Dino card No. 1069 of 2,027

Lirainosaurus

Say it: LEER-ah-no-SORE-us

Name means: “slender lizard”1

Ate: PlantsLong-necksLate Cretaceous

Lirainosaurus was a small, slender sauropod that lived in what is now Spain and France during the Late Cretaceous. It was one of the smallest known sauropods, about as long as a car, and it walked on four sturdy legs.1

Lived

84 to 66 million years ago3

Late Cretaceous

Fossils found in

Spain (Laño, Basque Country) and France (Bellevue, Fox-Amphoux,Métisson)1 3

Food

Plants3

Length

4 to 6 m1

largest individuals may have reached 6 metres

Weight

2 tonnes to 4 tonnes1

When did it live?

Triassic

Jurassic

Cretaceous

252 million years ago20114566, the asteroid

How big was it?

as long as 3 bicycles in a rowas long as 33 bananas end to endas heavy as 2.5 carsas heavy as 130 big dogsas heavy as 800 watermelons

How big was Lirainosaurus compared to YOU?

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cool stuff

Fun facts

Lirainosaurus is known from a skull fragment, isolated teeth, several vertebrae, and limb bones.1

It lived alongside other dinosaurs like the titanosaur Ampelosaurus and the plant-eater Rhabdodon.1

Scientists think Lirainosaurus weighed about as much as a small car, between 2 and 4 metric tons.1

Its name comes from the Basque word 'lirain', meaning slender, because it had a light build for a sauropod.1

Lirainosaurus belongs to a group of sauropods called titanosaurs, which were common in the Late Cretaceous.1

Fossils of Lirainosaurus have been found in rocks that were once a coastal plain or shallow sea environment.1

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

?How big was Lirainosaurus?

Lirainosaurus was a small sauropod, about 4 to 6 metres (13 to 20 feet) long, which is about the length of a car. It weighed around 2 to 4 tonnes.1 2

?What did Lirainosaurus eat?

Lirainosaurus was a plant-eater, like all sauropods. It used its long neck to reach leaves and other plants.1

?When did Lirainosaurus live?

Lirainosaurus lived during the Late Cretaceous period, about 72 to 70 million years ago.1 3

?Where was Lirainosaurus found?

Fossils of Lirainosaurus have been found in Spain and France, in rocks that were once a coastal plain or shallow sea environment.1 3

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For dino experts

Scientific name: Lirainosaurus
Named by: Sanz et al. 19993
Group: Long-necks
Family / clade: Lirainosaurinae3
Classification: Sauropodomorpha > Sauropoda > Titanosauria > Macronaria3
Age of the rocks: 84 to 66 million years (Campanian / Maastrichtian)3
Rock formations: Sierra Perenchiza, Vitoria, Sedano3
Countries: Spain, France3
Fossil records: 10 in the Paleobiology Database3
Discovery: Lirainosaurus was named in 1999 by Sanz, Powell, Le Loeuff, Martinez, and Pereda-Suberbiola based on fossils from Laño, Spain.1 3
Still debated: Scientists are still debating exactly how Lirainosaurus is related to other titanosaurs, with some studies placing it close to Alamosaurus and others grouping it with Ampelosaurus.1

Where the facts come from

Lirainosaurus (en.wikipedia.org)
Titanosaur skeleton (palaeo-electronica.org)
Lirainosaurus 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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