Estancia "El Brete" (PVL): Early/Lower Maastrichtian, Argentina
collected by J. Bonaparte, J. Leal, & M. Vince 1975–1977

List of taxa
Where & when
Geology
Taphonomy & methods
Metadata & references
Taxonomic list
Reptilia - Theropoda
Carnosauria indet. Huene 1920
teeth
    = Theropoda indet. Marsh 1881
Powell 2003
Reptilia - Noasauridae
Coelurosauria indet. (Huene 1914)
1 individual
    = Noasaurus leali n. gen., n. sp. Bonaparte and Powell 1980
Bonaparte and Powell 1980
name first appears in ref 55148
Reptilia
Oviraptorosauria indet. Barsbold 1976
Frankfurt and Chiappe 1999
Euenantiornithes indet. Chiappe 2002
Walker and Dyke 2009
Posterior (caudal) portion of a right lower jaw ramus lacking the region anterior to the surangular (PVL 4698)
Elbretornis sp. Walker and Dyke 2009
Walker and Dyke 2009
Isolated dorsal vertebrae (PVL 4041, PVL 4047, PVL 4051), synsacrum, possibly associated femur and rib fragment (PVL 4041), and incomplete right tibiotarsus (PVL 4027)
Elbretornis bonapartei n. gen., n. sp. Walker and Dyke 2009
Walker and Dyke 2009
PVL 4022 - holotype (left humerus and associated right radius, ulna, scapula and coracoid)
Enantiornis sp. Walker 1981
Walker and Dyke 2009
An ilium and ischium (PVL 4042), a poorly preserved sacrum (PVL 4045), two cervical vertebrae (PVL 4050 and PVL 4057), parts of metatarsals III and IV (PVL 4058), and an imperfect sternal plate with carinal keel (PVL 4021)
Enantiornis leali n. gen., n. sp. Walker 1981
Walker 1981 1 individual
PVL 4035
Martinavis sp. Walker et al. 2007
Walker and Dyke 2009 2 specimens
Distal end of right ulna (PVL 4032), complete right radius (PVL 4056), complete left tibiotarsus (PVL 4032), complete right femur (PVL 4037), complete right femur (PVL 4036), proximal end of right ulna (PVL 4044), complete right femur (PVL 4038), right scapula and coracoid (PVL 4034), left ulna (PVL 4031), distal end of tibiotarsus (PVL 4031), proximal end of left femur (PVL 4060), right carpometacarpus (PVL 4049; note that this element was formerly referred to E. leali by Chiappe and Walker 2002), and a proximal end of left humerus (KU-NM 37)
Martinavis saltariensis n. sp. Walker and Dyke 2009
Walker and Dyke 2009
PVL 4025 - type (incomplete left humerus)
Martinavis minor n. sp. Walker and Dyke 2009
Walker and Dyke 2009
PVL 4046 - type (distally imperfect right humerus)
Martinavis whetstonei n. sp. Walker and Dyke 2009
Walker and Dyke 2009
PVL 4028 - type (distally imperfect left humerus)
Aves indet. Linnaeus 1758
    = Enantiornithes indet. Walker 1981
Powell 2003
    = Martinavis vincei n. sp. Walker et al. 2007
Walker et al. 2007
PVL 4054 - type (complete left humerus); PVL 4059 - paratype (distal end of left humerus)
Yungavolucris brevipedalis n. gen., n. sp. Chiappe 1993
Chiappe 1993
PVL 4053 - holotype (nearly complete right tarsometatarsus); paratypes: Incomplete right tarsometatarsi (PVL 4040 and PVL 4692), incomplete left tarsometatarsus (PVL 4052) and a distal trochlea of right metatarsals II and III (PVL 4268)
Lectavis bretincola n. gen., n. sp. Chiappe 1993
Chiappe 1993
PVL 4021 - holotype (associated left tibiotarsus and incomplete tarsometatarsus)
Reptilia - Avisauridae
Soroavisaurus australis n. gen., n. sp. Chiappe 1993
Chiappe 1993
PVL 4690 - holotype (left tarsometatarsus); paratype: Left tarsometarsus with proximal and distal phalanges of digit I and four intermediate phalanges (PVL 4048)
Reptilia - Saltasauridae
Neuquensaurus australis (Lydekker 1893)
D'Emic and Wilson 2011 1 specimen
PVL 4017−18, sacrum
Atlantosauridae indet. Marsh 1877
5 individuals
    = cf. Titanosaurus sp. Lydekker 1877
Bonaparte 1978
    = Saltasaurus loricatus n. gen., n. sp. Bonaparte and Powell 1980
Bonaparte and Powell 1980
name first appears in ref 55148; PVL 4017−92
Reptilia - Crocodilia
Crocodilia indet. Owen 1842
Bonaparte 1978
spelled with current rank as Crocodylia
see common names

