a plant-eating dicraeosaurid sauropod dinosaur from the Early Cretaceous of Argentina.
Pronunciation: pil-mah-TU-wee-uh
Meaning: Pilmatué One
Author/s: Coria
et al. (
2018)
Synonyms: None known
First Discovery: Neuquén, Argentina
Discovery Chart Position: #993
Pilmatueia faundezi
(Faúndez's Pilmatué One)Etymology
Pilmatueia is named for the Pilmatué locality in which it was discovered.
The
species epithet,
faundezi, honours Mr. Ramón Faúndez, manager of the Museo Municipal de Las Lajas, for his support of expeditions to the Las Lajas area since 2009.
Discovery
The remains of
Pilmatueia were discovered in the Mulichinco Formation at the Pilmatué locality, 9 km northeast of Las
Lajas, Neuquén Province, Argentina, in 2010, mingled with the remains of the carcharodontosaurid theropod
Lajasvenator, indeterminate diplodocid fossils, and an iguanodontian-like ornithopod that was named
Emiliasaura in 2024.
The
holotype (MLL-Pv-005) is an almost complete back vertebra. The paratype (MLL-Pv-002) is a complete neck vertebra.
Referred material includes another neck vertebra (MLL-Pv-004), an incomplete
neural arch (MLL-Pv-014), the main body of a tail vertebra (MLL-Pv-015), and a complete tail vertebra (MLL-Pv-016). Three articulated neck vertebrae with their respective ribs in position, plus an associated fourth rib, seven back vertebrae with associated ribs, one tail vertebra, a left shoulder blade and the end of a right shoulder blade (MLL-Pv-010) were referred here in 2022.
An isolated discaeosaurid right thigh (MLL-Pv-009) and a natural cast from the inside of a brain-pan—aka "cranial endocast"—(MLL-003) from the same formation might belong to
Pilmatueia.
Preparator
E. Montes of the Museo Carmen Funes, Plaza Huincul.
• Coria RA, Ortega F, Succar C, Currie PJ and Koppelhus E (2012) "
First record of a dicraeosaurid sauropod from the Lower Cretaceous (Valanginian) of Neuquén Basin".
XXVI
Jornadas Argentinas de Paleontología de Vertebrados. Ameghiniana, 49(4) Supp: R44.
• Coria RA, Ortega F, Currie P, Previtera E and Cárdenas M (2013) "
An Early Cretaceous dinosaur assemblage from the Neuquen Basin, Patagonia, Argentina".
XXVII Jornadas Argentinas de Paleontología de Vertebrados. Ameghiniana 50(4) Supp: R13.
• Windholz GJ, Coria RA, Baiano MA, Pino D and Bellardini F (2017) "
Dicraeosaurid Sauropod Remains from the Mulichinco Formation (Valanginian,
Lower Cretaceous), Neuquén Basin, Argentina".
31st Argentine Meeting of Vertebrate Paleontology. Publicación Electrónica de la Asociación Paleontológica Argentina (PE-APA), 18(2) Supp: R58.
• Paulina Carabajal A, Coria RA, Currie PJ and Koppelhus EB (2017) "A natural cranial endocast with possible dicraeosaurid (Sauropoda, Diplodocoidea) affinities from the Lower Cretaceous of Patagonia".
Cretaceous Research, 84: 437-441. DOI: 10.1016/j.cretres.2017.12.001.
• Coria RA, Windholz GJ, Ortega F and Currie PJ (2019) "A new dicraeosaurid sauropod from the Lower Cretaceous (Mulichinco Formation, Valanginian, Neuquén Basin) of Argentina".
Cretaceous Research, 93: 33-48. DOI: 10.1016/j.cretres.2018.08.019.
• Coria RA, Currie PJ, Ortega F and Baiano MA (2019) "An Early Cretaceous, medium-sized carcharodontosaurid theropod (Dinosauria, Saurischia) from the Mulichinco Formation (upper Valanginian), Neuquén Province, Patagonia, Argentina".
Cretaceous Research, 111(1): 104319. DOI: 10.1016/j.cretres.2019.104319. [names Lajasvenator.]
• Windholz GJ, Coria RA, Baiano MA, Bellardini F, Pino D, Coria LM and Gutiérrez M (2019) "
New Dicraeosaurid (Sauropoda) Remains from the Mulichinco Formation (Valanginian,
Lower Cretaceous), Neuquén Basin, Argentina".
33rd Argentine Meeting of Vertebrate Paleontology. Publicación Electrónica de la Asociación Paleontológica Argentina (PE-APA), 19(2) Supp: R43.
• Windholz GJ, Coria RA and Zurriaguz VL (2019) "Vertebral pneumatic structures in the Early Cretaceous sauropod dinosaur
Pilmatueia faundezi from northwestern Patagonia, Argentina".
Lethaia, 53(3): 369–381. DOI: 10.1111/let.12363.
• Gallina PA, Apesteguía S, Carballido JL and Garderes JP (2022) "Southernmost spiny backs and whiplash tails: flagellicaudatans from South America". Page 209–236 in Otero, Carballido and Pol (eds.) "
South American Sauropodomorph Dinosaurs: Record, Diversity and Evolution".
• Windholz GJ, Coria RA, Bellardini F, Baiano MA, Pino D, Ortega F and Currie PJ (2022) "On a dicraeosaurid specimen from the Mulichinco Formation (Valanginian, Neuquén Basin) of Argentina and phylogenetic relationships of the South American dicraeosaurids (Sauropoda, Diplodocoidea)".
Comptes Rendus Palevol, 21(45): 991-1019.
DOI: 10.5852/cr-palevol2022v21a45.
• Coria RA, Cerda IA, Escaso F, Baiano MA, Bellardini F, Braun A, Coria LM, Gutierrez JM, Pino D, Windholz GJ, Currie PJ and Ortega F (2024) "First Valanginian (Early Cretaceous) ornithopod (Dinosauria, Ornithischia) from Patagonia".
Cretaceous Research: 106027.
DOI: 10.1016/j.cretres.2024.106027. [names Emiliasaura.]
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PILMATUEIA :: from DinoChecker's dinosaur archive".
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