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1 April 2015 Triassic Spinicaudatan Fauna from the Cerro de Las Cabras Formation (Cuyo Basin), Mendoza Province (Argentina): Description of New Species and Revision of Previous Records
Lara Vaz Tassi, Ana M. Zavattieri, Oscar F. Gallego
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Abstract

This is a systematic study of the Spinicaudata fauna of the Cerro de Las Cabras Formation (Middle Triassic), north of Cerro Bayo, in the classical Potrerillos area, Precordillera of Mendoza, Cuyo Basin, Argentina. Two new species are described: Estheriellites zavattieriae sp. nov. and Euestheria menendezi sp. nov.. The diagnosis of the genus and species of Challaolimnadiopsis mendozaensis Shen and Gallego, is emended; and Euestheria martinsnetoi Gallego et al., previously described for the Río Mendoza Formation is now considered as coming from the Cerro de Las Cabras strata. The studied section consists mainly of fine-grained tuffaceous sandstones and interbedded mudstones interpreted as playa lake, ephemeral rivers and/or streams developed in the floodplain. Ephemeral to shallow lacustrine environments are characterized by interbedded siltstones, nodular-mottle and stromatolitic limestones with sub-aerial exposures and incipient soil development in depressed and flood-prone areas under seasonal semi-arid conditions. Spinicaudatans probably inhabited lacustrine shorelines and small ponds in the floodplain where plant remains (arthrophyte) and rare fish scales were also recorded. The profuse presence of pyroclastic deposits along the sequence indicates considerable explosive volcanic activity coeval with sedimentation. Based on previous lithostratigraphical, paleontological and chronological data, the age of the studied deposits was constrained to Middle Triassic (equivalent to Late Anisian—Late Ladinian of marine sequences) and therefore the E. zavattieriae-E. martinsnetoi Faunal Association is considered as a marker for such age range.

Lara Vaz Tassi, Ana M. Zavattieri, and Oscar F. Gallego "Triassic Spinicaudatan Fauna from the Cerro de Las Cabras Formation (Cuyo Basin), Mendoza Province (Argentina): Description of New Species and Revision of Previous Records," Ameghiniana 52(2), 241-264, (1 April 2015). https://doi.org/10.5710/AMGH.29.11.2014.2823
Received: 28 August 2014; Accepted: 1 November 2014; Published: 1 April 2015
KEYWORDS
Argentina
Cerro de Las Cabras Formation
Conchostracans
Conchostracos
Cuenca Cuyana
Cuyo Basin
Formación Cerro de Las Cabras
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