Geography
Country:Argentina State/province:Salta County:Candelaria
Coordinates: 26.1° South, 65.4° West (view map)
Paleocoordinates:28.6° South, 52.0° West
Basis of coordinate:based on nearby landmark
Geographic resolution:outcrop
Time
Period:Cretaceous Epoch:Late/Upper Cretaceous
Stage:Maastrichtian 10 m.y. bin:Cretaceous 8
*Period:Late/Upper Cretaceous *Epoch:Senonian
Key time interval:Early/Lower Maastrichtian
Age range of interval:72.10000 - 66.00000 m.y. ago
* legacy (obsolete) database fields
Stratigraphy
Geological group:Salta Formation:Lecho
Stratigraphic resolution:bed
Stratigraphy comments: Balbuena Subgroup; 22 m above base of unit
Lithology and environment
Primary lithology:"cross stratification",bioturbation,fine,gray,green sandstone
Includes fossils?Y
Lithology description: "light greenish-grey fine sandstones, characterised by a coarse irregular stratification. Some banks present irregular cross-bedded stratification and bioturbation."
Environment:fluvial-lacustrine indet.
Geology comments: "a fluvial-lacustrine coastal plane made up of sandy sediments, plus surrounding ponds and lagoons where vegetation favoured the reducing environment in which the sediments were deposited."
Taphonomy
Modes of preservation:body
Size of fossils:macrofossils,mesofossils
Preservation of anatomical detail:good
Articulated whole bodies:none
Associated major elements:many
Disassociated major elements:many
Disassociated minor elements:many
Fragmentation:occasional
Spatial resolution:parautochthonous
Collection methods and comments
Collection methods:selective quarrying,surface (float),surface (in situ),mechanical,field collection
Reason for describing collection:taxonomic analysis
Collectors:J. Bonaparte, J. Leal, & M. Vince Collection dates:1975–1977
Collection method comments: "rich assortment of nearly 60 [avian] bones was found in association with dinosaurian remains"
Metadata
Database number:13307
Authorizer:J. Hunter, M. Carrano, P. Mannion Enterer:J. Hunter, P. Mannion, K. Maguire, M. Carrano
Modifier:M. Carrano Research group:vertebrate
Created:2002-02-20 11:59:57 Last modified:2022-02-04 12:21:27
Access level:the public Released:2002-02-20 11:59:57
Creative Commons license:CC BY
Reference information

Primary reference:
55175. J. F. Bonaparte, J. A. Salfity, G. Bossi and J. E. Powell. 1977. Hallazgo de dinosaurios y aves cretacicas en la Formación Lecho de El Brete (Salta), proximo al limite con Tucumán [Discovery of Cretaceous dinosaurs and birds in the Lecho Formation of El Brete (Salta), near the border with Tucumán]. Acta Geològica Lilloana 14:5-17 [M. Carrano/M. Carrano]

Secondary references:

