edition). Berkeley: University of California Press. Pp. 393-412.External links
* [http://dino.lm.com/images/display.php?id=871 Picture of "Anabisetia"] at [http://dino.lm.com The Dinosauricon]
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