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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