The Carlos Ameghino Provincial Museum is a

natural science Natural science is one of the branches of science concerned with the description, understanding and prediction of natural phenomena, based on empirical evidence from observation and experimentation. Mechanisms such as peer review and repeatab ...

museum founded by Professor Roberto Abel in 1971. It is located in Cipolletti city, Río Negro Province,

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 ...

. It is named after the renowned naturalist and explorer Carlos Ameghino. It is currently located in the "Pichi Ruca" house which belonged to General Manuel Fernàndez Oro and is located within the land of the "La Esmeralda" estate. The Museum is placed in Belgrano 2150, Cipolletti (8324), Río Negro Province, Argentine Republic.

History

In the beginning, it was located at the Peuser Manor, located in the Los Tordos neighbourhood in the city of Cipolletti. It currently belongs to the School of Humanities of the

National University of Comahue The National University of Comahue ( es, Universidad Nacional del Comahue, UNCNavarro, Fernando A. ''. Tremédica, Asociación Internacional de Traductores y Redactores de Medicina y Ciencias Afines/UNCoPortal de Prensa de la Uncoma, Universidad ...

In 1987 the museum was moved to the "Pichi Ruca" house, which was a part of the "La Esmeralda" estate. The manor belonged to General Manuel Fernández Oro, the city's founder, and his wife, Lucinda González Larrosa.
The Senate of Argentina declared the Museum a place of social, cultural and educational interest in 2015, as a recognition of its institutional work. The proposal was submitted by national senator Magdalena Odarda and passed on 25 November of that year.

Collections

The museum hosts collections of

recent The Holocene ( ) is the current geological epoch. It began approximately 11,650 cal years Before Present (), after the Last Glacial Period, which concluded with the Holocene glacial retreat. The Holocene and the preceding Pleistocene together ...

and

fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved ...

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

minerals In geology and mineralogy, a mineral or mineral species is, broadly speaking, a solid chemical compound with a fairly well-defined chemical composition and a specific crystal structure that occurs naturally in pure form.John P. Rafferty, ed. (2 ...

, as well as objects related to the early

history History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the History of writing#Inventions of writing, invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbr ...

of Cipolletti. Remains of recent species include

birds Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweigh ...

reptiles Reptiles, as most commonly defined are the animals in the Class (biology), class Reptilia ( ), a paraphyletic grouping comprising all sauropsid, sauropsids except birds. Living reptiles comprise turtles, crocodilians, Squamata, squamates (lizar ...

and mammals. Fossil remains include

mesozoic The Mesozoic Era ( ), also called the Age of Reptiles, the Age of Conifers, and colloquially as the Age of the Dinosaurs is the second-to-last era of Earth's geological history, lasting from about , comprising the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceo ...

tetrapods, such as the original skull of ''

Abelisaurus comahuensis ''Abelisaurus'' (; "Abel's lizard") is a genus of predatory abelisaurid theropod dinosaur alive during the Late Cretaceous Period (Campanian) of what is now South America. It was a bipedal carnivore that probably reached about in length, althou ...

'', a meat-eating

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 ...

that lived in Patagonia during the

Cretaceous The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 145 to 66 million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era, as well as the longest. At around 79 million years, it is the longest geological period of th ...

.Bonaparte, J.F. & Novas, F.E. (1985). "''Abelisaurus comahuensis'', n.g., n.sp., Carnosauria del Crétacico Tardio de Patagonia". ''

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 ...

''. 21: 259-265.

n Spanish N, or n, is the fourteenth Letter (alphabet), letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the English alphabet, modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is English alphabet# ...

/ref> Remains of other taxa of theropods are exhibited, including ''

Buitreraptor gonzalezorum ''Buitreraptor'' (meaning "La Buitrera seizer") is a genus of dromaeosaurid dinosaurs that lived during the Late Cretaceous of Argentina at the Candeleros Formation. ''Buitreraptor'' was described in 2005 and the type species is ''Buitreraptor ...

Alnashetri cerropoliciensis ''Alnashetri'' is an extinct genus of alvarezsaurid coelurosaurian theropod dinosaur known from the early Late Cretaceous (Cenomanian stage) of La Buitrera, Río Negro Province, Argentina. It contains one known species, ''Alnashetri cerropolicien ...

Bonapartenykus ultimus ''Bonapartenykus'' (meaning "José F. Bonaparte's claw") is a monospecific genus of alvarezsauroid dinosaur from Argentina that lived during the Late Cretaceous (Campanian-Maastrichtian) in what is now the upper Allen Formation of the Río Negro ...

'' and '' Quilmesaurus curriei,'' as well as ornithopods such as '' Willinakaqe salitralensis''. Also, there are fossil remains of

snakes Snakes are elongated, limbless, carnivorous reptiles of the suborder Serpentes . Like all other squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping scales. Many species of snakes have skulls with several more joi ...

( ''Najash'' ''rionegrina''), a

sphenodontian Rhynchocephalia (; ) is an order of lizard-like reptiles that includes only one living species, the tuatara (''Sphenodon punctatus'') of New Zealand. Despite its current lack of diversity, during the Mesozoic rhynchocephalians were a diverse g ...

('' Priosphenodon avelasi''), and a mammal (''

Cronopio dentiacutus ''Cronopio'' is an extinct genus of small insectivorous mammal known from the early Late Cretaceous of the Río Negro region in Argentina. Its only species is ''Cronopio dentiacutus''.Comahue region.

References

* {{coord, -38.9187, -67.9954, type:landmark_region:AR, display=title Museums in Río Negro Province Natural history museums in Argentina Fossil museums