Comahuesaurus

Comahuesaurus Temporal range: Aptian-Albian ~125–100 Ma PreЄ Є O S D C P T J K Pg N
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Clade:	Dinosauria
Order:	Saurischia
Suborder:	†Sauropodomorpha
Clade:	†Sauropoda
Family:	†Rebbachisauridae
Genus:	†Comahuesaurus José L. Carballido et al. 2012
Species:	†C. windhauseni
Binomial name
Comahuesaurus windhauseni José L. Carballido et al. 2012

Comahuesaurus is an extinct genus of sauropod dinosaurs of the family Rebbachisauridae. It was found in the Lohan Cura Formation, in Argentina and lived during the Early Cretaceous, Aptian to Albian. The type species is C. windhauseni, named by José L. Carballido, Leonardo Salgado, Diego Pol, José I. Canudo, Alberto C Garrido in 2012.^[1] It had originally been assigned to Limaysaurus by Salgado et al. (2004),^[2] but was later assigned its own genus based on the presence of diagnostic characters in the caudal centra, pubis and ischium.

Comahuesaurus has relatively abundant material compared to other rebbachisaurids, having preserved 37 caudal vertebrae, three fragmentary dorsal vertebrae and multiple appendicular elements, including a right humerus, pubis, ischium and a 113 cm long left femur. It is placed by Carballido et al. (2012)'s phylogenetic analysis in between more basal forms, such as Histriasaurus, and the clade formed by subfamilies Rebbachisaurinae and Limaysaurinae.

It shares with more derived rebbachisaurids a reduced hyposphene-hypantrum system, but hadn't yet completely lost said structure; that change would happen at some further point in the evolution of the clade, as it is so far only known to be fully absent in limayisaurines.

References