Dino card No. 1054 of 2,027

Ligabuesaurus

Name means: “Ligabue lizard, after Dr Giancarlo Ligabue”1

Ate: PlantsLong-necksEarly Cretaceous

Ligabuesaurus was a huge, long-necked plant-eater that stomped through what is now Argentina about 112 million years ago. It had strong legs and a small head with teeth shaped like spoons to munch on leaves.2 1

Lived

113 to 110 million years ago3

Early Cretaceous

Fossils found in

Cerro de los Leones, Neuquén Province, Patagonia, Argentina3 2

Food

Plants2 1

Length

18 to 18.7 m2

estimates range from 18 to 18.7 metres

Weight

14.5 tonnes to 29 tonnes2

Height

4.4 m2

at the shoulder

When did it live?

Triassic

Jurassic

Cretaceous

252 million years ago20114566, the asteroid

How big was it?

How long was it?

How tall was it?

at the shoulder

How heavy was it?

as heavy as 5 elephants

as long as 4 cars parked in a rowas long as 100 bananas end to endas heavy as 19 carsas heavy as 5800 watermelonsas tall as 2 doors stacked up

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cool stuff

Fun facts

Ligabuesaurus is known from only a few bones, including part of the upper jaw with teeth, neck and back vertebrae, and leg bones.2 1

Its thigh bone (femur) was 166 cm long, about as tall as a grown man.2

Scientists think Ligabuesaurus weighed between 17 and 29 tons, as much as 4 to 7 elephants.2

The first skeleton was discovered by geologist Héctor Leanza in 1997, and the dinosaur was named after him and the explorer Giancarlo Ligabue.2

Ligabuesaurus lived in a river-filled landscape, alongside other sauropods like Limaysaurus and the mysterious Agustinia.2

Some scientists think Ligabuesaurus was a titanosaur, while others say it was a close cousin of titanosaurs called a somphospondylan.2

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

?How big was Ligabuesaurus?

Scientists estimate it was about 18 to 19 metres (59 to 62 feet) long and weighed between 17 and 29 tonnes, as much as 3 to 5 elephants.2 1

?What did Ligabuesaurus eat?

It was a plant-eater (herbivore). It had spoon-shaped teeth to munch on leaves.2 1

?When did Ligabuesaurus live?

It lived during the Early Cretaceous period, about 112 to 99 million years ago.2 1

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For dino experts

Scientific name: Ligabuesaurus
Named by: Bonaparte et al. 20063
Group: Long-necks
Family / clade: Somphospondyli3
Classification: Sauropodomorpha > Sauropoda > Macronaria3
Age of the rocks: 113 to 110 million years (Albian)3
Rock formations: Lohan Cura3
Countries: Argentina3
Fossil records: 1 in the Paleobiology Database3
Discovery: Ligabuesaurus was named in 2006 by paleontologists José Bonaparte, Bernardo González Riga, and Sebastián Apesteguía. The fossils were found in the Lohan Cura Formation of Argentina and are stored at the Carmen Funes Museum.2 3
Still debated: Scientists still debate whether Ligabuesaurus was a true titanosaur or a more primitive somphospondylan.2

Where the facts come from

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