Nuevos fósiles de dinosaurios ornitópodos en el Santoniense (Cretácico Superior) de la Formación Bajo de la Carpa del norte de Patagonia (Neuquén, Argentina)

Abstract

Ornithopods are traditionally a poorly known clade of dinosaurs within the Upper Cretaceous fossil record of Argentina. In the last few years, the number of discoveries has increased significantly in the outcrops near Rincón de los Sauces village (Neuquén province), where remains have appeared in two different formations (Plottier and Bajo de la Carpa formations). In this work, we present three new postcranial bones of an indeterminate ornithopod from La Escalonada site of Rincón de Los Sauces. Those elements belong to the Bajo de la Carpa Formation (Santonian) of the Neuquén Group and they represent the second occurrence for this formation in Rincón de los Sauces. The recovered remains correspond to: a right pubis fragment, a dorsal vertebral centrum and a right pedal ungual phalanx, respectively. The new fossils extend the ornithopod record, in an area where there were not findings of ornithopod remains until 2015.