In Depth
Named after the Andes Mountains, Andesaurus was a titanosaurian sauropod dinosaur from South America, but one known from only incomplete remains. This makes it hard to be certain about such things as a total size or even a preferred diet beyond just general plants. The vertebrae of Andesaurus though suggest that the genus was a basal (primitive) titanosaur.
Hailing from the Candeleros Formation, Andesaurus may have lived alongside the rebbachisaurid sauropods Limaysaurus and Nopcsaspondylus. Other dinosaurs active here include dromaeosaurids like Buiteraptor and alvaersaurids like Alnashetri. The dinosaurs of most concern to Andesaurus however would have been large abelisaurs like Ekrixinatosaurus, to even bigger carcharodontosaurids like Giganotosaurus, either one of these were capable of taking down a moderately sized sauropod.
Further Reading
- [Andesaurus delgadoi n. g. n. sp. (Saurischia, Sauropoda) a titanosaurid dinosaur from the R�o Limay Formation (Albian-Cenomanian), Neuqu�n, Argentina.], Jorge O. Calvo and Jose F. Bonaparte - 1991.- Anatomy of the basal titanosaur (Dinosauria, Sauropoda) Andesaurus delgadoi from the mid-Cretaceous (Albian–early Cenomanian) R�o Limay Formation, Neuqu�n Province, Argentina: implications for titanosaur systematics. – Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 153: 1–27. – P. D. Mannion & J. O. Calvo – 2011.
