Susana Heredia

A NEW SPECIMEN OF NEUQUENSAURUS AUSTRALIS, A LATE CRETACEOUS SALTASAURINE TITANOSAUR FROM NORTH PATAGONIA

Abstract A new specimen of the sauropod titanosaur Neuquensaurus australis, collected in the locality of Cinco Saltos (Patagonia, Argentina), provides an opportunity to improve our knowledge of the anatomy of this dinosaur. The elements represented in this specimen include a complete cervical vertebra, most of the dorsal vertebrae, fifteen caudal vertebrae, the complete sacrum articulated to both ilia, one ischium, two femora, one tibia articulated to the fibula and astragalus, and two osteoderms. Surprisingly, the sacrum is composed of seven vertebrae, the last of which, unfused to the other six, is apparently biconvex. A third femur and one tibia were found associated with this specimen; these are morphologically similar but stouter than those belonging to the former specimen.

New materials of Gasparinisaura cincosaltensis (Ornithischia, Ornithopoda) from the Upper Cretaceous of Argentina

New material of Gasparinisaura cincosaltensis from the Rio Colorado Formation (Upper Cretaceous) of northwestern Patagonia (Rio Negro Province, Argentina) provides seven new characters that are interpreted as autapomorphies of the species: 1) four true sacrals; 2) first sacral rib not coalescent with second sacral rib; 3) long pubic peduncle of ilium; 4) absence of anterior intercondylar groove on femur; 5) both malleoli of the tibia approximately at the same level; 6) metatarsal II posteriorly compressed laterally; and 7) low ascendant process of the astragalus. A phylogenetic analysis of selected ornithopods indicates that Gasparinisaura cincosaltensis is the most plesiomorphic Euiguanodontia. A complete absence of hatchlings indicates that Cinco Saltos was not a nest site.

The First Report of South American Edrioasteroids and the Paleoecology and Ontogeny of Rhenopyrgid Echinoderms

A new species of rhenopyrgid edrioasteroid Rhenopyrgus piojoensis sp. nov. is described form the Silurian (Lower Ludlow) Los Espejos Formation in the Precordillera of Argentina. This species is the first reported edrioasteroid from South America. Rhenopyrgids are widely distributed in Ordovician through Devonian deposits of most continents. Numerous juvenile specimens show that the general bodyplan is organized early in ontogeny and that the pedenculate zone lengthens with age. Phylogenetic analysis shows that rhenopyrgids are more closely related to edrioasterid edrioasteroids such as edrioblastoids and cyathocystids than to pyrgocystid isorophids.

Middle Ordovician (early Dapingian) conodonts in the Central Andean Basin of NW Argentina

Carlorosi, J., Heredia, S. & Aceñolaza, G, 2013. Middle Ordovician (early Dapingian) conodonts in the Central Andean Basin of NW Argentina. Alcheringa 37, 1–13. ISSN 0311-5518. This paper describes and analyzes the significance of a conodont fauna from the Alto del Cóndor Formation, exposed in the Los Colorados region of the Argentine Eastern Cordillera. Identified taxa are Baltoniodus triangularis, Baltoniodus sp. cf. B. triangularis, Drepanodus sp., Drepanoistodus basiovalis, Drepanoistodus sp. B., Erraticodon patu, Gothodus costulatus, Oistodus sp., Trapezognathus diprion, T. quadrangulum, Triangulodus sp. and Triangulodus? sp. The presence of Baltoniodus triangularis indicates the base of the Dapingian stage (Middle Ordovician). In addition, we report the coexistence of T. diprion and T. quadrangulum. The conodont association suggests a faunal affinity with Baltica and South China, both belonging to the Shallow-Sea Realm of the Temperate-Cold Domain. Josefina Carlorosi [josefinacarlorosi77@gmail]com], INSUGEO—Universidad Nacional de Tucumán—CONICET, Miguel Lillo 205, (4000) Tucumán, Argentina; Guillermo F. Aceñolaza [acecha@webmail.unt.edu.ar], Universidad Nacional de Tucumán—CONICET, Miguel Lillo 205, (4000) Tucumán, Argentina; Susana Heredia [sheredia@unsj.edu.ar], CONICET–CIGEOBIO and Instituto de Investigaciones Mineras, Facultad de Ingeniería, Universidad Nacional de San Juan, Urquiza y Libertador, (5400) San Juan, Argentina. Received 22.8.2012; revised 18.10.2012; accepted 24.10.12.