Salisbury, S., Molnar, R. & Amanna, M. (2006) A new Titanosauriform Sauropod from the mid-Cretaceous (Albian-Cenomanian) Winton Formation of Central-Western Queensland, Australia. JVP 26(3) Abstracts pp.118

Sauropod body fossils are well known from the latest Albian-earliest Cenomanian Winton Formation of central-western Queensland, Australia. The material that has been described to date was discovered between 1913 and the 1970s, and comprises seven isolated and fragmentary skeletons, none of which has detailed collection data. Initially, this material was referred to Austrosaurus spp., based primarily on its close geographic proximity and similar age to the holotype of Austrosaurus mckillopi. A reassessment of this material has revealed that none of it can confidently be referred to Austrosaurus, since features previously considered diagnostic of this genus are in fact shared with other titanosauriforms.

Although some of the material previously referred to Austrosaurus spp. does display characteristics that would ally it with Titanosauria, it is too fragmentary to permit the establishment of a new taxon. Excavations at a new locality near the township of Winton between 2001 and 2004 have produced the associated remains of at least two titanosauriform sauropods. A single femur represents the larger of these two individuals—an animal nick-named ‘Elliot’. Cervical, thoracic and caudal vertebrae, fore- and hind limb elements, and several teeth represent the smaller individual—‘Mary’. The bones of both animals are preserved in a laterally discontinuous band of fluvial siltstone, interpreted as the remnants of either an oxbow lake or a crevasse splay from a flood event.

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