Dino card No. 0288 of 2,027

Bonitasaura

Say it: BOH-nee-tah-SORE-ah

Name means: “Bonita's lizard, named after the fossil quarry called La Bonita”1

Ate: PlantsLong-necksLate Cretaceous

Bonitasaura was a big plant-eating dinosaur with a short neck and a sharp beak at the front of its mouth. It lived in what is now Argentina, about 85 million years ago.1

Lived

86 to 84 million years ago5

Late Cretaceous

Fossils found in

Río Negro Province, Argentina1 2

Food

Plants1 2

Length

10 m1

When did it live?

Triassic

Jurassic

Cretaceous

252 million years ago20114566, the asteroid

How big was it?

How long was it?

as long as 2 cars parked in a rowas long as 56 bananas end to end

How big was Bonitasaura compared to YOU?

Just maths in your browser. Nothing is saved or sent anywhere.

cool stuff

Fun facts

Bonitasaura had a sharp, beak-like keratin sheath on its lower jaw, which worked like a guillotine to cut plants.1

Its neck was short compared to other sauropods, and it had strong back vertebrae for muscle attachment, suggesting it used its neck vigorously while feeding.1

Bonitasaura's skull was low and long, similar to diplodocids, and its lower jaw was squared off with comb-like teeth.1

The front limbs were shorter than the hind limbs, unlike most other macronarians.1

Fossils of Bonitasaura show signs of diseases, including a tumour in the thigh bone and an infection in a tail bone.1

AI-made picture of Bonitasaura — An AI-made picture of how Bonitasaura 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 Bonitasaura

?How big was Bonitasaura?

Bonitasaura measured about 10 metres (33 feet) in length.1

?Did Bonitasaura have a beak?

Yes, Bonitasaura had a sharp, beak-like keratin sheath on its lower jaw that helped it to cut plants.1 4

?What did Bonitasaura eat?

Bonitasaura was a plant-eater. It used its peg-like front teeth to rake plants into its mouth and its sharp beak to cut them.1

?Where did Bonitasaura live?

Bonitasaura lived in what is now Argentina, in the Río Negro Province of Patagonia.1

Ask Rex about Bonitasaura

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Myth buster

Myth: Some people think Bonitasaura had a long neck like other sauropods.

Truth: Bonitasaura actually had a relatively short neck, which is unusual for a sauropod.1

For dino experts

Scientific name: Bonitasaura
Named by: Apesteguía 20045
Group: Long-necks
Family / clade: Eutitanosauria5
Classification: Sauropodomorpha > Sauropoda > Titanosauria > Macronaria5
Age of the rocks: 86 to 84 million years (Santonian)5
Rock formations: Bajo de la Carpa5
Countries: Argentina5
Fossil records: 2 in the Paleobiology Database5
Discovery: Bonitasaura was named by Sebastian Apesteguía in 2004, based on a partial skeleton found in the Bajo de la Carpa Formation in Argentina.1 3
Still debated: Scientists still debate exactly where Bonitasaura fits in the titanosaur family tree, with different studies placing it in different groups.2 1

Where the facts come from

Bonitasaura (en.wikipedia.org)
PBDB Taxon (paleobiodb.org)
Bonitasaura salgadoi gen. et sp. nov.: a beaked sauropod from the Late Cretaceous of Patagonia (pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)
Paleontologists Take Another Look at a Square-Mouthed Sauropod (smithsonianmag.com)
Bonitasaura 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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