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Abdarainurus

Say it: ab-dah-rye-NURE-us

Name means: “Abdrant Nuru tail”1

Ate: PlantsLong-necksLate Cretaceous

Abdarainurus was a long-necked sauropod dinosaur that lived in what is now Mongolia. It had a very unusual tail with special ridges and deep pockets in the bones. Scientists think it might be a new kind of Asian sauropod that was different from its relatives.2 1

Lived

86 to 72 million years ago4

Late Cretaceous

Fossils found in

Abdrant Nuru, northern Gobi Desert, Mongolia4 2

Food

Plants4

Length

15 to 20 m3

estimate based on vertebra size

When did it live?

Triassic

Jurassic

Cretaceous

252 million years ago20114566, the asteroid

How big was it?

How long was it?

as long as 4 cars parked in a rowas long as 110 bananas end to end

How big was Abdarainurus compared to YOU?

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cool stuff

Fun facts

Abdarainurus is known only from eight front tail bones, one middle tail bone, and several chevrons (bones under the tail).1

Its tail vertebrae were opisthocoelous, meaning they were convex on the front and concave on the back, a rare feature among sauropods.2

The neural spines on its tail bones were narrow from side to side, and there was a deep pocket-like fossa covered by a high bony ridge.2

Abdarainurus lived during the Late Cretaceous, about 85 to 72 million years ago.4

The fossils were discovered in 1970 by a joint Soviet-Mongolian expedition, but they were not studied until many years later.1

Abdarainurus shared its home with the ankylosaur Pinacosaurus and other dinosaurs and turtles.1

AI-made picture of Abdarainurus — An AI-made picture of how Abdarainurus might have looked, made by a computer from what scientists know. It is a guess: the real animal may have looked different, and nobody knows its true colours.

you asked

Most asked questions about Abdarainurus

?How big was Abdarainurus?

Nobody knows for sure, because only a few tail bones have been found. Scientists have not found enough fossils to estimate its full size.1

?What did Abdarainurus eat?

It was a sauropod dinosaur, so it probably ate plants. Its teeth have not been found, but other sauropods were plant-eaters.1

?When did Abdarainurus live?

It lived during the Late Cretaceous period, about 85 to 72 million years ago.1

?Where was Abdarainurus found?

Its fossils were discovered in the Gobi Desert of Mongolia, at a place called Abdrant Nuru.1

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For dino experts

Scientific name: Abdarainurus
Named by: Averianov and Lopatin 20204
Group: Long-necks
Family / clade: Titanosauria4
Classification: Sauropodomorpha > Sauropoda > Titanosauria > Macronaria4
Age of the rocks: 86 to 72 million years (Santonian / Campanian)4
Rock formations: Alagteeg4
Countries: Mongolia4
Fossil records: 1 in the Paleobiology Database4
Discovery: Abdarainurus was named in 2020 by paleontologists Alexander Averianov and Alexey Lopatin. The fossils were found in 1970 at Abdrant Nuru in Mongolia, but were left unprepared until about 2000, when Andrei Podlesnow suggested they were a new sauropod.1 2
Still debated: Scientists are not sure exactly where Abdarainurus fits on the sauropod family tree. It might be a basal titanosaur or a member of a different group called Somphospondyli.1 2

Where the facts come from

Abdarainurus (en.wikipedia.org)
An unusual new sauropod dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous of Mongolia: Journal of Systematic Palaeontology: Vol 18 , No 12 - Get Access (tandfonline.com)
Научная работа - Палеонтологический институт им. А.А. Борисяка РАН (paleo.ru)
Abdarainurus in The Paleobiology Database (CC BY 4.0): age, places, rock formations, classification.

Every fact on this page has a number that points to its source. If we got something wrong, sorry, we are dino fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.

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