Emiliasaura

Say it: eh-MEE-lee-ah-SORE-us

Name means: “Emilia's lizard”1

Ate: PlantsBeaked plant-eatersEarly Cretaceous

Emiliasaura was a medium-sized, plant-eating dinosaur that lived about 130 million years ago in what is now Argentina. It walked on two legs and had strong back legs built for running. Scientists think it might be the oldest known member of its group from South America.1 2

Lived

137 to 133 million years ago4

Early Cretaceous

Fossils found in

Neuquén Province, Argentina1 3

Food

Plants3 2

Length

3 to 4 m2

estimate for subadult individuals

When did it live?

Triassic

Jurassic

Cretaceous

252 million years ago20114566, the asteroid

How big was it?

as long as 2 bicycles in a rowas long as 22 bananas end to end

How big was Emiliasaura compared to YOU?

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cool stuff

Fun facts

Emiliasaura was named in 2025, making it a very recently discovered dinosaur.1

The fossils were found by a local man named Carlos Alessandri in 2008 and later by a geologist in 2010.1 2

The name Emiliasaura honors Emilia Ondettia de Fix, who founded the first museum in Las Lajas, Argentina.1

Scientists studied thin slices of its bones under a microscope and found that the known individuals were still growing when they died.1 2

Emiliasaura lived during the Valanginian age of the Early Cretaceous, a time when few dinosaur fossils are known worldwide.1 2

Some scientists think Emiliasaura is a rhabdodontomorph, while others think it is a styracosternan, so its exact family tree is still debated.1

AI-made picture of Emiliasaura — An AI-made picture of how Emiliasaura 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.

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For dino experts

Scientific name: Emiliasaura
Named by: Coria et al. 20244
Group: Beaked plant-eaters
Family / clade: Rhabdodontomorpha4
Classification: Ornithischia > Ornithopoda > Iguanodontia4
Age of the rocks: 137 to 133 million years (Valanginian)4
Rock formations: Mulichinco4
Countries: Argentina4
Fossil records: 1 in the Paleobiology Database4
Discovery: Emiliasaura was discovered by Carlos Alessandri in 2008 near Las Lajas, Argentina. It was named by Rodolfo Coria and colleagues in 2025.1 2
Still debated: Scientists are not sure whether Emiliasaura belongs to the group Rhabdodontomorpha or to Styracosterna.1

Where the facts come from

Emiliasaura (en.wikipedia.org)
Descubren en Neuquén una nueva especie de dinosaurio herbívoro (iipg.conicet.gov.ar)
PBDB Taxon (paleobiodb.org)
Emiliasaura 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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