The Lago Colhué Huapí Formation is a Late Cretaceous geologic formation of the Chubut Group in the Golfo San Jorge Basin in Patagonia, Argentina. The formation, named after Lake Colhué Huapí, is overlain by the Salamanca Formation of the Río Chico Group and in some areas by the Laguna Palacios Formation.
The strata of the Lago Colhué Huapé Formation were thought to pertain to the Bajo Barreal Formation, but are now recognized as a distinct stratigraphic unit in their own right.[2] The upper part of the Lago Colhué Huapí Formation has been dated to the upper Maastrichtian age of the late Cretaceous period.[4] A basalt flow in the formation has been dated to 67.31 ± 0.55 million years ago, reinforcing the Late Maastrichtian age.[5]
Vertebrate paleofauna
Taxa recovered from the Lago Colhué Huapí Formation include the sauropods Aeolosaurus, and Argyrosaurus, as well as the hadrosaurid Secernosaurus and the probable elasmarian ornithopod Sektensaurus. The dubious ornithischian Notoceratops was also present.
Dinosaurs
|
|
|
|
Color key
|
|
Notes
Uncertain or tentative taxa are in small text; crossed out taxa are discredited.
|
Ornithischians
| Ornithopods from the Lago Colhué Huapí Formation
|
| Genus |
Species |
Locality |
Stratigraphic position |
Material |
Notes |
Images
|
| Notoceratops
|
N. bonarellii
|
|
Upper
|
An incomplete, toothless left dentary
|
A dubious genasaurian ornithischian[9]
|
|
| Secernosaurus
|
S. koerneri
|
Rio Chico
|
Upper
|
A partial skeleton
|
A saurolophine hadrosaur
|
| Sektensaurus
|
S. sanjuanboscoi
|
An ephemeral island
|
Upper
|
An associated partial skeleton
|
An elasmarian ornithopod
|
Sauropods
| Sauropods from the Lago Colhué Huapí Formation
|
| Genus |
Species |
Locality |
Stratigraphic position |
Material |
Notes |
Images
|
| Aeolosaurus
|
A. colhuehuapensis
|
An ephemeral island
|
Upper
|
A partial skeleton
|
A titanosaur
|
|
| Argyrosaurus
|
A. superbus
|
La Angostura, Río Chico.
|
Upper
|
A set of limb elements (left forelimb)
|
A titanosaur
|
| Elaltitan
|
E. lilloi
|
Río Senguerr bend
|
Lower
|
A partial skeleton
|
A titanosaur
|
| Lithostrotia indet.[10]
|
Indeterminate
|
|
Middle
|
A partial skeleton
|
A titanosaur
|
Theropods
| Theropods from the Lago Colhué Huapí Formation
|
| Genus |
Species |
Locality |
Stratigraphic position |
Material |
Notes |
Images
|
| Joaquinraptor[11]
|
J. casali
|
Valle Joaquín
|
Upper
|
A partial skeleton including skull bones, vertebrae, the pectoral girdle, and forelimb and hindlimb bones
|
A megaraptorid theropod
|
|
| Theropoda indet.[12]
|
Indeterminate
|
An ephemeral island, Mocha Peninsula
|
Upper
|
A manual ungual (hand claw) and possible metatarsal III
|
A possible megaraptoran theropod
|
Other reptiles
| Reptiles from the Lago Colhué Huapí Formation
|
| Genus |
Species |
Locality |
Stratigraphic position |
Material |
Notes |
Images
|
| Colhuehuapisuchus
|
C. lunai
|
An ephemeral island
|
Upper.
|
A mandible (Anterior portion of mandibles)
|
A peirosaurid notosuchian
|
|
Fish
See also
References
- ^ Clyde et al. 2014.
- ^ Vallati, Patricia; Casal, Gabriel; Foix, Nicolás; Allard, José; Tomas, Andrea De Sosa; Calo, Marcos (August 2016). "First Report of a Maastrichtian Palynoflora from the Golfo San Jorge Basin, Central Patagonia, Argentina". Ameghiniana. 53 (4): 495–505. doi:10.5710/AMGH.28.12.2015.2948. ISSN 0002-7014.
- ^ Clyde, William (2014). "New age constraints for the Salamanca Formation and lower Rio Chico Group in the western San Jorge Basin, Patagonia, Argentina: Implications for Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction recovery and land mammal age correlations".
- ^ Fonseca, A.O.; Reid, I.J.; Venner, A.; Duncan, R.J.; Garcia, M.S.; Müller, R.T. (2024). "A comprehensive phylogenetic analysis on early ornithischian evolution". Journal of Systematic Palaeontology. 22 (1) 2346577. Bibcode:2024JSPal..2246577F. doi:10.1080/14772019.2024.2346577.
- ^ Ibiricu, Lucio M.; Casal, Gabriel A.; Martínez, Rubén D.; Luna, Marcelo; Svoboda, Ezequiel González; Cerda, Ignacio A. (May 2017). "New materials of lithostrotian titanosaurs (Dinosauria: Sauropoda) from the Upper Cretaceous of central Patagonia". Cretaceous Research. 73: 25–39. doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2016.12.015.
