Leonerasaurus
Name:
Leonerasaurus
(Leoneras lizard).
Phonetic: Le-o-ne-rah-sore-us.
Named By: D. Pol, A. Garrido & I.
A. Cerda - 2011.
Classification: Chordata, Reptilia, Dinosauria,
Saurischia, Sauropodomorpha, Anchisauria.
Species: L. taquetrensis
(type).
Diet: Herbivore.
Size: Holotype is a subadult and very roughly
estimated to be about 2.5 meters long, but fully grown adults
were almost certainly larger than this.
Known locations: Argentina - Las Leoneras
Formation.
Time period: Sinemurian of the Jurassic.
Fossil representation: Partial remains of a
subadult, including dentary, vertebrae, pectoral girdle, pelvis
and sacrum.
Leonerasaurus
is a genus of sauropodomorph
dinosaur that is known to have lived in
South America during the early Jurassic. Leonerasaurus
is notable for
having a mix of physical characteristics that are seen in both
sauropodomorph dinosaurs as well as later sauropods, though current
thinking is that Leonerasaurus was a
sauropodomorph, but one that was
on the way to evolving to a sauropod. In fact when Leonerasaurus
was
described in 2011, a cladogram study placed Leonerasaurus
very
close to the base of the true sauropods. This may also indicate that
several lines of more advanced sauropodomorph dinosaurs evolved, but
how many of these forms would develop into actual sauropods is still
uncertain.
Leonerasaurus
is expected to have been a herbivore, as indicated by the shape of
the teeth in the dentary. The holotype of Leonerasaurus
is of a
subadult individual, meaning that this individual was not fully grown
at the time of death. However, with a roughly estimated length of
about two and a half meters, it would seem that Leonerasaurus
was not
a particularly large genus of sauropodomorph dinosaur.
Further reading
- A new sauropodomorph dinosaur from the Early Jurassic of Patagonia
and the origin and evolution of the sauropod-type sacrum. - PLoS
One 6(1(e14572)):1-24. - D. Pol, A. Garrido
& I. A. Cerda - 2011.
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