User:González Riga

I am a geologist and a vertebrate paleontologist interested in studying dinosaur evolution and paleoenvironments. My Ph.D. dissertation and my current research focus on titanosaurs, the most diverse lineage of long-necked sauropod dinosaurs. Titanosaurs are the largest land-living animals of all time, and their study is very interesting from the palebiological point of view. My papers comprise several aspects of these huge vertebrates: phylogenetic systematic, taphonomy, osteohistology, and ichnology. Between 2003-2009 other paleontologists and myself discovered and named new titanosaur species: Mendozasaurus neguyelap, Rinconsaurus caudamirus, Futalognkosaurus dukei, Muyelensaurus pecheni, Ligabuesaurus leanzai and Malarguesaurus florenciae. With regards to taphonomy, I am interested in understanding the history of quarry sauropods and their relation with ancient environments. Other important aspects of my research are the study of bone histology to explore and reconstruct growth patterns, and the analysis of sauropod tracks. In Mendoza Province (Loncoche Formation, Late Cretaceous), we discovered a mega track site of sauropod and theropod footprints. To these ends, I also conduct field research in Mendoza, La Pampa and Patagonia (Argentina). I am a Researcher of CONICET (Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas de Argentina) and a Professor of the Universidad Nacional de Cuyo (Mendoza Province).