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Sektensaurus

Say it: SEK-ten-SORE-us

Name means: “island lizard”1

Ate: PlantsBeaked plant-eatersLate Cretaceous

Sektensaurus was a medium-sized, plant-eating dinosaur that lived on an island in what is now Patagonia, Argentina. It walked on two legs and used its beak to munch on tough plants. It is one of the few dinosaurs known from this part of the world near the end of the Age of Dinosaurs.1 4

Lived

84 to 66 million years ago4

Late Cretaceous

Fossils found in

Fossils were found on an island in Lago Colhué Huapi, Chubut Province, Argentina.1

Food

Plants4

Length

4 to 5.3 m2 3

estimate; largest known specimen 5.3 m

Weight

200 kg to 330 kg2 3

estimate; largest known specimen 330 kg

Height

1.3 m2

at the hips

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 hips

How heavy was it?

as heavy as 11 big dogs

as long as 5 dogs nose to tailas long as 29 bananas end to endas heavy as 66 watermelonsup to the handle of a door

How big was Sektensaurus compared to YOU?

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cool stuff

Fun facts

Sektensaurus is the first non-hadrosauroid ornithopod found in central Patagonia, meaning it was not a duck-billed dinosaur but a close relative.1

Its name comes from the Tehuelche word 'sekten' meaning 'island', because its fossils were found on an island that appears when the lake level is low.1

The fossils were discovered in 1993 by a palaeontologist named Marcello Luna, but the dinosaur wasn't named until 2019.1

Scientists think Sektensaurus lived about 68 to 66 million years ago, right before the big extinction that killed the non-bird dinosaurs.1

The skeleton was found in a small area, just 3 metres (about 10 feet) across, and all the bones belonged to one adult animal.1

Some bones that were first thought to be from the arm and leg were later re-identified, showing that scientists can change their minds about fossils.1

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

?What did Sektensaurus eat?

It was a plant-eater, or herbivore. Its beak helped it munch on tough plants, and it lived on land in what is now Patagonia, Argentina.4 1

?When did Sektensaurus live?

It lived during the Late Cretaceous, about 68 to 66 million years ago, right before the big extinction that killed the non-bird dinosaurs. Some sources say it lived from the Campanian to the Maastrichtian, about 83.6 to 66 million years ago.1 4

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Myth buster

Myth: Some people think Sektensaurus was a duck-billed dinosaur like Edmontosaurus.

Truth: Sektensaurus was an ornithopod, but it was not a hadrosauroid (duck-billed). It was a more primitive type, possibly an elasmarian.1

For dino experts

Scientific name: Sektensaurus
Named by: Ibiricu et al. 20194
Group: Beaked plant-eaters
Family / clade: Elasmaria4
Classification: Ornithischia > Ornithopoda > Iguanodontia4
Age of the rocks: 84 to 66 million years (Campanian / Maastrichtian)4
Rock formations: Lago Colhué Huapi4
Countries: Argentina4
Fossil records: 2 in the Paleobiology Database4
Discovery: The first fossils were found in 1993 by Marcello Luna on an island in Lago Colhué Huapi, Argentina. More bones were collected in 2017, and the dinosaur was named Sektensaurus sanjuanboscoi in 2019 by Ibiricu and colleagues.1
Still debated: Scientists are not sure if Sektensaurus was an elasmarian, a group of small ornithopods, because the fossils are incomplete and some bones were re-identified.1

Where the facts come from

Sektensaurus (en.wikipedia.org)
Sektensaurus sanjuanboscoi (es.wikipedia.org)
Sektensaurus sanjuanboscoi | Dinosaur Database by DinoAnimals.com (dinoanimals.com)
Sektensaurus 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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