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Haestasaurus

Say it: HAY-sta-SORE-us

Name means: “Haesta's lizard, named after a chieftain of the Hastings area”1

Ate: PlantsLong-necksEarly Cretaceous

Haestasaurus was a huge, long-necked dinosaur that munched plants in Early Cretaceous England. It is famous for its arm bones and a piece of fossilized skin, which was the first dinosaur skin ever found by scientists!4 2

Lived

139 to 133 million years ago4

Early Cretaceous

Fossils found in

Near Hastings, East Sussex, southeast England, United Kingdom4 1

Food

Plants4

When did it live?

Triassic

Jurassic

Cretaceous

252 million years ago20114566, the asteroid

cool stuff

Fun facts

Haestasaurus is known from a left upper arm bone (humerus), a forearm bone (ulna), a radius, and a skin impression. The skin was the first dinosaur skin ever recognized by science.1 2

Scientists created the new name Haestasaurus in 2015 because the old name Pelorosaurus was used for different bones in earlier studies.1

The fossils come from the Hastings Beds Group, which are about 139 to 133 million years old (Early Cretaceous).4

Haestasaurus had a very thick and strong ulna (forearm bone) but a slim radius next to it. That unusual combination helps scientists tell it apart from other sauropods.1

The upper arm bone had a special hook-like bump on its lower inner corner. This bump is a unique feature not seen in any other sauropod.1

Haestasaurus is classified as a macronarian, a group of sauropods that includes the huge titanosaurs. But scientists are not sure if it was a very early titanosaur or a close cousin.1

The skin impression shows small, round scales. This was the first direct evidence that sauropods had scaly skin, not feathers.2

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

?How big was Haestasaurus?

Scientists are not sure of its total size because only a forelimb is known. The upper arm bone (humerus) is 599 millimetres (about 60 cm) long, the ulna 421 millimetres, and the radius 404 millimetres.3

?What did Haestasaurus eat?

Haestasaurus was a herbivore, meaning it ate plants. It was a long-necked sauropod that munched on vegetation in Early Cretaceous England.3

?Did Haestasaurus have feathers?

No, Haestasaurus had scaly skin, not feathers. Its fossilized skin shows small, round, hexagonal scales, and it was the first dinosaur skin ever found by scientists.3 1

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For dino experts

Scientific name: Haestasaurus
Named by: Upchurch et al. 20154
Group: Long-necks
Family / clade: Eusauropoda4
Classification: Sauropodomorpha > Sauropoda4
Age of the rocks: 139 to 133 million years (Berriasian / Valanginian)4
Rock formations: Hastings Beds4
Countries: United Kingdom4
Fossil records: 1 in the Paleobiology Database4
Discovery: The fossils were discovered in 1852 near Hastings, England. The species was first named Pelorosaurus becklesii by Gideon Mantell in 1852, but later moved to a new genus, Haestasaurus, by Paul Upchurch and colleagues in 2015.1
Still debated: Scientists are not sure whether Haestasaurus was a very early member of the titanosaur group or a different type of macronarian sauropod.1

Where the facts come from

The Anatomy and Phylogenetic Relationships of “Pelorosaurus“ becklesii (Neosauropoda, Macronaria) from the Early Cretaceous of England | PLOS One (journals.plos.org)
Newly detected data from Haestasaurus and review of sauropod skin morphology suggests Early Jurassic origin of skin papillae | Communications Biology (nature.com)
Haestasaurus (en.wikipedia.org)
Haestasaurus 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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