Juan Ignacio Canale

National Scientific and Technical Research Council | conicet · Museo Paleontológico "Ernesto Bachmann"

The Cenomanian Kem Kem Group of Morocco is renowned for its rich and diverse fossil record. However, upon closer examination, it becomes apparent that there is a preponderance of carnivorous dinosaurs in this region, which is not reflected in other ecosystems. In Patagonia, fossil-rich formations of the same age, such as the Candeleros and Huincul...

Skorpiovenator bustingorryi is a derived abelisaurid theropod represented by a fairly complete skeleton from the Late Cretaceous sedimentary beds of north-western Patagonia. Although some features were described in the original paper, mainly related to the skull, the appendicular anatomy remains undescribed. The aim of the present contribution is t...

Giant carnivorous dinosaurs such as Tyrannosaurus rex and abelisaurids are characterized by highly reduced forelimbs that stand in contrast to their huge dimensions, massive skulls, and obligate bipedalism.¹,² Another group that follows this pattern, yet is still poorly known, is the Carcharodontosauridae: dominant predators that inhabited most con...

Aerosteon riocoloradensis represents one of the most complete megaraptorans yet discovered. This theropod comes from Anacleto Formation (Campanian) of Mendoza Province, Argentina. The aims of this contribution are: to present a detailed, bone by bone description of this specimen with figures of each bone; provide comparisons to other closely relate...

The discovery of theropod shed teeth associated with sauropod remains is relatively common in Cretaceous deposits of Patagonia. However, only a handful of studies have thoroughly explored the phylogenetic affinities of the theropod dental material. Here, we describe and identify twelve theropod shed teeth associated with a partially complete skelet...

Abelisauridae is a theropod clade with a wide distribution in the Late Cretaceous of Gondwana. Some of the best preserved abelisaurid specimens were recovered from Patagonia (Argentina) such as Skorpiovenator, Ilokelesia, Carnotaurus and Aucasaurus. Here we describe a dorsal part of a neural spine; a middle caudal vertebra; a distal part of a left...

The anatomy of the alvarezsaurian tail has received relatively little attention in the paleontological literature, even though it shows a peculiar combination of anatomical characteristics that are unique among theropod dinosaurs. Nearly complete, informative tails are known from early-branching, intermediate, and late-branching taxa, allowing for...

The titanosaur sauropod record of Patagonia, mainly recovered from Upper Cretaceous strata, is probably the richest worldwide. Here we present a new sauropod dinosaur, Ninjatitan zapatai gen. et sp. nov., from the Lower Cretaceous Bajada Colorada Formation (Berriasian– Valanginian) of north Patagonia (Neuquén Province, Argentina), from which postcr...

The independent evolution of gigantism among dinosaurs has been a topic of long-standing interest, but it remains unclear if gigantic theropods, the largest bipeds in the fossil record, all achieved massive sizes in the same manner, or through different strategies. We perform multi-element histological analyses on a phylogenetically broad dataset s...

Carnotaurus sastrei is perhaps the most iconic representative of the Abelisauridae family. It is known by a fairly complete specimen, recovered from Upper Cretaceous beds of southern Argentina. Here we present a re-study of the skull of Carnotaurus including detailed osteological descriptions, CT scans analyses and comparisons with abelisaurid taxa...

Abelisaurids were one of the most successful theropod dinosaurs during Cretaceous times. They are featured by numerous derived skull traits, such as heavily ornamented bones, short and tall snout, and a strongly thickened cranial roof. Furthermore, nasals are distinctive on having two distinct nasal patterns: strongly transversely convex and heavil...

The abelisaurid Skorpiovenator bustingorryi Canale et al., 2009, is known by an almost complete skeleton, recovered from the lowest section of the Huincul Formation (Cenomanian, Upper Cretaceous) near El Chocón town, Province of Neuquén. Although both tibiae of the holotype were recovered, their proximal ends are incomplete, preventing the observat...

The anatomy of the alvarezsauroid tail has been poorly described in the literature, although it shows a peculiar combination of characters that make it unique among theropods. To this respect, the most complete and informative alvarezsauroid taxa are Alvarezsaurus calvoi Bonaparte, Shuvuuia deserti Chiappe et al., Haplocheirus sollers Choiniere et...

