Isolated theropod teeth associated with a sauropod skeleton from the Late Cretaceous Allen Formation of Río Negro, Patagonia, Argentina
Registro en:
Meso, J., Hendrickx, C., Baiano, M. A., Canale, J. I., Salgado, L., & Diaz-Martinez, I. (2021). Isolated theropod teeth associated with a sauropod skeleton from the Late Cretaceous Allen Formation of Río Negro, Patagonia, Argentina. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica; 66 (2); 409-423
0567-7920
Autor
Meso, Jorge
Hendrickx, Christhofe
Baiano, Mattia Antonio
Canale, Juan Ignacio
Salgado, Leonardo
Díaz Martínez, Ignacio
Institución
Resumen
Fil: Meso, Jorge. Universidad Nacional de Río Negro. Instituto de Investigación en Paleobiología y Geología. Río Negro, Argentina. Fil: Salgado, Leonardo. Universidad Nacional de Río Negro. Instituto de Investigación en Paleobiología y Geología. Río Negro, Argentina. Fil: Díaz Martínez, Ignacio. Universidad Nacional de Río Negro. Instituto de Investigación en Paleobiología y Geología. Río Negro, Argentina. Fil: Hendrickx, Christhofe. Unidad Ejecutora Lillo, CONICET-Fundación Miguel Lillo, Miguel Lillo 251, San Miguel de Tucu- mán 4000, Tucumán, Argentina Fil: Baiano, Mattia Antonio. Universidad Nacional de Río Negro. Instituto de Investigación en Paleobiología y Geología. Río Negro, Argentina. Fil: Canale, Juan Ignacio. Universidad Nacional de Río Negro. Instituto de Investigación en Paleobiología y Geología. Río Negro, Argentina. The discovery of theropod shed teeth associated with sauropod remains is relatively common in Cretaceous deposits of Patagonia. However, only a handful of studies have thoroughly explored the phylogenetic affinities of the theropod dental material. Here, we describe and identify twelve theropod shed teeth associated with a partially complete skeleton of a titanosaur sauropod from the Allen Formation (middle Campanian–lower Maastrichtian; Upper Cretaceous) of Paso Córdoba, Río Negro, Argentina. Using three methods, namely a cladistic analysis performed on a dentition-based data matrix, and a discriminant and cluster analyses conducted on a large dataset of theropod teeth measurements, we identify three dental morphotypes which are confidently referred to abelisaurid theropods. Whether the morphotypes represent different abelisaurid subclades or different positional entities within the jaw of the same abelisaurid species, is unknown. Such an identification, nevertheless, provides additional evidence of abelisaurids feeding on sauropod carcasses.This
study highlights the importance of using combined qualitative and quantitative methodologies to identify isolated theropod teeth, especially those that can provide direct information on feeding ecology true -