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Ligabueino

Say it: lee-gah-boo-EE-no

Name means: “Ligabue's little one”1

Ate: MeatMeat-eating dinosEarly Cretaceous

Ligabueino was a tiny meat-eating dinosaur that lived in what is now Argentina. It was only about as long as a cat, but it was a fierce hunter. Scientists think it was a baby when it died, so it might have grown bigger.1 2

Lived

126 to 120 million years ago4

Early Cretaceous

Fossils found in

La Amarga Formation, Neuquén, Argentina1 2

Food

Meat4 2

Length

0.79 m1

specimen is a juvenile, adult size unknown

Weight

0.45 kg3

estimate, based on the only known juvenile 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 4 bananas

as long as 4 bananas end to endlighter than a house cat

How big was Ligabueino compared to YOU?

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cool stuff

Fun facts

Ligabueino is named after Italian doctor Giancarlo Ligabue, who discovered the fossil.1

The only known fossil is a partial skeleton about 79 cm (2.6 ft) long. The bones were not fully fused, showing it was a juvenile.1

It lived during the Early Cretaceous Period, about 125 to 119 million years ago.2

Scientists are not sure exactly what type of dinosaur Ligabueino was. Some think it belongs to the group Abelisauroidea, which includes larger horned meat-eaters.1

Ligabueino had very reduced neural spines in its neck and back vertebrae, meaning the bony bumps on its spine were small.4

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

?How big was Ligabueino?

About 79 cm (2.6 ft) long, which is about the size of a cat.1

?Was Ligabueino a baby?

Yes, the only known fossil was a juvenile. Its vertebrae were not fully fused, showing it was not fully grown.1

?What did Ligabueino eat?

It was a meat-eater, a theropod dinosaur that hunted other small animals.1 4

?Where did Ligabueino live?

It lived in what is now Patagonia, Argentina, during the Early Cretaceous Period, about 125 million years ago.1

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For dino experts

Scientific name: Ligabueino
Named by: Bonaparte 19964
Group: Meat-eating dinos
Family / clade: Noasauridae4
Classification: Theropoda > Ceratosauria4
Age of the rocks: 126 to 120 million years (Barremian / Aptian)4
Rock formations: La Amarga4
Countries: Argentina4
Fossil records: 1 in the Paleobiology Database4
Discovery: Ligabueino was named by Argentine paleontologist José Bonaparte in 1996. The fossil was found by Italian doctor Giancarlo Ligabue in the La Amarga Formation of Argentina.1 4
Still debated: Scientists still debate whether Ligabueino is a noasaurid or a more primitive abelisauroid, because the only known fossil is from a juvenile and is very incomplete.1

Where the facts come from

Ligabueino (en.wikipedia.org)
PBDB Taxon (paleobiodb.org)
Ligabueino andesi | Dinosaur Database by DinoAnimals.com (dinoanimals.com)
Ligabueino 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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