- ^ Ibiricu, Lucio M.; Lamanna, Matthew C.; Alvarez, Bruno N.; Cerda, Ignacio A.; Caglianone, Julieta L.; Cardozo, Noelia V.; Luna, Marcelo; Martínez, Rubén D. (2025). "Latest Cretaceous megaraptorid theropod dinosaur sheds light on megaraptoran evolution and palaeobiology". Nature Communications. 16 8298. doi:10.1038/s41467-025-63793-5. PMC 12457595.
- ^ Casal, Gabriel A.; Martínez, Rubén D.; Luna, Marcelo; Ibiricu, Lucio M. (May 7, 2016). "Ordenamiento y caracterización faunística del Cretácico Superior del Grupo Chubut, Cuenca del Golfo San Jorge, Argentina" (PDF). Revista Brasileira de Paleontologia. 19 (1): 53–70. doi:10.4072/rbp.2016.1.05.
- ^ Casal, G. A.; Panzeri, K. M.; Alvarez, B. N.; Cardozo, N. V.; Caglianone, J. L.; Luna, M.; Ibiricu, L. M. (2025). "First record of a lungfish (Sarcopterygii: Dipnoi) in the Upper Cretaceous of the Chubut Group, Golfo San Jorge Basin, Argentina. Paleoenvironmental and paleoclimatic considerations". Cretaceous Research. 176 106192. 106192. Bibcode:2025CrRes.17606192C. doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2025.106192.
Bibliography
- Casal, Gabriel A.; Allard, José O.; Foix, Nicolás (March 2015). "Análisis estratigráfico y paleontológico del cretácico superior en la cuenca del golfo San Jorge: nueva unidad litoestratigráfica para el grupo Chubut" [Stratigraphic and paleontological analysis of the Upper Cretaceous in the San Jorge Gulf Basin: a new lithostratigraphic unit for the Chubut Group]. Revista de la Asociación Geológica Argentina (in Spanish). 72 (1): 77–95. hdl:11336/111016.
- Casal, Gabriel (30 April 2007). "Aeolosaurus colhuehuapensis sp. nov. (Sauropoda, Titanosauria) de la Formación Bajo Barreal, Cretácico superior de Argentina" [Aeolosaurus colhuehuapensis sp. nov.(Sauropoda, Titanosauria) from the Lower Barreal Formation, upper Cretaceous of Argentina]. Revista Brasileira de Paleontologia (in Spanish). 10 (1): 53–62. Bibcode:2007RvBrP..10...53C. doi:10.4072/rbp.2007.1.05.
- Clyde, W.C.; Wilf, P.; Slingerland, Iglesias A.; Barnum, T.; Bijl, P.K. (2014), "New age constraints for the Salamanca Formation and lower Río Chico Group in the western San Jorge Basin, Patagonia, Argentina: implications for Cretaceous—Paleogene extinction recovery and land mammal age correlations", Geological Society of America Bulletin, 126 (3–4): 289–306, Bibcode:2014GSAB..126..289C, doi:10.1130/B30915.1, hdl:11336/80135
- Cortés, José María (1986). Estratigrafía y tectónica de la región central de la Provincia de Chubut, República Argentina [Stratigraphy and tectonics of the central region of Chubut Province, Argentina] (Thesis) (in Spanish). Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. hdl:20.500.12110/tesis_n1975_Cortes.
- Ibiricu, Lucio M.; Casal, Gabriel A.; Alvarez, Bruno N.; De Sosa Tomas, Andrea; Lamanna, Matthew C.; Cruzado-Caballero, Penelope (October 2021). "New hadrosaurid (Dinosauria: Ornithopoda) fossils from the uppermost Cretaceous of central Patagonia and the influence of paleoenvironment on South American hadrosaur distribution". Journal of South American Earth Sciences. 110 103369. Bibcode:2021JSAES.11003369I. doi:10.1016/j.jsames.2021.103369.
- Mannion, P.D.; Otero, A. (2012), "A reappraisal of the Late Cretaceous Argentinean sauropod dinosaur Argyrosaurus superbus, with a description of a new titanosaur genus", Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 32 (3): 614–638, Bibcode:2012JVPal..32..614M, doi:10.1080/02724634.2012.660898, hdl:11336/197194
- Martínez, R.D.F.; Lamanna, M.C.; Novas, F.E.; Ridgely, R.C.; Casal, G.A.; Martínez, J.E. (2016), "A Basal Lithostrotian Titanosaur (Dinosauria: Sauropoda) with a Complete Skull: Implications for the Evolution and Paleobiology of Titanosauria", PLoS ONE, 11 (4) e0151661, Bibcode:2016PLoSO..1151661M, doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0151661, PMC 4846048, PMID 27115989
- Weishampel, David B.; Dodson, Peter; Osmólska, Halszka (2004), The Dinosauria (2nd ed.), Berkeley: University of California Press, pp. 1–880, ISBN 0-520-24209-2, retrieved 2019-02-21
{{citation}}: CS1 maint: publisher location (link)
- Vallati, Patricia; De Sosa Tomas, Andrea; Casal, Gabriel (January 2020). "A Maastrichtian terrestrial palaeoenvironment close to the K/Pg boundary in the Golfo San Jorge basin, Patagonia, Argentina". Journal of South American Earth Sciences. 97 102401. Bibcode:2020JSAES..9702401V. doi:10.1016/j.jsames.2019.102401.