2025/05/20 by Kevin L. Gomez · 1 voice · 1 citation
Earth and Planetary Sciences · #Evolution and Paleontology Studies #Paleontology and Evolutionary Biology #Paleontology and Stratigraphy of Fossils
paper · doi:10.1080/08912963.2025.2504506
openalex publication_date 2025/05/20 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/06/14
The Cañadón Asfalto Formation possesses the largest record of Early Jurassic sauropods in South America. From this formation come the sauropods Volkheimeria, Bagualia, and Patagosaurus, the latter represented by several specimens from the Cerro Cóndor Norte and Cerro Cóndor Sur localities. From this last locality, a premaxilla previously referred to as Patagosaurus (PVL 4076) is studied using a computed tomography and subsequent rendering of its teeth within the bone. The premaxillary teeth show differences from other taxa, particularly from Patagosaurus, indicating that it cannot be assigned to this taxon: these are broad-crowned with relatively thick enamel, while in Patagosaurus, the crowns are thinner and have finer enamel; they have well-developed lingual and labial apicobasal grooves which gives the crown a ’hat’-shape in cross section (in Patagosaurus the grooves are shallow and the crown is elliptical in cross section); and the enamel abruptly culminates as a step at the crown-root limit (in Patagosaurus it fades gently). These dental differences within the Cerro Cóndor Sur locality evidence a niche partitioning mediated by different feeding strategies, thus allowing the coexistence of these large animals during the late Early Jurassic of Patagonia.