Sidersaura
Sidersaura was a huge, long-necked plant-eater that lived in what is now Argentina. It may have been one of the biggest members of its dinosaur family, reaching about the length of a school bus. Its star-shaped tail bones gave it the name 'star lizard'.1
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Fun facts
Sidersaura had a hole between its forehead and top of the skull called a frontoparietal foramen, which is rare among sauropods. Only a few other long-necked dinosaurs like Apatosaurus have it.1
Its thigh bone (femur) was 1.55 metres (5.1 feet) long, making it the biggest known of any rebbachisaurid dinosaur.1
The bones of four Sidersaura individuals were discovered together, including one found just 20 metres (66 feet) from the skeleton of the giant meat-eater Meraxes.1
Sidersaura belongs to a group called rebbachisaurids, which mostly lived in the southern continents. It was one of the last of its kind before they went extinct.12
The star-shaped haemal arches (bones under the tail) of Sidersaura earned it the name 'star lizard'. No other named dinosaur has exactly this shape.1
Most asked questions about Sidersaura
?How big was Sidersaura?
Sidersaura was about 18 to 20 metres (59 to 66 ft) long and weighed around 15 tons. It was one of the largest members of its dinosaur family.12
?What did Sidersaura eat?
Sidersaura was a plant-eater (herbivore). It ate plants, using its long neck to reach high or low vegetation.13
?When did Sidersaura live?
Sidersaura lived about 106 million years ago, during the Early Cretaceous period.1
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For dino experts
- Scientific name
- Sidersaura
- Named by
- Lerzo et al. 20243
- Group
- Long-necks
- Family / clade
- Rebbachisauridae3
- Classification
- Sauropodomorpha > Sauropoda > Diplodocoidea3
- Age of the rocks
- 110 to 106 million years (Albian)3
- Rock formations
- Huincul3
- Countries
- Argentina3
- Fossil records
- 2 in the Paleobiology Database3
- Discovery
- The fossils of Sidersaura were found in 2012 near Villa El Chocón, Argentina, and were dug up over five years. Scientists led by Lucas Lerzo named it in 2024, after Mara Ripoll, a fossil preparator.1
- Still debated
- Scientists are still debating exactly how Sidersaura is related to other rebbachisaurids, especially because it has some features that are also seen in titanosaurs.12
Where the facts come from
- Sidersaura (en.wikipedia.org)
- The last of the oldies: a basal rebbachisaurid (Sauropoda, Diplodocoidea) from the early Late Cretaceous (Cenomanian, Turonian) of Patagonia, Argentina: Historical Biology: Vol 37 , No 2 - Get Access (tandfonline.com)
- Sidersaura in The Paleobiology Database (CC BY 4.0): age, places, rock formations, classification.
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