Lucio M. Ibiricu, Gabriel A. Casal, Rubén D. Martínez, Matthew C. Lamanna, Marcelo Luna, And Leonardo Salgado.

We describe Katepensaurus goicoecheai, gen. et sp. nov., a diplodocoid sauropod dinosaur from the Bajo Barreal Formation (Upper Cretaceous: Cenomanian–Turonian) of south-central Chubut Province, central Patagonia, Argentina. The holotypic specimen is a closely associated partial axial skeleton that includes cervical, dorsal, and caudal vertebrae. The dorsal vertebrae of Katepensaurus exhibit the following distinctive characters that we interpret as autapomorphies: (1) internal lamina divides lateral pneumatic fossa of centrum; (2) vertical ridges or crests present on lateral surface of vertebra, overlying neurocentral junction; (3) pair of laminae in parapophyseal centrodiapophyseal fossa; (4) transverse processes perforated by elliptical fenestrae; and (5) well-defined, rounded fossae on lateral aspect of postzygapophyses. Based on the results of previous phylogenetic analyses, we regard the new taxon as a member of Rebbachisauridae; more specifically, it may pertain to Limaysaurinae, a rebbachisaurid subclade that, to date, is definitively known only from southern South America. As currently understood, the rebbachisaurid fossil record suggests that the clade achieved its greatest taxonomic diversity within a few million years of its extinction during the early Late Cretaceous.

 
Ibiricu, L.M., Casal, G.A., Martínez, R.D., Lamanna, M.C., Luna, M. And Salgado, L. 2013. Katepensaurus goicoecheai, gen. et sp. nov., a Late Cretaceous Rebbachisaurid (Sauropoda, Diplodocoidea) from central Patagonia, Argentina. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 33(6):1351–1366.

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