Campananeyen Temporal range: Late Cretaceous, lower | |
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Scientific classification ![]() | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Clade: | Dinosauria |
Clade: | Saurischia |
Clade: | † Sauropodomorpha |
Clade: | † Sauropoda |
Superfamily: | † Diplodocoidea |
Family: | † Rebbachisauridae |
Genus: | † Campananeyen Lerzo et al., 2024 |
Species: | †C. fragilissimus |
Binomial name | |
†Campananeyen fragilissimus Lerzo et al., 2024 | |
Campananeyen is a genus of rebbachisaurid sauropod dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous (Cenomanian) Candeleros Formation of Argentina. The genus contains a single species, Campananeyen fragilissimus, known from a fragmentary skeleton.
The Campananeyen holotype specimen, MMch-PV 71, was discovered in sediments of the Candeleros Formation (Barda Atravesada de Las Campanas locality) near Villa El Chocón in Neuquén Province, Argentina. The specimen consists of an incomplete skeleton, including the braincase and the right quadrate from the skull, a partial dorsal, sacral, and caudal vertebra, pieces of the ilia, and two ungual phalanges. [1] The cranial remains were described in a scientific paper published in 2016, but left unnamed. [2]
In 2024, Lerzo et al. described the specimen as a new genus and species of rebbachisaurid. The generic name, Campananeyen, is derived from Las Campanas—the name of the type locality—combined with the Mapundungun n'eyen', meaning "air", referring to the extreme pneumatic qualities of the holotype. The specific name, fragilissimus, means "the most fragile" in Latin, in reference to the notably thin ilium. [1]
The braincase of Campananeyen exhibits several unique characteristics. The crista prootica was poorly developed, and the foramen for cranial nerve VII, the facial nerve, was open anterior to the crista prootica [1] instead of posterior to it as in Limaysaurus. [2] The paroccipital process was pneumatized. The quadrate fossa, a large fossa on the posterior surface of the quadrate bone, is greatly expanded laterally; all rebbachisaurids have a large quadrate fossa, but that of Campananenyen is 30—70% larger than any other known rebbachisaurid. The quadrate condyle, which formed the jaw joint, was more similar to Nigersaurus than Limaysaurus in that the medial hemicondyle was twice as wide as the lateral condyle. [1]
Most rebbachisaurids lack the hyposphene-hypantrum articulation between the vertebrae, but Campananeyen is one of the few that has hyposphene-hypantrum articulations. The hyposphene of Campananeyen is ovoid and hollow posteriorly, as in Nigersaurus and an unnamed species from the La Amarga Formation, and unlike the usual rhomboid hyposphene of most sauropods. [1]
As in other rebbachisaurids, the ilium contained pneumatic chambers. Due to the extensive pneumatization, the ilium was thin and fragile, and uniquely to Campananeyen the sacral ribs exhibit a dorsal alar arm that would have reinforced the pelvis to better support the leg muscles, particularly the m. iliotibialis. [1]
In their 2024 phylogenetic analyses, Lerzo et al. consistently recovered Campananeyen as the sister taxon of Sidersaura , within the Rebbachisauridae, in a clade also containing Zapalasaurus . Their results are displayed in the cladogram below. Specimen MACN-Pv-N 35, an unnamed rebbachisaurid from the La Amarga Formation represented by a single partial vertebra, may also be closely related to these taxa, but it was removed from most analyses to obtain more resolved results. [1]
The Candeleros Formation is interpreted as a desert depositional environment, representing the Kokorkom Desert, with some oases in it, and fossils representing a faunal assemblage typical of Middle Cretaceous ecosystems in the western remnants of Gondwana. [3]
The Barda Atravesada de Las Campanas locality from which Campananeyen was recovered has also yielded partial skeletal remains of another rebbachisaurid, [4] a small unnamed abelisaurid, a chelid turtle, and a sphenodontian. [5] Several animals are also known from other localities within the formation. The dinosaurs include several more rebbachisaurid sauropods ( Limaysaurus , Nopcsaspondylus , and Rayososaurus ) [6] in addition to titanosaurian sauropods ( Andesaurus and an unnamed giant form), [7] diverse theropods ( Alnashetri , Bicentenaria , Buitreraptor , Ekrixinatosaurus, and Giganotosaurus ), [8] and the enigmatic possible thyreophoran Jakapil . [3] Other animals include rhynchocephalians ( Tika and Priosphenodon ), [9] the snake Najash , multiple species of the crocodyliform Araripesuchus , and the mammal Cronopio . [10] [11]
Agustinia is a genus of sauropod dinosaur from the Early Cretaceous of South America. The genus contains a single species, A. ligabuei, known from a single specimen that was recovered from the Lohan Cura Formation of Neuquén Province in Argentina. It lived about 116–108 million years ago, in the Aptian–Albian stages of the Early Cretaceous Period.
Rebbachisaurus is a genus of sauropod dinosaur of the superfamily Diplodocoidea, that lived during the Late Cretaceous period in Africa and possibly also South America about 99-97 million years ago. Remains attributed to Rebbachisaurus have been found in Morocco, Niger, Algeria, Tunisia and possibly also Argentina, although only the Moroccan remains can be referred to the genus without doubt. The discovery of Rayososaurus, a South American sauropod nearly identical to Rebbachisaurus which may have actually have been the same animal as Rebbachisaurus, supports the theory that there was still a land connection between Africa and South America during the Early Cretaceous, long after it was commonly thought the two continents had separated.
The Lohan Cura Formation is a geologic formation with outcrops in the Argentine provinces of Río Negro, Neuquén, and Mendoza. It is the second oldest Cretaceous terrestrial formation in the Neuquén Basin.
Mapusaurus was a giant carcharodontosaurid carnosaurian dinosaur from Argentina during the Turonian age of the Late Cretaceous.
The Candeleros Formation is a geologic formation that crops out in the Río Negro, Neuquén, and Mendoza provinces of northern Patagonia, Argentina. It is the oldest formation in the Neuquén Group and belongs to the Rio Limay Subgroup. Formerly that subgroup was treated as a formation, and the Candeleros Formation was known as the Candeleros Member.
Ekrixinatosaurus is a genus of abelisaurid theropod which lived approximately 100 to 97 million years ago during the Late Cretaceous period. Its fossils have been found in Argentina. Only one species is currently recognized, Ekrixinatosaurus novasi, from which the specific name honors of Dr. Fernando Novas for his contributions to the study of abelisaurid theropods, while the genus name refers to the dynamiting of the holotype specimen. It was a large abelisaur, measuring between 6.5 and 8 m in length and weighing 800 kg (1,800 lb).
Rayososaurus is an extinct genus of sauropod dinosaur in the family Rebbachisauridae. Rayososaurus was named by Argentinian paleontologist José Bonaparte in 1996. Its type and only accepted species is Rayososaurus agrioensis. The species Limaysaurus tessonei was at one point included in Rayososaurus as Rayososaurus tessonei.
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The Bajada Colorada Formation is a geologic formation of the southern Neuquén Province in the Neuquén Basin of northern Patagonia, Argentina. The formation belongs to the Mendoza Group and is Late Berriasian to Early Valanginian in age. The formation is renowned for preserving fossil remains of Bajadasaurus pronuspinax, a genus of dicraeosaurid dinosaurs named after the formation.
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