Pronunciation: AH-goo-STEE-nee-uh
Meaning: for Agustin (Martinelli)
Author/s: Bonaparte (1999)
Synonyms: Augustia ligabuei
First Discovery: Neuquenn, Argentina
Discovery Chart Position: #460
Agustinia ligabuei
Agustinia is a sauropod—the four-legged, barrel-bodied, long-necked and long-tailed herbivorous branch of Saurischia—and was originally named "Augustia" in an abstract by José Bonaparte in 1998. As so often transpires in palaeontology, that name had already been assigned to a creepy-crawly (in this case a beetle). So, the name was changed for the full official description the following year.
Because of what were assumed to be weird stegosaur-like plates running down its neck, tail and back, Agustinia beggared classification beyond Sauropoda, so Boneparte raised an all-new family—Agustiniidae—to house it, despite suspecting rebbachisaurid affinities. That found precious little support amongst fellow professionals, mainly because Agustinia sports features of both diplodocoids and titanosaurian sauropods which are both as common as muck in the Early Cretaceous of Neuquén, so it likely belonged to one family or the other. On top of that, those "plates" are probably nothing more than fragments of ribs and hip bones.
Unfortunately, Agustinia fossils are very fragmentary and poorly preserved, so it remains something of an enigma. It may be a titanosauriforme, perhaps a somphospondylan, or maybe Boneparte was right and it's a rebbachisaurid diplodocoid.
Because of what were assumed to be weird stegosaur-like plates running down its neck, tail and back, Agustinia beggared classification beyond Sauropoda, so Boneparte raised an all-new family—Agustiniidae—to house it, despite suspecting rebbachisaurid affinities. That found precious little support amongst fellow professionals, mainly because Agustinia sports features of both diplodocoids and titanosaurian sauropods which are both as common as muck in the Early Cretaceous of Neuquén, so it likely belonged to one family or the other. On top of that, those "plates" are probably nothing more than fragments of ribs and hip bones.
Unfortunately, Agustinia fossils are very fragmentary and poorly preserved, so it remains something of an enigma. It may be a titanosauriforme, perhaps a somphospondylan, or maybe Boneparte was right and it's a rebbachisaurid diplodocoid.
(for Agustin Martinelli)
Etymology
Agustinia is named after Agustin Martinelli, a young Argentine student who discovered it. The species epithet, ligabuei (lee-gah-BOO-ay-ie), honors Dr. Giancarlo Ligabue, a philanthropist who provided financial support to the expedition which recovered the remains. This is the second of three dinosaurs to honor Ligabue, sandwiched between Ligabueino andesi (1996) and Ligabuesaurus leanzai (2006). They were all named by José Bonaparte.
Discovery
The remains of Agustinia was discovered in the Cullín Grande Member of the Lohan Cura Formation (sandwiched between the older La Amarga Formation and the younger Candeleros Formation) at Cerro de los Leones, Neuquen Province, Argentina, in 1997.
The holotype (MCF-PVPH 110) originally included an almost complete right shin and calfbone, five metatarsals from the left foot, three partial vertebrae from the back, six from the hip, and ten from the tail, and nine oddly-shaped "armour" plates. However, it was later suggested that the plates were perhaps partial rib bones or hip bones, or both, and the hip vertebrae are too damaged to count with accuracy. A thighbone was also found at the site but it was so fragmented it wasn't worth collecting.
