Arcusaurus
Arcusaurus was a small, long-necked dinosaur that lived in what is now South Africa. It was an early relative of the giant sauropods like Brachiosaurus. Arcusaurus walked on four legs and ate plants.14
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Fun facts
Arcusaurus was named after the Rainbow Nation, a nickname for South Africa. The name comes from the Latin word for rainbow.1
The fossils of Arcusaurus were discovered in 2006 by Lucille Pereira and Fernando Abdala. The species name honors them.1
At least two Arcusaurus individuals were found together. Scientists know this because they found two right nasal bones, which are skull bones behind the nostril.1
Arcusaurus was a small dinosaur, only about 2 to 3 meters long. That is about the size of a car.1
Arcusaurus is an early relative of the giant sauropods. It helps scientists understand how sauropods evolved.1
The fossils of Arcusaurus were found in the same quarry as another dinosaur called Pulanesaura. This shows that different dinosaurs lived together.2
Most asked questions about Arcusaurus
?How big was Arcusaurus?
About 2 to 3 metres long, roughly the size of a large dog.1
?What did Arcusaurus eat?
It was a herbivore, meaning it ate plants.3
?Was Arcusaurus a dinosaur?
Yes, it was a sauropodomorph dinosaur, an early relative of the giant sauropods.1
?When did Arcusaurus live?
It lived during the Early Jurassic period, about 192 to 182 million years ago.3
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For dino experts
- Scientific name
- Arcusaurus
- Named by
- Yates et al. 20114
- Group
- Long-necks
- Family / clade
- Sauropodomorpha4
- Classification
- Sauropodomorpha4
- Age of the rocks
- 201 to 193 million years (Hettangian / Sinemurian)4
- Rock formations
- Elliot4
- Countries
- South Africa4
- Fossil records
- 1 in the Paleobiology Database4
- Discovery
- Arcusaurus was named by Adam Yates, Matthew Bonnan and Johann Neveling in 2011. The fossils were found in March 2006 at the Spion Kop Heelbo site in South Africa.1
- Still debated
- Scientists are not sure exactly how big Arcusaurus grew. Only a few bones have been found, so its size is an estimate.1
Where the facts come from
- Arcusaurus (en.wikipedia.org)
- A new basal sauropod from the pre-Toarcian Jurassic of South Africa: evidence of niche-partitioning at the sauropodomorph, sauropod boundary? (pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)
- ARCUSAURUS - DinoChecker dinosaur archive (dinochecker.com)
- Arcusaurus in The Paleobiology Database (CC BY 4.0): age, places, rock formations, classification.
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