Mendozasaurus

Mendozasaurus Temporal range: Late Cretaceous
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Sauropsida
Superorder:	Dinosauria
Order:	Saurischia
Suborder:	Sauropodomorpha
Infraorder:	Sauropoda
(unranked):	Titanosauria
(unranked):	Lognkosauria
Genus:	Mendozasaurus
Binomial name
Mendozasaurus neguyelap Gonzalez Riga, 2003

Mendozasaurus is a genus of sauropod dinosaur. It was a member of Titanosauria, which were massive sauropods that were common on the southern landmasses during the Cretaceous period.

Mendozasaurus is known from incomplete remains that show it was an armored animal, with armor being common among many later titanosaurs such as Saltasaurus. This dinosaur lived from the late Turonian to the late Coniacian, approximately 89-85 million years ago. It belonged to the recently discovered clade Lognkosauria,^[1] a transitional group of titanosaurs which included the gigantic Futalognkosaurus and Puertasaurus. Like both of these animals, Mendozasaurus had a long, thick neck with very heavy cervical ribs and massive neural spines.

The type species, Mendozasaurus neguyelap, was described by Argentinean paleontologist Dr. Bernardo J. Gonzalez Riga [2] in 2003. Mendozasaurus is the first dinosaur named from Mendoza Province, Argentina.

References

1. ^ Calvo, J.O., Porfiri, J.D., González-Riga, B.J., and Kellner, A.W. (2007) "A new Cretaceous terrestrial ecosystem from Gondwana with the description of a new sauropod dinosaur". Anais Academia Brasileira Ciencia, 79(3): 529-41.[1]

• González Riga, B.J. (2003). "A new titanosaur (Dinosauria, Sauropoda) from the Upper Cretaceous of Mendoza, Argentina". Amehginiana 40: 155-172.

• González Riga, B.J. (2005). "Nuevos restos fósiles de Mendozasaurus neguyelap (Sauropoda: Titanosauridae) del Cretácico Tardío de Mendoza, Argentina". Ameghiniana 42 (3): 535-538.

• González Riga, B.J. and Astini, R. (2007). "Fossil preservation of large titanosaur sauropods in overbank fluvial facies: a case study in the Cretaceous of Argentina". Journal of South American Earth Sciences 23: 290-303.

External links

• Mendozasaurus and other South American sauropods
• Thescelosaurus! page containing info about Mendozasaurus
• Sauropod dinosaurs: Complementary information on South American titanosaurs

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