Dino card No. 1576 of 2,027

Sanjuansaurus

Name means: “San Juan Province lizard”1

Ate: MeatFirst dinosaursLate Triassic

Sanjuansaurus was an early meat-eating dinosaur that lived about 231 million years ago in what is now Argentina. It was a fast hunter with sharp claws and teeth, and it was one of the first dinosaurs to appear on Earth.2 1

Lived

237 to 227 million years ago4

Late Triassic

Fossils found in

Ischigualasto Provincial Park, San Juan Province, Argentina2 4

Food

Meat1

Length

2.5 to 3.5 m2

estimated from a medium-sized Herrerasaurus

When did it live?

Triassic

Jurassic

Cretaceous

252 million years ago20114566, the asteroid

How big was it?

How long was it?

as long as 4 dogs nose to tailas long as 19 bananas end to end

How big was Sanjuansaurus compared to YOU?

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cool stuff

Fun facts

Sanjuansaurus had a short pubis bone that was only 63% of the length of its thigh bone, which is a unique feature among its relatives.2

It lived in a warm, wet floodplain with forests of ferns and giant conifers, alongside other early dinosaurs like Herrerasaurus and Eoraptor.1

The only known fossil of Sanjuansaurus was found in an area of just one square meter, suggesting all the bones came from a single animal.2

Sanjuansaurus was about the same size as a medium-sized Herrerasaurus, and slightly larger than Staurikosaurus.2

The name Sanjuansaurus honors San Juan Province in Argentina, where the fossil was discovered.1

Scientists think Sanjuansaurus was a fast runner because its leg bones were long and slender, built for speed.2

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

?How big was Sanjuansaurus?

About 3 metres (10 feet) long. It was about the size of a medium Herrerasaurus, with a thigh bone 395 mm (15.6 in) long.3 1

?What did Sanjuansaurus eat?

It was a carnivore, meaning it ate meat. It had sharp claws and teeth to hunt other animals.3 1

?When did Sanjuansaurus live?

It lived about 231 million years ago during the Late Triassic Period, in what is now Argentina.1 2

?Was Sanjuansaurus a dinosaur?

Yes, it was an early meat-eating dinosaur called a herrerasaurid. It is one of the first dinosaurs to appear on Earth.1 2

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For dino experts

Scientific name: Sanjuansaurus
Named by: Alcober and Martínez 20104
Group: First dinosaurs
Family / clade: Herrerasauridae4
Classification: Herrerasauridae4
Age of the rocks: 237 to 227 million years (Carnian)4
Rock formations: Ischigualasto4
Countries: Argentina4
Fossil records: 1 in the Paleobiology Database4
Discovery: Sanjuansaurus was named in 2010 by paleontologists Oscar Alcober and Ricardo Martínez, based on a partial skeleton found in 1994 in the Ischigualasto Formation of Argentina.2 4
Still debated: Scientists are still debating whether herrerasaurids like Sanjuansaurus were early theropods or a separate group of dinosaurs that lived before theropods evolved.2

Where the facts come from

Sanjuansaurus (en.wikipedia.org)
A new herrerasaurid (Dinosauria, Saurischia) from the Upper Triassic Ischigualasto Formation of northwestern Argentina (pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)
PaleoCodex :: Sanjuansaurus (paleocodex.com)
Sanjuansaurus 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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