Reassessment of Aeolosaurus maximus, a titanosaur dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous of Southeastern Brazil

ABSTRACT

Aeolosaurus is a late Cretaceous Titanosaur genus with two species discovered in Argentina and one in Brazil. Although the allocation of the Argentinean Aeolosaurus seems unequivocal, that is not the case for the Brazilian species Aeolosaurus maximus since several authors questioned its positioning into this genus, based on both anatomical and phylogenetic data. The revision of the diagnosis of Ae. maximus, with the proposition of a new autapomorphy, corroborates the anatomical uniqueness and our phylogenetic analysis stresses that the relation of Ae. maximus to the Argentinean Aeolosaurus is uncertain. Based upon that, we propose a new genus, Arrudatitan, to accommodate the Brazilian taxon.

KEYWORDS:

• Dinosauria
• Titanosauria
• Aeolosaurini
• Late Cretaceous
• South America

Acknowledgments

The authors thank Sandra Aparecida Simionato Tavares (MPMA), Diógenes de Almeida Campos (MCT), Rodrigo Machado (MCT), and to the Complexo Cultural e Científico de Peirópolis, Universidade Federal do Triângulo Mineiro staff (CPPLIP) for providing access to their respective collections. This work was supported by Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP) [grant to J.C.G.S.J, process number 2018/21094-7], Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de Minas Gerais (FAPEMIG) [APQ‐02194‐15] and Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq).

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de Minas Gerais [APQ‐02194‐15]; Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo [2018/21094-7].