Guemesia

Guemesia
Temporal range: Late Cretaceous
~72 Ma
↓
Drawing of Guemesia ochoai
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Clade: Dinosauria
Clade: Saurischia
Clade: Theropoda
Family: †Abelisauridae
Genus: †Guemesia
Agnolín et al., 2022
Species:
†G. ochoai
Binomial name
†Guemesia ochoai
Agnolín et al., 2022

Guemesia (named after Martín Miguel de Güemes, whose death bicentenary was in 2021) is a genus of abelisaurid dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous Los Blanquitos Formation of Salta Province, Argentina. The type and only species is Guemesia ochoai, known from a nearly complete braincase. It is one of the smallest abelisaurids currently known.[1]

Discovery

The holotype of Guemesia, IBIGEO-P 103, is a small, nearly complete braincase. It was found in the Los Blanquitos Formation, in the Amblayo Valley of Salta Province, Argentina. The specimen was described in 2022 by Agnolín et al. as belonging to a new genus and species of abelisaurid dinosaur, and the first dinosaur of its kind known from the area.[1]

Classification

Agnolín et al. place Guemesia as a derived abelisaurid within the clade Brachyrostra.[1]

Abelisauridae

Paleoecology

Guemesia is known from the Los Blanquitos Formation. The controversial tetanuran theropod Unquillosaurus is also known from this formation,[2] as well as fossils of what may belong to a species of Titanosaurus.[3][1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Agnolín, Federico L.; Cerroni, Mauricio A.; Scanferla, Agustín; Goswami, Anjali; Paulina-Carabajal, Ariana; Halliday, Thomas; Cuff, Andrew R.; Reuil, Santiago (2022-02-10). "First definitive abelisaurid theropod from the Late Cretaceous of Northwestern Argentina". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 41 (4): e2002348. doi:10.1080/02724634.2021.2002348. ISSN 0272-4634. S2CID 246766133.
  2. ^ Powell, Jaime Eduardo (1979). "SOBRE UNA ASOCIACION DE DINOSAURIOS Y OTRAS EVIDENCIAS DE VERTEBRADOS DEL CRETACICO SUPERIOR DE LA REGION DE LA CANDELARIA, PROV. DE SALTA, ARGENTINA". Ameghiniana (in Spanish). 16 (1–2): 191–204. ISSN 1851-8044.
  3. ^ Arroyo El Morterito at Fossilworks.org