59610 J. F. Bonaparte. 1978. El Mesozoico de America de Sur y sus Tetrapodos [The Mesozoic of South America and its tetrapods]. Opera Lilloana 26:1-596 [M. Carrano/M. Carrano]
55148 J. F. Bonaparte. 1979. Faunas y paleobiogografia de los tetrápodos mesozoicos de América del Sur [Faunas and paleobiogeography of the Mesozoic tetrapods of South America]. Ameghiniana 16(3–4):217-238 [M. Carrano/M. Carrano]
63573 J. F. Bonaparte. 1984. I dinosauri dell’Argentina [. In G. M. Ronzoni, M. L. Greggio, & T. B. Guarinoni (eds.), Sulle Orme dei Dinosauri 125-143 [M. Carrano/M. Carrano]
30646ETE J. F. Bonaparte. 1984. Jurassic and Cretaceous terrestrial vertebrates of South America. National Geographic Society Research Reports (1975) 16:115-125 [M. Carrano/M. Carrano]
16547ETE J. F. Bonaparte. 1996. Cretaceous tetrapods of Argentina. Münchner Geowissenschaften Abhandlungen 30:73-130 [M. Carrano/M. Carrano/M. Carrano]
11730ETE J. F. Bonaparte and J. E. Powell. 1980. A continental assemblage of tetrapods from the Upper Cretaceous beds of El Brete, northwestern Argentina (Sauropoda-Coelurosauria-Carnosauria-Aves). Mémoires de la Société Géologique de France, Nouvelle Série 139:19-28 [M. Carrano/M. Carrano/M. Carrano]
77948 I. A. Cerda and J. E. Powell. 2010. Dermal armor histology of Saltasaurus loricatus, an Upper Cretaceous sauropod dinosaur from northwest Argentina. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 55(3):389-398 [M. Carrano/M. Carrano]
44235% 19300L. M. Chiappe. 1991. Cretaceous birds of Latin America. Cretaceous Research 12(1):55-63 [J. Hunter/J. Hunter/J. Hunter]
38776 L. M. Chiappe. 1993. Enantiornithine (Aves) tarsometatarsi from the Cretaceous Lecho Formation of northwestern Argentina. American Museum Novitates 3083:1-27 [R. Benson/R. Benson]
78835 M. D. D'Emic and J. A. Wilson. 2011. New remains attributable to the holotype of the sauropod dinosaur Neuquensaurus australis, with implications for saltasaurine systematics. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 56(1):61-73 [M. Carrano/M. Carrano/M. Carrano]
14782ETE N. G. Frankfurt and L. M. Chiappe. 1999. A possible oviraptorosaur from the Late Cretaceous of northwestern Argentina. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 19(1):101-105 [M. Carrano/K. Maguire/M. Carrano]
17252ETE J. E. Powell. 1992. Osteologia de Saltasaurus loricatus (Sauropoda - Titanosauridae) del Cretácico Superior del noroeste Argentino [Osteology of Saltasaurus loricatus (Sauropoda - Titanosauridae) from the Upper Cretaceous of northwest Argentina]. In J. L. Sanz & A. D. Buscalioni (eds.), Los Dinosaurios y Su Entorno Biotico: Actas del Segundo Curso de Paleontologia in Cuenca. Institutio "Juan de Valdes", Cuenca, Argentina 165-230 [M. Carrano/M. Carrano]
13712ETE J. E. Powell. 2003. Revision of South American titanosaurid dinosaurs: palaeobiological, palaeobiogeographical and phylogenetic aspects. Records of the Queen Victoria Museum Launceston 111:1-173 [M. Carrano/M. Carrano/M. Carrano]
6050 C. A. Walker. 1981. New subclass of birds from the Cretaceous of South America. Nature 292:51-53 [J. Hunter/J. Hunter/J. Alroy]
25461ETE C. A. Walker, E. Buffetaut, and G. J. Dyke. 2007. Large euenantiornithine birds from the Cretaceous of southern France, North America and Argentina. Geological Magazine 144(6):977-986 [M. Carrano/M. Carrano/P. Mannion]
38192 C. A. Walker and G. J. Dyke. 2009. Euenantiornithine birds from the Late Cretaceous of El Brete (Argentina). Irish Journal of Earth Sciences 27(1):15-62 [P. Mannion/P. Mannion/M. Carrano]
79490 V. Zurriaguz and J. E. Powell. 2015. New contributions to the presacral osteology of Saltasaurus loricatus (Sauropoda, Titanosauria) from the Upper Cretaceous of northern Argentina. Cretaceous Research 54:283-300 [M. Carrano/M. Carrano]