Lourinhasaurus
Lourinhasaurus was a huge plant-eating dinosaur that lived in what is now Portugal. It had a long neck and tail, and it munched on leaves from tall trees. This gentle giant was one of the most complete sauropod skeletons ever found in Portugal!1
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Fun facts
Lourinhasaurus is known from one of the most complete sauropod skeletons ever discovered in Portugal.1
It was first thought to be a type of Apatosaurus, but later scientists gave it its own name in 1998.12
The name Lourinhasaurus means 'lizard from Lourinhã,' even though the first skeleton was actually found near Alenquer, not Lourinhã.1
It lived during the Late Jurassic period, about 150 million years ago.1
Lourinhasaurus was closely related to Camarasaurus, another long-necked dinosaur from North America.1
The first fossils of Lourinhasaurus were discovered in 1949 by an American geologist named Harold Weston Robbins.1
Most asked questions about Lourinhasaurus
?How big was Lourinhasaurus?
Lourinhasaurus was about 15 to 18 metres (49 to 59 feet) long and weighed around 5 metric tons (5.5 short tons).1
?What did Lourinhasaurus eat?
Lourinhasaurus was a herbivore, meaning it ate plants. It used its long neck to reach leaves from tall trees.1
?When did Lourinhasaurus live?
Lourinhasaurus lived during the Late Jurassic period, about 150 million years ago.1
?Where was Lourinhasaurus found?
The first Lourinhasaurus skeleton was found near Alenquer, Portugal, in 1949. Another skeleton was later found near Lourinhã, Portugal.1
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For dino experts
- Scientific name
- Lourinhasaurus
- Named by
- Dantas et al. 19983
- Group
- Long-necks
- Family / clade
- Camarasauridae3
- Classification
- Sauropodomorpha > Sauropoda > Macronaria3
- Age of the rocks
- 152 to 145 million years (Kimmeridgian / Tithonian)3
- Rock formations
- Lourinhã, Alcobaça3
- Countries
- Portugal3
- Fossil records
- 5 in the Paleobiology Database3
- Discovery
- Lourinhasaurus was first named in 1998 by paleontologist Pedro Dantas and his team. The first fossil, a partial skeleton, was found in 1949 near Alenquer, Portugal, by American geologist Harold Weston Robbins.1
- Still debated
- Scientists are still debating whether some fossils once thought to belong to Lourinhasaurus actually belong to a different dinosaur, like Dinheirosaurus.1
Where the facts come from
- Lourinhasaurus (en.wikipedia.org)
- Lourinhasaurus n. gen. A new sauropod dinosaur from the Upper Jurassic (Upper Kimmeridgian-Lower Tithonian) of Portugal (naturalhistory.si.edu)
- Lourinhasaurus in The Paleobiology Database (CC BY 4.0): age, places, rock formations, classification.
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