Talenkauen santacrucensis

Talenkauen Temporal range: Late Cretaceous, 96.2 Ma PreЄ Є O S D C P T J K Pg N ↓
Skeleton
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Clade:	Dinosauria
Order:	†Ornithischia
Suborder:	†Ornithopoda
Clade:	†Iguanodontia
Clade:	†Elasmaria
Genus:	†Talenkauen Novas et al., 2004
Species:	†T. santacrucensis
Binomial name
Talenkauen santacrucensis Novas et al., 2004

Talenkauen (meaning "small skull" in Aonikenk, referring to the proportionally small skull) is a genus of basal iguanodont dinosaur from the Cenomanian-ageUpper Cretaceous Pari Aike Formation of Lake Viedma, Santa Cruz, Argentina. It is based on MPM-10001, a partial articulated skeleton missing the rear part of the skull, the tail, and the hands. Its most unusual feature is the presence of several thin mineralized plates along the sides of the ribs.

Talenkauen was rather like Dryosaurus in shape and build, but with a proportionally longer neck. The full length of the body is estimated at no more than 4 meters (13 feet). Unlike more derived iguanodontians, it still had teeth in the tip of the beak (premaxillary teeth), and a first toe. More derived iguanodonts lose this toe, retaining only the three middle toes. The humerus has reduced areas for muscle attachment, a featured shared with other South American ornithopods like Notohypsilophodon and Anabisetia. This and other similarities to South American ornithopods suggests that there may have been a distinct Southern Hemisphere ornithopod group, but at the time the authors cautioned that such an interpretation was not entirely justified. In 2015, the describers of Morrosaurus found that such a clade did indeed exist.