Zapalasaurus
Name:
Zapalasaurus
(Zapala lizard).
Phonetic: Zap-al-ah-sore-us.
Named By: Leonardo Salgado, Ismar de Souza
Carvalho & Alberto C. Garrido - 2006.
Classification: Chordata, Reptilia, Dinosauria,
Saurischia, Sauropodomorpha, Sauropoda, Diplodocoidea,
Rebbachisauridae.
Species: Z. bonapartei
(type).
Diet: Herbivore.
Size: Uncertain.
Known locations: Argentina, Neuquen Province -
La Amarga Formation.
Time period: Barremian/Early Aptian of the
Cretaceous.
Fossil representation: Holotype based upon partial
post cranial skeleton including ilia, ischium, pubis, 17
caudal vertebrae of the anterior portion of the tail and fragments of
the femur and tibia. Remains of a second individual are known.
Zapalasaurus
is another example of an early cretaceous era diplodocoid sauropod, a
find significant in itself since many diplodocid genera are dated to
the Late Jurassic. Further to its inclusion within the
Diplodocoidea, Zapalasaurus has been included as
a member of the
Rebbachisauridae, a sub group of the Diplodocoidea that includes
other Cretaceous era genera. As with other genera of this group,
Zapalasaurus is assumed to have had a long neck
developed as a feeding
adaptation which allowed it to sweep its head across a wide arc in
front of the body. This would allow a feeding Zapalasaurus
to browse
upon a wide gathering of plants without expending energy walking to
reach one plant after another.
Zapalasaurus
was named after the city of Zapala which is located about eighty
kilometres north of the digsite where the holotype individual was
found. The species name is in honour to the palaeontologist Jose
Fernando Bonaparte. Another diplodocid sauropod known from the La
Amarga Formation is Amargasaurus.
Further reading
- Zapalasaurus bonapartei, un nuevo saur�podo
de La Formacion La
Amarga (Cretacico Inferior), noroeste de Patagonia, Provincia
de Neuquen, Argentina [Zapalasaurus bonapartei,
a new sauropod
from the La Amarga Formation (Lower Cretaceous), northwestern
Patagonia, Neuquen province, Argentina], Leonardo Salgado,
Ismar de Souza Carvalho & Alberto C. Garrido - 2006.
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