E of Cerro Rajado (Triassic of Argentina)

Also known as Coloradisaurus holotype

Where: La Rioja, Argentina (29.7° S, 68.2° W: paleocoordinates 38.9° S, 31.8° W)

• coordinate based on nearby landmark

• small collection-level geographic resolution

When: Los Colorados Formation (Agua de la Peña Group), Norian (228.0 - 208.5 Ma)

• upper third of formation, 180 m below top; upper "Coloradian" provincial age; formation is considered to be latest Triassic in age

• bed-level stratigraphic resolution

Environment/lithology: fluvial-lacustrine; red siliciclastic sediments

• "The sequence was interpreted as deposited by moderately sinuous fluvial systems, which laterally interfinger with and grade into horizontally bedded flood-plain deposits. To the top of the sequence, thin-bedded sandstones and siltstones dominate and were deposited in ponds and as crevasse splays in overbank settings" (Arcucci et al. 2004)
• "The red beds of Los Colorados Formation are composed by successive thinning-upward cycles characterized by coarse- to medium-grained sandstones and fine-grained sandstones intercalated with siltstones, which progressively dominate to the upper part of the unit (Fig. 2). Coarse-grained sandstone beds are generally tabular in geometry, cross stratified (large-scale trough and tabular cross-bedding) and locally display horizontal lamination. Rounded pebbles and cobbles of chert, quartzite and metamorphic rocks commonly mantle set boundaries. Massive and horizontal laminated siltstones interfinger with rippled lamination fine-grained sandstones forms the uppermost portion of the cycles" (Arcucci et al. 2004)

Size class: macrofossils

Collected in 1971

Collection methods: quarrying, mechanical,

Primary reference: J. F. Bonaparte. 1978. Coloradia brevis n. g. et n. sp. (Saurischia–Prosauropoda), dinosaurio Plateosauridae de la Formacion Los Colorados, Triasico Superior de La Rioja, Argentina [Coloradia brevis n. g. et n. sp. (Saurischia–Prosauropoda), a plateosaurid from the Upper Triassic Los Colorados Formation of La Rioja, Argentina]. Ameghiniana 15(3-4):327-332 [M. Carrano/M. Carrano/M. Carrano]more details

Purpose of describing collection: taxonomic analysis

PaleoDB collection 52014: authorized by Matthew Carrano, entered by Matthew Carrano on 11.07.2005, edited by Richard Butler

Creative Commons license: CC BY (attribution)

Taxonomic list

Show authors, comments, and common names
Reptilia
 Saurischia - Massospondylidae
"Coloradia brevis n. gen. n. sp." = Coloradisaurus brevis
"Coloradia brevis n. gen. n. sp." = Coloradisaurus brevis Bonaparte 1978 sauropodomorph
Osteichthyes
 Therapsida - Tritheledontidae
Chaliminia musteloides n. gen. n. sp.
Chaliminia musteloides n. gen. n. sp. Bonaparte 1980 mammaliamorph
PVL 385, partial skull