The Age of Dinosaurs in South America

Front Cover
Indiana University Press, 2009 - Nature - 452 pages

Among the exciting events in recent dinosaur paleontology has been the discovery of significant numbers of dinosaur fossils in South America, many of which are markedly different from their cousins to the north. Fernando E. Novas, one of the scientists closely involved with these important discoveries, presents an up-to-date and comprehensive overview of the dinosaurs of South America. Novas reviews the dinosaur record in the region from Patagonia to Peru, discussing the anatomy, systematics, and evolution of these dinosaurs (and their immediate precursors) within both paleogeographic and paleoecological contexts. He describes all of the important finds in chapter-length studies of the Triassic, Jurassic, and Cretaceous periods. Because the Cretaceous record is so rich, Novas devotes separate chapters to sauropods, theropods, and ornithischians, and puts together the evolutionary story of the period in a final summary chapter. Generously illustrated in color and in black and white, The Age of Dinosaurs in South America is a first-of-its-kind report on these unique and wonderfully diverse dinosaur faunas.

 

Contents

1 An Overview of the Anatomy
3
Dinosaur Skeletal Anatomy
4
A Brief Historical Account of the Systematics of Dinosauria
11
Dinosaur Forerunners
13
Characteristics That Distinguish Dinosauria from Other Archosaurs
17
2 Triassic Dinosaurs
25
Triassic DinosaurBearing Beds in South America
26
The Triassic Dinosaur Record in South America
35
The Cretaceous Dinosaur Record in South America
138
5 Cretaceous Sauropods
167
Diplodocimorpha
169
Titanosauria
181
Cretaceous Sauropod Eggs and Nests
236
Cretaceous Sauropod Footprints
238
6 Cretaceous Theropods
243
Ceratosauria
246

Dinosauria
41
Theropoda
54
Sauropodomorpha
57
Ornithischia
71
Ichnological Evidence
76
An Overview
80
3 Jurassic Dinosaurs
87
Jurassic DinosaurBearing Beds in South America
88
The Jurassic Dinosaur Record in South America
100
Neosauropods
108
Theropoda
114
Ornithischia
123
An Overview
128
4 The Fossil Record of Cretaceous
135
Abelisauroidea
249
Abelisauridae
272
Tetanurae
286
Cretaceous Theropod Footprints and Eggs
338
7 Cretaceous Ornithischians
343
Stegosauria
345
Ankylosauria
346
Ornithopoda
352
Ceraptopsia
379
8 A Summary of the Cretaceous Dinosaurs
385
Dinosaur Diversification in the Cretaceous of South America
386
Works Cited
405
Index
439
Copyright

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About the author (2009)

Fernando E. Novas works at the Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales (Buenos Aires) and is author of many scientific papers on dinosaurs. He is a contributor to the Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs. He lives in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

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