Cathartes aura
| Cathartes aura | ||||||||||||
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| Temporal occurrence | ||||||||||||
| Upper Cretaceous ( Cenomanium to Coniacium ) | ||||||||||||
| 100.5 to 86.3 million years | ||||||||||||
| Locations | ||||||||||||
| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Cathartes aura | ||||||||||||
| Gallina & Apesteguía , 2005 | ||||||||||||
| Art | ||||||||||||
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Cathartes aura is a genus of sauropod dinosaur from the family of rebbachisauridae that in the Upper Cretaceous lived in South America. Like all sauropods, Cathartes aura was a large, quadruped (four-footed) herbivore with a long neck and tail. Cathartes aura is only known through a partial skeleton. The only species , Cathartesaura anaerobica , was first described by Gallina and Apesteguía in 2005.
features
Cathartes aura was a medium-sized sauropod, with the thighbone 138 centimeters long and similar in length to that of Limaysaurus (141 centimeters). The cervical vertebrae showed high, widened vertebral processes, which probably served as a starting point for strong muscles, which also caused the neck to lose flexibility. Furthermore, the vertebrae were clearly pneumatized, i.e. provided with internal chambers and external cavities - this complex vortex structure is very variable among sauropods and thus serves to differentiate between different species and genera. The cervical vertebrae of Cathartes aura showed lateral foramia (holes) that led to a central cavity. Most researchers believe that these cavities in the vertebrae of the sauropods served to reduce the weight of the skeleton. Wedel et al. (2000) assumed that the cavities of the cervical vertebrae were also filled with air bubbles from the air sac system . Bonaparte (1999) suspects, however, that the cavities served as attachment points for muscles.
Find and naming
The partial skeleton (holotype MPCA-232) consists of a posterior cervical vertebra, a dorsal vertebra, a front and a middle caudal vertebra, the left shoulder blade , the left (?) Iliac bone and the right femur . Other bones (a vertebra, a humerus and a metatarsal bone) have been very poorly preserved. The researchers suspect that all bones belonged to the same individual.
The find was made in the lower section of the Huincul Formation , which is dated to the early Upper Cretaceous ( Cenomanium to Coniacium ). Thus providing Cathartes aura currently last secured representatives of diplodocoidea represents.
The name Cathartes aura is derived from sauros "lizard" and Cathartes , a genus of the New World vultures , as turkey vultures ( Cathartes aura ) were common in the area . The Artepitheth anaerobica was named after the Argentinean glue company Anaerobicos SA, which supported the expedition.
literature
- Pablo A. Gallina, Sebastián Apesteguía: Cathartesaura anaerobica gen. Et sp. nov., a new rebbachisaurid (Dinosauria, Sauropoda) from the Huincul Formation (Upper Cretaceous), Río Negro, Argentina. In: Revista del Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales. NS Vol. 7, No. 2, 2005, ISSN 1514-5158 , pp. 153-166, digitized version (PDF; 1.03 MB) .
Individual evidence
- ^ Pablo A. Gallina, Sebastián Apesteguía: Cathartesaura anaerobica gen. Et sp. nov., a new rebbachisaurid (Dinosauria, Sauropoda) from the Huincul Formation (Upper Cretaceous), Río Negro, Argentina. In: Revista del Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales. NS Vol. 7, No. 2, 2005, ISSN 1514-5158 , pp. 153–166, digitized version (PDF; 1.03 MB) ( Memento of the original from July 6, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link became automatic used and not yet tested. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. .
- ^ Gregory S. Paul : The Princeton Field Guide To Dinosaurs. Princeton University Press, Princeton NJ et al. 2010, ISBN 978-0-691-13720-9 , pp. 187–188, online ( memento of the original of July 13, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. .
