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Campananeyen

Name means: “air of Las Campanas”1

Ate: PlantsLong-necksEarly Cretaceous

Campananeyen was a long-necked sauropod that lived in a huge desert in what is now Argentina. Its bones were so full of air pockets that scientists named it after the Mapuche word for 'air'. This dinosaur had a very thin and fragile hip bone, which is why its species name means 'the most fragile'.1

Lived

113 to 110 million years ago5

Early Cretaceous

Fossils found in

Neuquén Province, Argentina1

Food

Plants5

Length

up to 10.5 m3

estimate, biggest known specimen

Weight

up to 2.5 tonnes3

estimate, biggest known specimen

When did it live?

Triassic

Jurassic

Cretaceous

252 million years ago20114566, the asteroid

How big was it?

How long was it?

How heavy was it?

as heavy as 1.5 cars

as long as 2.5 cars parked in a rowas long as 58 bananas end to endas heavy as 83 big dogsas heavy as 500 watermelons

How big was Campananeyen compared to YOU?

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cool stuff

Fun facts

Campananeyen had a very thin and fragile ilium (hip bone), so thin that scientists gave it the species name fragilissimus, meaning 'the most fragile'.1

Its bones were extremely pneumatized, meaning they were filled with air pockets, which made the skeleton lighter. The name Campananeyen comes from the Mapuche word for 'air'.1

The quadrate fossa, a large pit on the back of the skull's cheek bone, was 30 to 70 percent larger in Campananeyen than in any other known rebbachisaurid.1

Unlike most rebbachisaurids, Campananeyen had hyposphene-hypantrum joints between its vertebrae, which helped lock the backbone together. Its hyposphene was hollow and ovoid, like in Nigersaurus.1

The sacral ribs of Campananeyen had a unique 'dorsal alar arm' that helped support the leg muscles, especially the muscle that pulls the thigh forward.1

Campananeyen lived in the Kokorkom Desert, a huge sandy desert with some oases, alongside other dinosaurs like the giant predator Giganotosaurus and the long-necked Limaysaurus.1

The first fossils of Campananeyen were found in 2016 but were not named until 2024, when scientists realized they belonged to a new species.1

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

?What did Campananeyen eat?

Campananeyen was a herbivore, meaning it ate plants. It likely used its many closely aligned teeth to eat leaves and other vegetation.4

?How big was Campananeyen?

Scientists do not know exactly how big Campananeyen was because only a fragmentary skeleton has been found. It was a sauropod, so it had a long neck, a large body, and strong limbs.1 4

?When did Campananeyen live?

Campananeyen lived during the Early Cretaceous Period, about 111 to 106 million years ago. It lived in a desert environment in what is now Argentina.1

?Why is Campananeyen called 'the most fragile'?

Its species name, fragilissimus, means 'the most fragile' in Latin. This is because its hip bone (ilium) was very thin and delicate, filled with air pockets.1

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For dino experts

Scientific name: Campananeyen
Named by: Lerzo et al. 20245
Group: Long-necks
Family / clade: Rebbachisauridae5
Classification: Sauropodomorpha > Sauropoda > Diplodocoidea5
Age of the rocks: 113 to 110 million years (Albian)5
Rock formations: Candeleros5
Countries: Argentina5
Fossil records: 1 in the Paleobiology Database5
Discovery: The Campananeyen holotype specimen was discovered in the Candeleros Formation near Villa El Chocón, Neuquén Province, Argentina. It was first described in 2016 but left unnamed, and then in 2024 scientists Lerzo et al. named it Campananeyen fragilissimus.1
Still debated: Scientists are still debating exactly how Campananeyen is related to other rebbachisaurids, because its fossils are fragmentary and incomplete.2

Where the facts come from

Campananeyen (en.wikipedia.org)
They all floated in the cretaceous: new rebbachisaurid (Sauropoda, Diplodocoidea) with a highly pneumatized skeleton from the Upper Cretaceous (lower Cenomanian) of Patagonia, Argentina: Historical Biology: Vol 37 , No 8 - Get Access (tandfonline.com)
Campananeyen fragilissimus | Dinosaur Database by DinoAnimals.com (dinoanimals.com)
Campananeyen | The Lightweight Sauropod of Late Cretaceous (thedinosaurs.org)
Campananeyen 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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