Mendozasaurus

Mendozasaurus is a genus of titanosaurian sauropod dinosaur. It was a member of Titanosauria, which were massive sauropods that were common on the southern landmasses during the Cretaceous It is represented by several partial skeletons from a single locality within the Coniacian (lower Upper Cretaceous) Sierra Barrosa Formation in the south of Mendoza Province, northern Neuquén Basin, Argentina.
The type species, "Mendozasaurus neguyelap", was described by Argentine paleontologist Bernardo Javier González Riga in 2003. "Mendozasaurus" is the first dinosaur named from Mendoza Province, Argentina, for which it was named.
Description.
This species belonged to the discovered clade Lognkosauria, a transitional group of titanosaurs which included the gigantic "Futalognkosaurus" and "Puertasaurus". Like both of these animals, "Mendozasaurus" had a long neck with very wide cervical neural spines. Holtz estimated its length at . In 2010 Gregory S. Paul estimated "Mendozasaurus" at 20 meters (65.6 feet) in length and 16 tonnes (17.6 short tons) in weight.
Classification.
A phylogenetic analysis conducted by González Riga and colleagues in 2018 recovered "Mendozasaurus" as the most basal member of Lognkosauria, including "Futalognkosaurus" and the gigantic titanosaurs "Argentinosaurus", "Notocolossus", "Patagotitan" and "Puertasaurus".
The following cladogram shows the position of "Mendozasaurus" in Lognkosauria according to González Riga and colleagues, 2018.