Qunkasaura

Qunkasaura
Temporal range: Late Cretaceous, late Campanian–early Maastrichtian
Reconstruction
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Clade: Dinosauria
Clade: Saurischia
Clade: †Sauropodomorpha
Clade: †Sauropoda
Clade: †Macronaria
Clade: †Titanosauria
Family: †Saltasauridae
Subfamily: †Opisthocoelicaudiinae
Genus: †Qunkasaura
Mocho et al., 2024
Species:
†Q. pintiquiniestra
Binomial name
†Qunkasaura pintiquiniestra
Mocho et al., 2024

Qunkasaura is a genus of saltasauroid titanosaur dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous (Campanian–Maastrichtian) Lo Hueco site of the Villalba de la Sierra Formation of Spain. The type species is Qunkasaura pintiquiniestra.

Discovery and naming

Excavation of the dorsal and caudal vertebrae and pelvis of Qunkasaura

The holotype specimen of Qunkasaura is a partial skeleton belonging to a single individual. It is part of a bonebed discovered in 2007, which includes the associated skeletons of multiple titanosaur taxa, as well as other dinosaurs, eusuchians, and many other animals.[1][2]

It was described as a new genus and species of titanosaur in 2024. The generic name, Qunkasaura, combines the name of Qunca or Kunka, a Spanish city that gave rise to the village of Fuentes in Cuenca, Castilla-La Mancha, Spain, where the Lo Hueco site is located, with the Greek word saura, meaning "lizard"; it also refers to Antonio Saura, a twentieth-century painter from Cuenca. The specific name, pintiquiniestra, refers to Queen Pintiquiniestra, a character from the novel Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes.[1]

Classification

In their phylogenetic analysis, Mocho et al. recovered Qunkasaura as the sister taxon to Abditosaurus within the saltasaurid subfamily Opisthocoelicaudiinae. Their analyses also found lirainosaurines to be close relatives of saltsaurids, leading Mocho et al. to name the clade Lohuecosauria to contain the two. A cladogram adapted from their analysis is shown below:[1]

Saltasauroidea

References

  1. ^ a b c Mocho, P.; Escaso, F.; Marcos-Fernández, F.; Páramo, A.; Sanz, J. L.; Vidal, D.; Ortega, F. (2024). "A Spanish saltasauroid titanosaur reveals Europe as a melting pot of endemic and immigrant sauropods in the Late Cretaceous". Communications Biology. 7. 1016. doi:10.1038/s42003-024-06653-0. PMC 11375222.
  2. ^ Ortega, F.; Bardet, N.; Barroso-Barcenilla, F.; Callapez, P. M.; Cambra-Moo, O.; Gómez, V. Daviero-; Díaz, V. Díez; Domingo, L.; Elvira, A.; Escaso, F.; García-Oliva, M.; Gómez, B.; Houssaye, A.; Knoll, F.; Marcos-Fernández, F.; Martín, M.; Mocho, P.; Narváez, I.; Pérez-García, A.; Peyrot, D.; Segura, M.; Serrano, H.; Torices, A.; Vidal, D.; Sanz, J. L. (2015). "The biota of the Upper Cretaceous site of "Lo Hueco" (Cuenca, Spain)". Journal of Iberian Geology. 41 (1): 83–99. doi:10.5209/rev_JIGE.2015.v41.n1.48657. hdl:10486/675918. ISSN 1886-7995.