Huayracursor, new sauropodomorph from Upper Triassic of Argentina
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Ben Creisler
Oct 15, 2025, 3:18:57 PM (4 days ago) Oct 15
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Ben Creisler
*****
News:
https://www.newscientist.com/article/2500107-dinosaur-fossil-rewrites-the-story-of-how-sauropods-got-long-necks/
CONICET scientists discover one of the world's oldest dinosaurs in La Rioja (in Spanish)
Científicos del CONICET hallan uno de los dinosaurios más antiguos del mundo en La Rioja
https://www.conicet.gov.ar/cientificos-del-conicet-hallan-uno-de-los-dinosaurios-mas-antiguos-del-mundo-en-la-rioja/
How dinosaurs evolved huge bodies and long necks (in Spanish)
Cómo los dinosaurios desarrollaron cuerpos enormes y cuellos largos
https://www.agenciasinc.es/Noticias/Como-los-dinosaurios-desarrollaron-cuerpos-enormes-y-cuellos-largos
https://www.infobae.com/america/ciencia-america/2025/10/15/descubren-en-argentina-uno-de-los-dinosaurios-mas-antiguos-con-cuello-largo-y-cuerpo-grande/
A new paper:
Huayracursor jaguensis gen. et sp. nov.
E. Martín Hechenleitner, Agustín G. Martinelli, Sebastián Rocher, Lucas E. Fiorelli, Malena Juarez, Jeremías R. A. Taborda & Julia B. Desojo (2025)
A long-necked early dinosaur from a newly discovered Upper Triassic basin in the Andes
Nature (advance online publication)
doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-025-09634-3
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-09634-3
During the Late Triassic epoch (237–201 million years ago), the terrestrial ecosystems of Pangaea underwent drastic changes that led to the rise and diversification of mammaliaforms, crocodylomorphs and dinosaurs. Although the Carnian sedimentary rocks of South America provided much of the available evidence for understanding the early evolution of these clades, key discoveries have remained restricted to the Ischigualasto-Villa Unión and Paraná basins in Argentina and Brazil, respectively. Here we report a Carnian tetrapod assemblage from the previously unrecognized Northern Precordillera Basin in northwestern Argentina. Discoveries at this basin, in the Quebrada Santo Domingo site, include a nearly complete skeleton of the early sauropodomorph Huayracursor jaguensis gen. et sp. nov., and typical components of Late Carnian faunas, such as hyperodapedontine rhynchosaurs, gomphodontosuchine traversodontid cynodonts, and aetosaurs. Compared to its generally small and short-necked Carnian counterparts, Huayracursor is larger and exhibits an incipient elongation of its cervical vertebrae, representing an intermediate condition for size and cervical elongation between known Carnian and Norian sauropodomorphs. This discovery provides one of the oldest pieces of evidence of increased body mass and neck elongation in early Sauropodomorpha.
E. Martín Hechenleitner, Agustín G. Martinelli, Sebastián Rocher, Lucas E. Fiorelli, Malena Juarez, Jeremías R. A. Taborda & Julia B. Desojo (2025)
A long-necked early dinosaur from a newly discovered Upper Triassic basin in the Andes
Nature (advance online publication)
doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-025-09634-3
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-09634-3
During the Late Triassic epoch (237–201 million years ago), the terrestrial ecosystems of Pangaea underwent drastic changes that led to the rise and diversification of mammaliaforms, crocodylomorphs and dinosaurs. Although the Carnian sedimentary rocks of South America provided much of the available evidence for understanding the early evolution of these clades, key discoveries have remained restricted to the Ischigualasto-Villa Unión and Paraná basins in Argentina and Brazil, respectively. Here we report a Carnian tetrapod assemblage from the previously unrecognized Northern Precordillera Basin in northwestern Argentina. Discoveries at this basin, in the Quebrada Santo Domingo site, include a nearly complete skeleton of the early sauropodomorph Huayracursor jaguensis gen. et sp. nov., and typical components of Late Carnian faunas, such as hyperodapedontine rhynchosaurs, gomphodontosuchine traversodontid cynodonts, and aetosaurs. Compared to its generally small and short-necked Carnian counterparts, Huayracursor is larger and exhibits an incipient elongation of its cervical vertebrae, representing an intermediate condition for size and cervical elongation between known Carnian and Norian sauropodomorphs. This discovery provides one of the oldest pieces of evidence of increased body mass and neck elongation in early Sauropodomorpha.
*****
News:
Huayracursor jaguensis dinosaur fossil rewrites the story of how sauropods got long necks
https://www.newscientist.com/article/2500107-dinosaur-fossil-rewrites-the-story-of-how-sauropods-got-long-necks/
CONICET scientists discover one of the world's oldest dinosaurs in La Rioja (in Spanish)
Científicos del CONICET hallan uno de los dinosaurios más antiguos del mundo en La Rioja
https://www.conicet.gov.ar/cientificos-del-conicet-hallan-uno-de-los-dinosaurios-mas-antiguos-del-mundo-en-la-rioja/
How dinosaurs evolved huge bodies and long necks (in Spanish)
Cómo los dinosaurios desarrollaron cuerpos enormes y cuellos largos
https://www.agenciasinc.es/Noticias/Como-los-dinosaurios-desarrollaron-cuerpos-enormes-y-cuellos-largos
https://www.infobae.com/america/ciencia-america/2025/10/15/descubren-en-argentina-uno-de-los-dinosaurios-mas-antiguos-con-cuello-largo-y-cuerpo-grande/
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