Ingentia

For the nematode, see Ingenia. For the dinosaur formerly known as Ingenia yashinii, see Heyuannia.

Ingentia is a genus of early sauropodiform dinosaur, sometimes considered a basal sauropod, from the Late Triassic (late Norian-Rhaetian) of Argentina. The type specimen of Ingentia, PVSJ 1086, was discovered in the Quebrada del Barro Formation of northwestern Argentina. It was described in 2018 by Cecilia Apaldetti, Ricardo Nestor Martínez, Ignacio Alejandro Cerda, Diego Pol and Oscar Alcober who named the type and only species Ingentia prima, meaning "first huge one", as the taxon was one of the first very large sauropodomorphs to evolve, along with its close relative Lessemsaurus. A second specimen, PVSJ 1087, was referred, containing five tail vertebrae, both ulnae and radii, a left calfbone and a right foot.

Ingentia Temporal range: Late Triassic, Rhaetian PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N ↓
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Clade:	Dinosauria
Clade:	Saurischia
Clade:	†Sauropodomorpha
Clade:	†Sauropoda
Family:	†Lessemsauridae
Genus:	†Ingentia Apaldetti et al., 2018
Species:	†I. prima
Binomial name
†Ingentia prima Apaldetti et al., 2018

Classification

Size comparison between Ingentia and a human

A phylogenetic analysis performed by Apaldetti et al. found a new clade uniting Ingentia, Lessemsaurus and Antetonitrus, which they named Lessemsauridae. Like other lessemsaurids, Ingentia has highly pneumatic and very antero-posteriorly short but tall robust cervical vertebrae, a very expanded distal scapula blade, and arms that are relatively bent but capable of supporting the torso. Depending on the definition of Sauropoda, the clade is either the oldest sauropod taxon, or the sister taxon of the clade Sauropoda. The phylogenetic analysis is shown below:^[1]

Sauropodiformes	Mussaurus Aardonyx Sefapanosaurus Melanorosauridae Camelotia Melanorosaurus Sauropoda Lessemsauridae Antetonitrus Ingentia Lessemsaurus Blikanasaurus Gongxianosaurus Pulanesaura Gravisauria

See also

• 2018 in paleontology