A new Cretaceous terrestrial ecosystem from Gondwana with the description of a new sauropod dinosaur.

An Acad Bras Cienc

Proyecto Dino, Centro Paleontológico Lago Barreales, Universidad Nacional del Comahue, Neuquén, Argentina.

Published: September 2007

A unique site at the northern area of Patagonia (Neuquén, Argentina) reveals a terrestrial ecosystem preserved in a detail never reported before in a Late Cretaceous deposit. An extraordinary diversity and abundance of fossils was found concentrated in a 0.5 m horizon in the same quarry, including a new titanosaur sauropod, Futalognkosaurus dukei n.gen., n.sp, which is the most complete giant dinosaur known so far. Several plant leaves, showing a predominance of angiosperms over gymnosperms that likely constituted the diet of F. dukei were found too. Other dinosaurs (sauropods, theropods, ornithopods), crocodylomorphs, pterosaurs, and fishes were also discovered, allowing a partial reconstruction of this Gondwanan continental ecosystem.

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Source
http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/s0001-37652007000300013DOI Listing

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