Carnotaurus sastrei Bonaparte, 1985 is a theropod dinosaur, perhaps the most iconic representative of the Abelisauridae. It is known by a fairly complete specimen, recovered from Upper Cretaceous beds of Patagonia. A re-evaluation of the well-preserved skull of Carnotaurus including a detailed description of each bone, CT scans analyses and compari...

Megaraptorids constitute a recently recognized new clade of theropod dinosaurs that have been documented in Africa, Oceania, and Asia, although the most abundant record comes from South America and especially from Argentina. Here we report a new megaraptoran specimen (MCNA-PV 3109 to 3117 and 5119 to 5123) recovered from Cañadón Amarillo in out-cro...

Abelisauroid theropods constitute the most commonly recorded meat-eating dinosaurs from the Upper Cretaceous of Gondwana. In Argentina, they are known mainly from central and northern Patagonia, especially at the Neuquina basin. However, their record in the southern region of Patagonia is scarce, although the Cretaceous outcrops of the Magallanes b...

The Maastrichtian–Danian López de Bertodano Formation comprises a thick sequence of marine deposits that is well exposed on Seymour (= Marambio) and Vega islands. The López de Bertodano Formation yielded vertebrates such as chondrichthyans, teleosts, marine reptiles (plesiosaurs and mosasaurs) and dinosaurs (including birds). On the last three Anta...

A new ornithopod dinosaur, the medium-sized Sektensaurus sanjuanboscoi gen. et sp nov. from the Coniacian–Maastricthian strata of the Lago Colhué Huapi Formation, Golfo San Jorge Basin, Patagonia, is here described. The specimen consists of disarticulated postcranial bones belonging to a single individual. It is diagnosed by an unique association o...

Dicraeosaurids are a group of sauropod dinosaurs characterized by a distinctive vertebral column with paired, long, neural spines, present in an extreme fashion in the South American form Amargasaurus cazaui. This distinctive morphology has been interpreted as a support structure for a thermoregulatory sail, a padded crest for display, a dorsal hum...

Alvarezsaurid forelimbs are markedly short and have a robust digit I ending in a stout ungual phalanx. Recently, two new basal alvarezsaurids, Bannykus and Xiyunykus Xu et al., were published, yielding evidence on the evolution of this part of the skeleton in this group of coelurosaurian theropod dinosaurs. The inclusion of Bannykus and Xiyunykus (...

Alvarezsauridae is a group of small-sized coelurosaurian theropods, known from Upper Cretaceous deposits of North America, Asia and South America. Although many new alvarezsaurid species have been recently discovered, and the knowledge of their anatomy has largely improved over the last decade, the phylogenetic relationships of Alvarezsauridae are...

From the pioneering work of Currie and collaborators at the beginning of the 90's, a large number of qualitative and quantitative parameters began to be established and systematized, with the aim of achieving a more precise classification of isolated theropod teeth. Due to exposure of these materials to taphonomic processes, the missing data are re...

The small coelurosaur theropod Patagonykus puertai (PVPH-37), recovered in Portezuelo Formation (Turonian-Coniacian, Upper Cretaceous), from Neuquén province, Argentina, was originally published as represented by postcranial elements of a single individual. A recent review of the holotype specimen has revealed the presence of several cranial remain...

Megaraptora es un clado de dinosaurios terópodos cretácicos, cuyas relaciones filogenéticas dentro de los Tetanurae son bas-tante discutidas, y cuyos registros provienen de Australia, Japón y principalmente de América del Sur; con al menos cuatro especies diferentes. El objetivo de este trabajo es brindar una descripción en detalle de la dentición...

En el año 2006, Agnolín y colaboradores presentaron una serie de restos fragmentarios pertenecientes a un nuevo alvarez-sáurido proveniente de la localidad Salitral Ojo de Agua (provincia de Río Negro), el cual fue asignado seis años después, a una nueva especie: Bonapartenykus ultimus Agnolín, Powell, Novas y Kundrát (MPCA 1290). Este espécimen no...

