Biology:Huayracursor

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Huayracursor (lit. wind runner) is an extinct genus of early sauropodomorph dinosaurs known from the Late Triassic (Carnian age) Santo Domingo Formation of Argentina. The genus contains a single species, Huayracursor jaguensis, known from a partial articulated skeleton.[1]

Discovery and naming

The Huayracursor holotype specimen, CRILAR-Pv 151, was discovered in outcrops of the Santo Domingo Formation near Vinchina in La Rioja Province, Argentina. The specimen consists of a nearly complete skeleton, including cranial remains, found in articulation.[1]

In 2025, Hechenleitner and colleagues described Huayracursor jaguensis as a new genus and species of sauropodomorph dinosaur based on these fossil remains. The generic name, Huayracursor, Quechua word huayra, meaning "wind", with the Latin word cursor, meaning "runner". The specific name, jaguensis, references the Jagüé village.[1]

Classification

Paleoenvironmental reconstruction of Huayracursor and coeval animals of the Santo Domingo fauna

In their 2025 phylogenetic analysis, Hechenleitner and colleagues recovered Huayracursor as an early-diverging member of the Sauropodomorpha. Their results placed Huayracursor, as the sister taxon to Bagualosaurus, as the earliest branch of the more inclusive clade Bagualosauria. These results are displayed in the cladogram below:[1]

Sauropodomorpha
 

Buriolestes

 
 
 

Eoraptor

 
 
 
 

Pampadromaeus

 
 

Panphagia

 
 
 
 
 

Chromogisaurus

 
 

Saturnalia

 
 
 
 

Nhandumirim

 
 
 

Guaibasaurus

 
Bagualosauria
 
  Huayracursor
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Bagualosaurus

 
 
 
 

Nambalia

 
 
 
 

Pantydraco

 
 

Thecodontosaurus

 
 
 
 

other post-Carnian sauropodomorphs

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Hechenleitner, E. Martín; Martinelli, Agustín G.; Rocher, Sebastián; Fiorelli, Lucas E.; Juarez, Malena; Taborda, Jeremías R. A.; Desojo, Julia B. (2025-10-15). "A long-necked early dinosaur from a newly discovered Upper Triassic basin in the Andes" (in en). Nature: 1–6. doi:10.1038/s41586-025-09634-3. ISSN 1476-4687. 

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