Willinakaqe salitralensis
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Willinakaqe Temporal range: Upper Cretaceous, Campanian–Maastrichtian |
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Clade: | Dinosauria |
| Order: | †Ornithischia |
| Suborder: | †Ornithopoda |
| Family: | †Hadrosauridae |
| Subfamily: | †Saurolophinae |
| Tribe: | †Kritosaurini |
| Genus: |
†Willinakaqe Juárez Valieri et al., 2010 |
| Species | |
Willinakaqe is an extinct genus of saurolophine hadrosaurid dinosaur which lived during the late Cretaceous (late Campanian-early Maastrichtian stage) of the Río Negro Province of southern Argentina.
Willinakaqe is known from several disarticulated specimens, among them juvenile and adult individuals found at the Salitral Moreno site of the Lower Member of the Allen Formation. The holotype is MPCA-Pv SM 8, a right premaxilla. A second site in the Malvinas Argentinas Partido has rendered additional specimens. Together the material represents the majority of the skeleton. Some of the fossils were previously discussed in the literature as potentially representing a Patagonian lambeosaurine.
Willinakaqe was first named by Rubén D. Juárez Valieri, José A. Haro, Lucas E. Fiorelli and Jorge O. Calvo in 2010 and the type species is Willinakaqe salitralensis. The generic name means "Southern duck-mimic", in the Mapuche language (willi, "south", iná, "mimic" and kaqe, "duck"). The specific name refers to the Salitral.
The largest individuals found were about 9 metres (30 ft) long. Willinakaqe had long spines on its pelvis and tail base.
A revision of the original diagnosis of Willinakaqe salitralensis and of fossil material attributed to this species was published by Cruzado Caballero and Coria in 2016, who argue that the fossils attributed to Willinakaqe salitralensis might represent more than a single taxon of hadrosaurid and that all characters of the original diagnosis are invalid, meanwhile the holotype itself is too weathered and incomplete to support a diagnosis; thus, the taxon Willinakaqe salitrensis must be considered as nomina vanum.
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