SGER: Excavation of a novel titanosaurian sauropod from the Late Cretaceous of southern Patagonia, Argentina

这里提出的工作建立在2004年规划访问的成功基础上，该访问由OISE美洲项目资助，由一组美国和阿根廷研究人员在巴塔哥尼亚最南部的一个偏远地区进行。最初的野外季节的主要联合成就包括发现和提取许多恐龙化石，包括一个2.22米长的泰坦巨龙股骨，这是有史以来报道的最大股骨之一，似乎代表了一个新的恐龙属和物种。然而，为了充分描述这个新物种，必须找到一个更完整的标本。这一目标在2005年的后续野外季节中完成，发现了第二个几乎完整的个体。大约一半的材料被挖掘出来，装上护套，运到阿根廷里奥加列戈斯的莫利纳神父博物馆。其余的材料用石膏冬季护套保护，正在等待挖掘。该提案中要求的资金将有助于提取该标本的剩余一半，这可能是未来的属正模标本，并将资助该标本运往费城进行准备，研究和公开展示。智力价值-我们估计新骨架所代表的蜥脚类动物的质量约为58公吨。这将这个个体列为第二大已知陆地动物，仅次于来自北方巴塔哥尼亚的龙，比埃及的帕拉利西亚龙大近60%，由一个包括P.I.根据以前的工作，相对较小的类群预计将占主导地位的最新白垩纪蜥脚类动物组合的这一地区。它的发现表明，从晚侏罗世到白垩纪中期，促进蜥脚类动物繁殖所需的条件至少在一个地区一直持续到恐龙时代结束。 据报道，在巴塔哥尼亚北方和中部的晚白垩世沉积物中发现了许多恐龙。然而，来自南美洲其他地区的白垩纪恐龙，包括研究区域，仍然缺乏特征。由于缺乏以前的调查和研究区域的露头的化石性质，拟议的研究具有很大的潜力，以揭示新的恐龙类群和其他相关的四足动物从这些高纬度冈瓦纳沉积。这将为一系列长期存在的问题提供答案，例如：在白垩纪晚期，一个或多或少同质的恐龙组合占据了整个南美洲吗？这一假设已经隐含在一些研究中，在拟议的工作中收集的材料将对其有效性进行测试。已经为两名巴塔哥尼亚学生获得了在德雷克塞尔大学（DU）攻读博士学位的资金。至少有两个博士学位。学生将从这个项目中获得他们研究的重要部分。此外，杜和巴塔哥尼亚国立大学的本科生将参加2006年的挖掘工作，作为杜为本科生提供研究经验的倡议的一部分。 阿根廷圣克鲁斯省政府向P.I.颁发了前所未有的化石出口许可证。根据协议条款，我们收集的材料将借给德雷克塞尔大学，并在费城自然科学院进行准备和研究。这些标本将成为一个学院展览的主题，重点是科学作为一个过程，并将被成千上万的游客在恐龙厅看到，为公众提供直接访问该项目的结果，并为游客和DU学生和科学家之间的互动创造了许多宝贵的机会。

LacovaraEAR-0603805The work proposed here builds on the successes of a 2004 planning visit, funded by OISEs Americas Program, conducted between a group of U.S. and Argentinean researchers at a remote field location in southern-most Patagonia. Major joint accomplishments of the initial field season include the discovery and extraction of many dinosaur fossils, including a 2.22 meter-long titanosaurian femur, which is among the largest femora ever reported and appears to represent a new genus and species of dinosaur. To adequately describe this new species, however, a more complete specimen would have to be found. This goal was accomplished during a follow-up 2005 field season with the discovery of a second, nearly complete individual. Approximately half of the material found was excavated, jacketed, and transported to the Museo Padre Molina, in Rio Gallegos, Argentina. The remaining material was protected with winter-jackets of plaster and is awaiting excavation. The funding requested in this proposal would facilitate the extraction of the remaining half of this specimen, a probable future generic holotype, and would fund the shipment of the specimen to Philadelphia for preparation, study, and public display.Intellectual Merit - We estimate the mass of the sauropod represented by the new skeleton to be approximately 58 metric tons. This ranks this individual as the 2nd most massive known terrestrial animal, behind Argentinosaurus from northern Patagonia and nearly 60% more massive than Paralitian from Egypt, discovered by a team that included the P.I. Based on previous work, relatively diminutive taxa would be expected to dominate the latest Cretaceous sauropod assemblages of this region. Its discovery demonstrates that the conditions required to promote gigantism in sauropods from the Late Jurassic through mid-Cretaceous, persisted, at least in one region, up until the end of the time of dinosaurs. Numerous dinosaur discoveries from Late Cretaceous deposits have been reported from northern and central Patagonia. However, Cretaceous dinosaurs from other regions of South America, including the study area, remain poorly characterized. Given the lack of previous investigation and the fossiliferous nature of the outcrops in the study area, the proposed research has great potential to reveal new dinosaur taxa and other associated tetrapods from these highlatitude Gondwanan deposits. This will provide answers to an array of long-standing questions, such as: did a more or less homogeneous dinosaur assemblage occupy all of South America during the latest Cretaceous? This assumption has been implicit in a number of studies and the material collected during the proposed work will provide a test of its validity.Broader Impacts - The P.I. has secured funding for two Patagonian students to study for their Ph.D.s at Drexel University (DU). At least two other Ph.D. students will derive significant portions of their research from this project. Additionally, undergraduates from DU and Universidad Nacional de la Patagonia will join the 2006 excavation as part of a DU initiative to provide undergraduates with research experience. The provincial government of Santa Cruz, Argentina has issued an unprecedented fossil exportation permit to the P.I. Under the terms of the agreement, the material we collect will be on loan to Drexel University and will be prepared and studied at the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. The specimens will become the subject of an Academy exhibit focusing on science as a process and will be seen by hundreds of thousands of visitors in Dinosaur Hall, providing the public with direct access to the results of this project and creating many valuable opportunities for interaction between visitors and DU students and scientists.