HISTORICAL RECORD OF A SAUROPOD (DINOSAURIA: TITANOSAURIA) SPECIMEN AT THE MUSEO SEMINARIO VALPARAÍSO: THE FIRST DINOSAUR DISCOVERY OF CHILE?

Since its founding in 1870, the Colegio Seminario San Rafael of Valparaíso has offered natural science-related courses, complemented by laboratory work. Thus, in 1881, five science “cabinets” were established within the school premises, and in 1886, the building that still houses them was inaugurated. The Museo Seminario Valparaíso (MSV) houses various natural history collections, among which a notable paleontological collection stands out, comprising paleobotanical, invertebrate, and vertebrate specimens. Within one of the oldest mineral collection showcases, associated with copper oxides and sulfides samples, a proximal fragment of a right sauropod ulna was found. This ulna must have been deposited long ago, which is proven when it is considered that the associated mineral specimens with collection register labels on the shelf dates between 1860 and 1896, and because this collection has not been modified and it has remained unchanged for over a century. On the other hand, it was only in the 1960s that the first formal descriptions of dinosaur bone records in Chile were made, based on indeterminate titanosaur remains from the informal unit “Estratos de Quebrada La Totora”. Morphological comparisons of the ulna suggest affinities with the clade Titanosauria. Furthermore, based on its preservation characteristics, the provenance of the specimen is attributed to the Estratos de Quebrada La Totora, Coquimbo region. In this way, the specimen could represent the first discovery of a non-avian dinosaur in Chile and the first historical evidence of titanosaurs found in a Chilean museum collection.