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| Yeneen houssayi Filippi, Bellardini, Carballido, Méndez & Garrido, 2026 Illustration: Gabriel Lío |
ABSTRACT
The fossil record of titanosaur sauropods for the Upper Cretaceous of the Neuquén Basin is remarkably extensive. However, for the Bajo de la Carpa Formation (Santonian) only five nominate species are recorded (Rinconsaurus caudamirus, Bonitasaura salgadoi, Traukutitan eocaudata, Overosaurus paradasorum, and Inawentu oslatus), the latter two coming from the Cerro Overo-La Invernada (CO-LI) area. Here we present a new titanosaur sauropod from La Invernada, Yeneen houssayi gen. et sp. nov. (MAU-Pv-LI-538). The new species is characterised by a series of distinctive features in dorsal, sacral and caudal vertebrae. Phylogenetic analysis indicates that Yeneen is closely related to Narambuenatitan and Overosaurus, as a basal member of an unnominated clade (called ‘Clade A’) of derived non-lithostrotian saltasauroids. The evidence provided by the Cerro Overo – La Invernada sauropod titanosaur fauna suggests that, during the Santonian, species diversity was relatively high and that at least two lineages coexisted: Collossosauria and Saltasauroidea. This finding makes the CO-LI area the one with the greatest diversity of titanosaurs for the Santonian of the Neuquén basin (as it is also for abelisaurid theropods), which makes it an exceptional area to understand the evolution of dinosaur faunas for this period.
KEYWORDS: Titanosauria, diversity, upper Cretaceous, Neuquen Basin, Gondwana
Systematic Paleontology
Dinosauria Owen, 1842
Saurischia Seeley, 1888
Sauropoda Marsh, 1878
Titanosauriformes Salgado, Coria and Calvo, Citation1997
Somphospondyli Wilson and Sereno, 1998
Titanosauria Bonaparte and Coria, Citation1993
Yeneen houssayi gen. et sp. nov.
Derivation name: Yeneen, is known in the Tehuelche (Aonikenk) Culture as a spirit or entity related to winter, cold and winter nature in general, alluding to the La Invernada, a Spanish word that refers to the site where the cattle spend the winter. The specific epithet, houssayi, is in honour of Dr. Bernardo Alberto Houssay, Nobel Laureate in Medicine and member of the commission that promoted the creation of CONICET (Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas, Argentina).
L. S. Filippi, F. Bellardini, J. l. Carballido, A. H. Méndez and A. C. Garrido. 2026. Yeneen houssayi gen. et sp. nov. and An overview of the Sauropod titanosaurian Diversity from Cerro Overo – La Invernada area (Bajo de la Carpa Formation, Santonian), North Patagonia, Argentina. Historical Biology: An International Journal of Paleobiology. DOI: doi.org/10.1080/08912963.2025.2584707 [12 Jan 2026]
