Bagualia, an early Jurassic eusauropod from Argentina

[Halichoeres]

Out a few days ago: a relatively complete and very early eusauropod named Bagualia alba (Sp. "wild horse of the dawn" for its early age and Bagual canyon, where it was found). The paper includes some hypotheses about the early evolution of long necks and some information on associated flora, as though they were begging paleoartists to depict it in its environment.

The holotype skull and cervical series:


This reconstruction is in CNN's article unattributed but @Carnotaurus identified the artist as Jorge González:


Pol et al., open access in Proceedings B https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rspb.2020.2310

And a write-up at CNN: https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/17/americas/dinosaur-sauropods-long-necks-scn/index.html

[Carnotaurus]

Hi Tim, Paleoartist is Jorge González:
His Instagram:
https://instagram.com/paleoart_by_jorge_gonzalez?igshid=14izdd46hsi0z
Bagualia was found in my province, Chubut, as well as Carnotaurus, Patagotitan, Tyrannotitan, Piatnizkysaurus, among others.

Greets!

[Libraraptor]

Hi Tim, Paleoartist is Jorge González:
His Instagram:
https://instagram.com/paleoart_by_jorge_gonzalez?igshid=14izdd46hsi0z
Bagualia was found in my province, Chubut, as well as Carnotaurus, Patagotitan, Tyrannotitan, Piatnizkysaurus, among others.

Greets!

The artwork reminds me at Mark Hallett a little.

[Halichoeres]

Thank you for the information, Gustavo! I like to know whose art I'm looking at. Chubut is a very fruitful place! The name Bagualia seemed familiar to me at first, and I realized that it's because of the confusingly similar-sounding sauropodomorph Bagualosaurus, which is from the Triassic of Brazil!

The artwork reminds me at Mark Hallett a little.

I can see some similarities, definitely.

[Shonisaurus]

We need a bagualia in a toy version. I hope that one day Collecta, Safari, PNSO or another brand will make a figure of that sauropod. It is honestly good news that the skull is preserved considering that it is rare for the skulls or parts of the skull of sauropods to be preserved.

[Carnotaurus]

Thank you for the information, Gustavo! I like to know whose art I'm looking at. Chubut is a very fruitful place! The name Bagualia seemed familiar to me at first, and I realized that it's because of the confusingly similar-sounding sauropodomorph .

I did not know about Bagualosaurus.
It seems that "bagual" for brazilian portuguese means "rude" or "tough" but in argentinian patagonic spanish we use it for horses or bovids that went wild. In northern regions of Argentina, Uruguay ir Bolivia has mixed meanings. In any case, is a gaucho's word,  it was the name of an indian querandi chief.
Bagualia was named after the place where its was found, Cañadon Bagual (valley of the wild horse).

Greets!!

[Justin_]

I see it has claws on the front feet. What are the earliest sauropods known to have lost them, apart from the "thumbs"?

The artwork reminds me at Mark Hallett a little.

I can see some similarities, definitely.

Me too, although with a more stylized, slightly collaged* look. It also reminds me of @irimali in terms of composition and perspective etc..

*Which I can see from this image is a technique he uses.

[HD-man]

Hi Tim, Paleoartist is Jorge González:
His Instagram:
https://instagram.com/paleoart_by_jorge_gonzalez?igshid=14izdd46hsi0z
Bagualia was found in my province, Chubut, as well as Carnotaurus, Patagotitan, Tyrannotitan, Piatnizkysaurus, among others.

Greets!

The artwork reminds me at Mark Hallett a little.

Reminds me more of Davide Bonadonna.

[Halichoeres]

I see it has claws on the front feet. What are the earliest sauropods known to have lost them, apart from the "thumbs"?

Well spotted. I downloaded the supplemental data from Dryad, and while the material includes two ungual phalanges, they don't specify from which foot! Given that they're listed after hindlimb elements, I'm assuming they're pedal unguals, which would mean there's no direct evidence for manual claw condition in this taxon. Shunosaurus is known to have only a single claw on the forefoot (Fowler & Hall 2011, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/08912963.2010.504852), and according to the analysis in this paper, Bagualia is more derived, so should also only have a single claw. I'd consider this artwork to go mildly against the available evidence in that respect. But I don't know if I'd take that as gospel; phylogenies are hypotheses subject to revision and Bagualia, being older, may in time prove to be more primitive than this analysis recovers.