Malarguesaurus

Malarguesaurus; Temporal range: upper Turonian-lower Coniacian; ~90.5–88.5 Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N ↓
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Clade:	Dinosauria
Clade:	Saurischia
Clade:	†Sauropodomorpha
Clade:	†Sauropoda
Clade:	†Macronaria
Clade:	†Titanosauria
Genus:	†Malarguesaurus; González Riga et al. 2008
Type species
	†Malarguesaurus florenciae; González Riga et al. 2008

Malarguesaurus (meaning "Malargue lizard" after the Malargüe Department of Mendonza Province) is a genus of titanosauriform sauropod dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous of Mendoza Province, Argentina. Its fossils, consisting of tail vertebrae, chevrons, ribs, and limb bones, were found in the upper Turonian-lower Coniacian Portezuelo Formation^[1] of the Neuquén Group. The type species, described by González Riga et al. in 2008, is M. florenciae.

Description

Described as a robust sauropod, it was initially described as being closely related to Ligabuesaurus and Phuwiangosaurus, and Mannion et al. (2013) more precisely recovered it as a member of Somphospondyli.^[2]^[3] The cladistic analysis of Patagotitan recovered Malarguesaurus as a close relative of the Asian Ruyangosaurus.^[4]

Like other sauropods, Malarguesaurus would have been a large quadrupedal herbivore.^[5] Malarguesaurus is the second sauropod dinosaur discovered in Mendoza Province; the first is Mendozasaurus neguyelap.^[6]

References

^ Carballido, Jose L.; Bellardini, Flavio; Salgado, Leonardo (2022), "The Rise of Non-Titanosaur Macronarians in South America", South American Sauropodomorph Dinosaurs, Cham: Springer International Publishing, pp. 237–268, ISBN 978-3-030-95958-6, retrieved 2022-11-16{{citation}}: CS1 maint: work parameter with ISBN (link)
^ González Riga, Bernardo J.; Previtera, Elena; Pirrone, Cecilia A. (2008). "Malarguesaurus florenciae gen. et sp. nov., a new titanosauriform (Dinosauria, Sauropoda) from the Upper Cretaceous of Mendoza, Argentina". Cretaceous Research. 30 (1): 135–148. doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2008.06.006.
^ P. D. Mannion, P. Upchurch, R. N. Barnes and O. Mateus. 2013. Osteology of the Late Jurassic Portuguese sauropod dinosaur Lusotitan atalaiensis (Macronaria) and the evolutionary history of basal titanosauriforms. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 168:98-206.
^ José L. Carballido; Diego Pol; Alejandro Otero; Ignacio A. Cerda; Leonardo Salgado; Alberto C. Garrido; Jahandar Ramezani; Néstor R. Cúneo; Javier M. Krause (2017). "A new giant titanosaur sheds light on body mass evolution among sauropod dinosaurs". Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 284 (1860): 20171219. doi:10.1098/rspb.2017.1219.
^ Upchurch, Paul; Barrett, Paul M.; Dodson, Peter. (2004). "Sauropoda". In Weishampel, David B.; Dodson, Peter; Osmólska, Halszka (eds.). The Dinosauria (2nd ed.). Be rkeley: University of California Press. pp. 259–322. ISBN 978-0-520-24209-8.
^ González Riga, Bernardo J. (2003). "A new titanosaur (Dinosauria, Sauropoda) from the Upper Cretaceous of Mendoza, Argentina". Ameghiniana. 40: 155–172.