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Muyelensaurus, Late CretaceousPlottier Formation, Argentina · named 2007
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Muyelensaurus

Lived
90 to 84 million years ago, Late Cretaceous
Diet
Herbivore
Group
Sauropods
Found in
Argentina
Named by
Calvo et al. 2007

Where its fossils were found

The evidence

Today

1 find

90 million years ago

Map: C. R. Scotese, PALEOMAP

Habitat

Rivers crossed low plains where sand and mud accumulated in the Plottier Formation. Other titanosaurs recorded from these rocks include Antarctosaurus, Petrobrasaurus and Notocolossus.

Field notes

About Muyelensaurus

What it was like

Muyelensaurus was a titanosaur, a long-necked plant eater. It was first described from bones of several animals, but a later restudy restricted the genus to its type braincase. The rest of its skeleton is uncertain, as are its closest relatives.

Its world

It lived in the Late Cretaceous, in what is now Argentina. It comes from the Plottier Formation, where the titanosaurs Antarctosaurus and Petrobrasaurus also lived.

How it was found

Calvo and colleagues named Muyelensaurus in 2007. Its name comes from a native name for a nearby river.

Field gallery

More views of Muyelensaurus

Scenes reconstructed from the available fossil evidence.

Muyelensaurus in its habitat, photo 1

Lived alongside

Found in the same rock formations

A rock formation can hold fossils laid down millions of years apart, so not every animal here met Muyelensaurus.

The evidence

The science behind Muyelensaurus

Which parts of the picture come from its own bones, and which come from its relatives.

From its own fossils

  • The type specimen is an incomplete braincase, with part of the bone above the eye socket and a robust, long parietal at the back of the skull roof.
  • It was first described with snout bones, teeth, vertebrae, shoulder and hip bones and limbs from several animals. One later study restricts the name to the type braincase and sets those other bones apart.
  • Limb bones once referred to it are slender, and microscopic sections of them show extensive rebuilding of older bone tissue.

Borrowed from relatives

  • Its face, jaws and eyes are restored after Euhelopus, a more distant relative with a well known skull.
  • Its neck, body, shoulders and the upper parts of its limbs are restored after Mnyamawamtuka, another titanosaur.

Still unknown

  • The complete shape of its skull.
  • Which of the bones first described with it, including those of a young animal, belonged to it.
  • Its closest relatives. It was first grouped with Rinconsaurus, but one later study found its position changed from one analysis to another.

Discovery timeline

  1. 2007Named itCalvo, Riga & Porfiri
  2. 2018Same rocksBellardini et al.
  3. 2024Growing upGonzález et al.
  4. 2026RedescriptionMoreno et al.

Key papers

The research behind what we know of Muyelensaurus

Close relatives

Other members of Rinconsauria

Sources: Wikidata