Pilmatueia is a diplodocoid sauropod belonging to the family Dicraeosauridae that lived in Argentina during the Early Cretaceous. Its type and only species is Pilmatueia faundezi. Pilmatueia was probably closely related to other South American dicraeosaurids such as Amargasaurus. Pilmatueia had relatively pneumatic vertebrae compared to other dicraeosaurids, which were otherwise characterized by a reduction in pneumaticity relative to other sauropods. Pilmatueia dates to the Valanginian, an age of the Cretaceous period for which dinosaur faunas are poorly known.
Pilmatueia faundezi
Dicraeosauridae is a family of diplodocoid sauropods who are the sister group to Diplodocidae. Dicraeosaurids are a part of the Flagellicaudata, along with Diplodocidae. Dicraeosauridae includes genera such as Amargasaurus, Suuwassea, Dicraeosaurus, and Brachytrachelopan. Specimens of this family have been found in North America, Asia, Africa, and South America. In 2023, a dicraeosaurid fossil was discovered in India for the first time. Their temporal range is from the Early or Middle Jurassic to the Early Cretaceous. Few dicraeosaurids survived into the Cretaceous, the youngest of which was Amargasaurus.
Dicraeosauridae