Sonorasaurus
Name:
Sonorasaurus
(Sonora Desert lizard).
Phonetic: So-nor-ah-sore-us.
Named By: R. Ratkevich - 1998.
Classification: Chordata, Reptilia, Dinosauria,
Saurischia, Sauropoda, Titanosauriformes, Brachiosauridae.
Species: S. thompsoni
(type).
Diet: Herbivore.
Size: About 15 meters long.
Known locations: USA, Arizona.
Time period: Albian/Cenomanian of the Cretaceous.
Fossil representation: Partial remains.
Sonorasaurus
may look like an atypical brachiosaurid
dinosaur (as in similar to
the famous Brachiosaurus),
but the genus actually represents the
first known example of a brachiosaurid dinosaur in North America during
the Cretaceous, specifically around the early/late Cretaceous
boundary. This is yet further evidence that counters the now outdated
theory that the sauropods/titanosaurs died out in North America by the
Cretaceous period. Granted they do not seem to be as common as they
were during the late Jurassic, but they were certainly not absent.
Sonorasaurus
was named after the Sonora Desert of Arizona, while the type species
name, S. thompsoni is named in honour of
Richard Thompson who as a
geology student first discovered the Sonorasaurus
holotype fossils back
in 1995.
Further reading
- New Cretaceous brachiosaurid dinosaur, Sonorasaurus
thompsoni gen
et sp. nov, from Arizona. - Arizona-Nevada Academy of Science
31; 71-82. - R. Ratkevich - 1998.
- Anatomy, systematics, paleoenvironment, growth, and age of the
sauropod dinosaur Sonorasaurus thompsoni from the Cretaceous of
Arizona, USA. - Journal of Paleontology. 90 (1): 102–132. - M. D.
D'Emic, B. Z. Foreman & N. A. Jud - 2016.
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