NOPCSASPONDYLUS
a rebbachisaurid sauropod dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous of Neuquén, Argentina.
Pronunciation:
Meaning: Nopcsa's vertebra
Author/s: Apesteguía (
2007)
Synonyms: None known
First Discovery: Neuquén, Argentina
Discovery Chart Position: #630
Nopcsaspondylus alarconensis
(Nopcsa's vertebra from Alarcon)Etymology
Nopcsaspondylus is derived from "Nopcsa" (for palaeontologist Franz Nopcsa von Fels?-Szilvás, who was the first to study its remains) and the Greek "spondylus" (vertebra). Although the name means "Nopcsa's vertebrae", it isn't actually Nopcsa's vertebra. Obviously.
The
species epithet,
alarconensis, means "from Alarcon" in Latin, referring to Barda Alarcón, the locality from where it was collected.
Discovery
The only remains of
Nopcsaspondylus were discovered in the Candeleros Formation at the Barda Alarcón locality, near Picún Leufú town, Neuquén Province, Argentina, by Slovenian researcher Hugo Zapa?owicz in 1889. It was initially assigned to
Bothriospondylus by Franz Nopcsa von Fels?-Szilvás in 1902.
The
holotype (WN-V6) is a single back vertebra (now lost) with a small vertebral body and large hollows, typical of rebbachisaurid sauropods.
Estimations
Timeline:
Era: Mesozoic
Epoch: Late Cretaceous
Stage: Cenomanian
Age range: 99-93 mya
Stats:
Est. max. length: ?
Est. max. hip height: ?
Est. max. weight: ?
Diet: Herbivore
Nopcsaspondylus
alarconensis
References
• Nopcsa F (1902) "
Notizen uber Cretacischen Dinosaurier. Pt. 3. Wirbel eines sudamerikanischen Sauropoden".
Berlin Akademie der Wesenschaften, 3: 108-114.
• Hatcher JB (1903) "Osteology of
Haplocanthosaurus, with description of a new species, and remarks on the probable habits of the Sauropoda and the age and origin of the Atlantosaurus beds".
Memoirs of the Carnegie Museum, 2(1): 1–75. DOI: 10.5962/p.234822.
• von Huene F (1929) "Los saurisquios y ornitisquios del Cretáceo Argentino".
Anales del Museo de La Plata (series 3) 3: 1-196.
• McIntosh JS (1990) "Sauropoda". Page 345-401 in Weishampel, Dodson and Osmólska (eds.) "The Dinosauria. first ed".
• Apesteguía S (2007) "The sauropod diversity of the La Amarga Formation (Barremian), Neuquén (Argentina)".
Gondwana Research, 12(4): 533–546. DOI: 10.1016/j.gr.2007.04.007.
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To cite this page:
Atkinson, L.
"
NOPCSASPONDYLUS :: from DinoChecker's dinosaur archive".
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http://www.dinochecker.com/dinosaurs/NOPCSASPONDYLUS›. Web access: 06th Mar 2026.
