Abstract

The record of osteological remains of non-avian dinosaurs in Chile is restricted to titanosaurid sauropods from the Late Cretaceous of northern Chile (Rubilar-Rogers et al., 2012), The record of theropods is limited to fragmentary material of Tithonian (Late Jurassic) age from Aysen (Salgado et al., 2008) and of the Late Cretaceous from Pichasca (Rubilar-Rogers et al., 2012). Osteological remains of dinosaurs from the far south of South America are exclusively represented to date by material from the Argentinian Patagonia, including the southernmost record for the group from the Santa Cruz Province (Novas et al., 2004), which is north to the new locality presented in this talk. During a field-campaign in February 2013 in in the Valle de Las Chinas, northeast from the Torres del Paine National Park, in the northern sector of the Magallanes Region, Ultima Esperanza Province, semi-articulated skeletons of dinosaurs of the Upper Cretaceous period were discovered. Among these remains, the presence of hadrosaurs is now identified based on distinctive features of a dentary fragment and vertebral centra. Our finding of a locality with abundant dinosaur bones is important as: • it is presently the southernmost site of non-avian dinosaurs known to exist on the South American continent. • it includes the first finding of an hadrosaur in Chile. • it includes the most complete remains of ornithopod dinosaurs in Chile. The new location allows us to perform paleobiogeographic studies and to understand the distribution of Late Cretaceous dinosaurs, evaluate possible migratory routes across the continent, and discuss possible connections between South America and Antarctica. It will also allow help evaluate the faunal composition of the southernmost dinosaurs during the latest cretaceous of South America. Geological evidence suggests that this site may belong to the latest Maastrichtian, otherwise poorly documented in South America. The site and its fossils have not been studied previously. Our planned research will create new possibilities of developing tourism of special interests in the Magallanes and Chilean Antarctic Region