''Huinculsaurus'' (meaning "

Huincul Formation The Huincul Formation is a geologic formation of Late Cretaceous ( Early Cenomanian to Late Turonian) age of the Neuquén Basin that outcrops in the Mendoza, Río Negro and Neuquén Provinces of northern Patagonia, Argentina.

lizard") is a genus of

noasaurid Noasauridae is an extinct family of theropod dinosaurs belonging to the group Ceratosauria. They were closely related to the short-armed abelisaurids, although most noasaurids had much more traditional body types generally similar to other ther ...

dinosaur Dinosaurs are a diverse group of reptiles of the clade Dinosauria. They first appeared during the Triassic period, between 243 and 233.23 million years ago (mya), although the exact origin and timing of the evolution of dinosaurs is t ...

from the Huincul Formation in

Neuquén Province Neuquén () is a province of Argentina, located in the west of the country, at the northern end of Patagonia. It borders Mendoza Province to the north, Rio Negro Province to the southeast, and Chile to the west. It also meets La Pampa Province a ...

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

. The type and only species is ''Huinculsaurus montesi''. It was probably around when fully grown, although this is only speculation since no fully mature specimens are currently known.

Discovery and naming

''Huinculsaurus'' is only known from three thoracic and two sacral vertebrae from an immature individual, discovered . It was discovered ten meters away from where the ''

Ilokelesia ''Ilokelesia'' is an extinct genus of abelisaurid theropod,Coria, R.A.; Salgado, L. & Calvo, J.O. (1991) "Primeros restos de dinosaurios Theropoda del Miembro Huincul, Formación Río Limay (Cretácico Tardío Presenoniano), Neuquén, Argentina." ...

holotype A holotype is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism, known to have been used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of several ...

was discoveredCoria, R.A.; Salgado, L. & Calvo, J.O. (1991) "Primeros restos de dinosaurios Theropoda del Miembro Huincul, Formación Río Limay (Cretácico Tardío Presenoniano), Neuquén, Argentina." ''

Ameghiniana ''Ameghiniana'' is a peer-reviewed scientific journal covering palaeontology published by the Asociación Paleontológica Argentina. It is named after the 19th century Italian Argentine palaeontologist Florentino Ameghino. The discovery of many di ...

'', 28: 405-406. and the vertebrae were mechanically separated during preparation. The genus was eventually named in 2020.

Classification

''Huinculsaurus'' was placed in the Elaphrosaurinae subfamily of

Noasauridae Noasauridae is an extinct family of theropod dinosaurs belonging to the group Ceratosauria. They were closely related to the short-armed abelisaurids, although most noasaurids had much more traditional body types generally similar to other ther ...

in 2020. It was most closely related to ''

Elaphrosaurus ''Elaphrosaurus'' ( ) is a genus of ceratosaurian theropod dinosaur that lived approximately 154 to 150 million years ago during the Late Jurassic Period in what is now Tanzania in Africa. ''Elaphrosaurus'' was a medium-sized but lightly built m ...

'' and ''

Limusaurus ''Limusaurus'' is a genus of theropod dinosaur that lived in what is now China during the Late Jurassic, around 161 to 157 million years ago. The type and only species ''Limusaurus inextricabilis'' was described in 2009 from specimens ...

'', both from the

Late Jurassic The Late Jurassic is the third epoch of the Jurassic Period, and it spans the geologic time from 163.5 ± 1.0 to 145.0 ± 0.8 million years ago (Ma), which is preserved in Upper Jurassic strata.Owen 1987. In European lithostratigraphy, the name ...

. This would make ''Huinculsaurus'' the youngest known elaphrosaurine.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q84463821 Abelisaurs Late Cretaceous dinosaurs of South America Cretaceous Argentina Huincul Formation Fossil taxa described in 2020