Pellegrinisaurus

Pel-le-gre-ne-sor-us.
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Maeve Foster

Paleoclimatologist

Maeve Foster explores the Earth's climatic past to understand the forces that shaped life on our planet. Her research into ancient climate events provides valuable context for current environmental challenges.

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Name

Pellegrinisaurus ‭(‬Pelligrini lizard‭)‬.

Phonetic

Pel-le-gre-ne-sor-us.

Named By

L.‭ ‬Salgado‭ ‬-‭ ‬1996.

Classification

Chordata,‭ ‬Reptilia,‭ ‬Dinosauria,‭ ‬Saurischia,‭ ‬Sauropoda,‭ ‬Titanosauria.

Diet

Herbivore.

Species

P.‭ ‬powelli‭

Size

Roughly estimated between‭ ‬20-25‭ ‬meters long.

Known locations

Argentina‭ ‬-‭ ‬Anecleto Formation,‭ ‬Allen Formation.

Time Period

Campanian of the Cretaceous.

Fossil representation

Few dorsal‭ (‬back‭) ‬and some caudal‭ (‬tail‭) ‬vertebra.‭ ‬Partial right femur.

In Depth

       Pellegrinisaurus is a genus of titanosaur that lived in South America during the late cretaceous.‭ ‬So far most of the fossils attributed to Pellegrinisaurus are vertebra,‭ ‬however these are mostly from the tail with only a small number of back vertebrae known.‭ ‬This makes an exact size estimate impossible to establish because we can only guess at the back length,‭ ‬while having no idea exactly how long the neck was.‭ ‬Still,‭ ‬we can say that Pellegrinisaurus would have been fairly large and around twenty to twenty-five centimetres long.‭ ‬Even at twenty-fives meters however,‭ ‬Pellegrinisaurus would still pale in comparison to the really large South American titanosaur genera such as Argentinosaurus.‭

Further Reading

-‭ ‬Pellegrinisaurus powelli nov.‭ ‬gen.‭ ‬et sp.‭ (‬Sauropoda,‭ ‬Titanosauridae‭) ‬from the Upper Cretaceous of Lago Pellegrini,‭ ‬northwestern Patagonia,‭ ‬Argentina.‭ ‬-‭ ‬Ameghiniana‭ ‬33‭(‬4‭)‬:355-365.‭ ‬-‭ ‬L.‭ ‬Salgado‭ ‬-‭ ‬1996.

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