A specimen composed of a partial sacrum articulated to two anterior caudal vertebrae and an ilium (SMNS 58023) from the Lower Cretaceous (Albian) Santana Formation of Brazil was originally described as an oviraptorosaur, but it is here re-interpreted as the oldest megaraptoran of South America. The phylogenetic relationships of SMNS 58023 were test...

Here, we describe new theropod materials (several isolated teeth, an axis, two caudal centra and a proximal left tibia) from the type locality of the Bajada Colorada Formation (Lower Cretaceous, Berriasian–Valanginian). Although fragmentary, the recovered material shows a diverse association of meat-eating dinosaurs for this poorly understood perio...

Here we report new rebbachisaurid material (MMCh-PV 71) recovered from the Candeleros Formation (Cenomanian) of northwest Patagonia, Argentina. The cranial remains consist of a partial braincase and a right quadrate. Fractures in the braincase exposed the endocranial cavity, allowing the first study of the brain and inner ear morphologies of a Sout...

La morfología endocraneana del carcharodontosáurido Giganotosaurus carolinii Coria y Salgado, se conoce a partir de un molde endocraneano de látex y una tomografía computada (TC) realizada en 1996 que proveyó un número relativamente bajo de cortes. Una nueva Tomografía Computada recientemente realizada, permitió la reconstrucción completa del encéf...

The theropod clade Carcharodontosauridae is a broadly distributed group of large allosauroid theropods. The carcharodontosaurids recorded in the Albian– Cenomanian of Gondwana are the youngest and most derived members of this clade. Tyrannotitan chubutensis, from the Cerro Castaño Member of Cerro Barcino Formation (Albian; Chubut Group), Central Pa...

The carcharodontosaurid theropod Mapusaurus roseae (Cenomanian of Neuquén Province, Argentina) is represented by at least seven disarticulated individuals from a monospecific bonebed, all of different sizes and presumably different stages of maturity. We report a series of anatomical differences between repeated skull bones of Mapusaurus, which we...

Diplodocids are by far the most emblematic sauropod dinosaurs. They are part of Diplodocoidea, a vast clade whose other members are well-known from Jurassic and Cretaceous strata in Africa, Europe, North and South America. However, Diplodocids were never certainly recognized from the Cretaceous or in any other southern land mass besides Africa. Her...

Patagonia has yielded the most comprehensive fossil record of Cretaceous theropods from Gondwana, consisting of 31 nominal species belonging to singleton taxa and six families: Abelisauridae, Noasauridae, Carcharodontosauridae, Megaraptoridae nov. fam., Alvarezsauridae, and Unenlagiidae. They provide anatomical information that allows improved inte...

Sauropod haemal arches are caudal bony structures that have been traditionally incorporated into two different types observed in different anatomical views: Y-shaped (anterior view) and forked (lateral view). This research proposes a classification combining information observed in anterior and lateral views. Four types of ‘Y-shaped’ and six types...

A complete endocast of Giganotosaurus carolinii Coria & Salgado, 1995 was made in latex after removing mechanically the sediment filling of the cerebral cavity of the braincase, thereby allowing the description of the endocranial anatomy of the specimen. The endocast was compared with the other few known natural or artificial theropod endocasts, in...

A nearly complete skeleton of the new abelisaurid Skorpiovenator bustingorryi is reported here. The holotype was found in Late Cenomanian-Early Turonian outcrops of NW Patagonia, Argentina. This new taxon is deeply nested within a new clade of South American abelisaurids, named Brachyrostra. Within brachyrostrans, the skull shortening and hyperossi...

Reportamos el registro más joven de la serpiente Cretácica Dinilysia, proveniente del Cretácico Superior (Campaniano) de la provincia del neuquén, Argentina. El especímen consta de 24 vértebras troncales medioposteriores, provenientes de la Formación Anacleto (Campaniano). El especímen es referido al género Dinilysia en base a un conjunto de rasgos...

Fossils of a predatory dinosaur provide novel information about the evolution of unenlagiines, a poorly known group of dromaeosaurid theropods from Gondwana. The new dinosaur is the largest dromaeosaurid yet discovered in the Southern Hemisphere and depicts bizarre cranial and postcranial features. Its long and low snout bears numerous, small-sized...