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Lapparentosaurus

Name means: “Lapparent's lizard”1

Ate: PlantsLong-necksMiddle Jurassic

Lapparentosaurus was a huge, long-necked plant-eater that lived on the island of Madagascar during the Middle Jurassic. It walked on all fours and munched on leaves with its peg-like teeth. Scientists have found bones from several young and adult Lapparentosaurus, but no skulls yet.2 1

Lived

168 to 165 million years ago3

Middle Jurassic

Fossils found in

Madagascar (Isalo III Formation)3 2

Food

Plants3 1

When did it live?

Triassic

Jurassic

Cretaceous

252 million years ago20114566, the asteroid

cool stuff

Fun facts

Lapparentosaurus took 31 to 45 years to reach sexual maturity, based on growth rings in its bones.2

Its bones show a lot of fibrolamellar bone, which means it grew relatively fast.2

The first fossils were found before 1894 by Joseph Thomas Last in the Majunga Basin of Madagascar.2

The genus was named in 1986 by paleontologist José Bonaparte in honor of French geologist Albert-Félix de Lapparent.2 1

Lapparentosaurus has a mix of features from both early sauropods and more advanced titanosauriforms, which makes its family tree confusing.2

No skull of Lapparentosaurus has ever been found, so scientists have to guess what its head looked like.1

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

?How big was Lapparentosaurus?

No one knows for sure because only partial skeletons have been found. It was a large sauropod, but scientists cannot give an exact length or weight.2 1

?What did Lapparentosaurus eat?

It was a herbivore, meaning it ate plants. It used its peg-like teeth to munch on leaves.1

?When did Lapparentosaurus live?

It lived during the Middle Jurassic, about 169 to 164 million years ago.1

?Where was Lapparentosaurus found?

Its fossils were found in Madagascar, in the Isalo III Formation of the Majunga Basin.2 1

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For dino experts

Scientific name: Lapparentosaurus
Named by: Bonaparte 19863
Group: Long-necks
Family / clade: Eusauropoda3
Classification: Sauropodomorpha > Sauropoda3
Age of the rocks: 168 to 165 million years (Bathonian)3
Rock formations: Isalo III3
Countries: Madagascar3
Fossil records: 1 in the Paleobiology Database3
Discovery: The first fossils were collected before 1894 by Joseph Thomas Last in Madagascar. In 1986, José Bonaparte named the new genus Lapparentosaurus after Albert-Félix de Lapparent, using two neural arches of dorsal vertebrae as the type specimen.2
Still debated: Scientists still debate whether Lapparentosaurus was a basal eusauropod or a more advanced titanosauriform, because its bones show a mix of traits.2

Where the facts come from

Lapparentosaurus | Natural History Museum (nhm.ac.uk)
Lapparentosaurus (en.wikipedia.org)
Lapparentosaurus 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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