Tapuiasaurus
Tapuiasaurus was a long-necked plant-eater that lived in Brazil during the Early Cretaceous. It had a long, low skull like a Diplodocus, and its teeth were shaped like pencils and only grew at the front of its mouth.1
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Fun facts
Tapuiasaurus is the earliest known advanced titanosaurian, showing that this group had already started to diversify at least 30 million years before the Late Cretaceous.1
Its skull is the most complete skull ever found for a titanosaurian sauropod, and it was discovered in South America.1
The skull of Tapuiasaurus was long and low, with nostrils that were pulled back to the level of the eyes, similar to Diplodocus.1
Its teeth were narrow and cylindrical, only found at the front of the snout, perfect for stripping leaves off branches.1
The name Tapuiasaurus honors the Tapuia people, an indigenous group from the interior of Brazil.1
Most asked questions about Tapuiasaurus
?How big was Tapuiasaurus?
Scientists do not know its exact size yet, but it was a sauropod dinosaur with a long neck and a nearly complete skull about 30 to 40 centimeters long.13
?What did Tapuiasaurus eat?
Tapuiasaurus was a plant-eater. Its narrow, pencil-shaped teeth at the front of its mouth were perfect for stripping leaves off branches.1
?When did Tapuiasaurus live?
Tapuiasaurus lived during the Early Cretaceous period, in the Aptian age, about 121 to 113 million years ago.3
?Where was Tapuiasaurus found?
Its fossils were discovered in the Quiricó Formation of the São Francisco Basin in Minas Gerais, eastern Brazil.3
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For dino experts
- Scientific name
- Tapuiasaurus
- Named by
- Zaher et al. 20114
- Group
- Long-necks
- Family / clade
- Saltasauroidea4
- Classification
- Sauropodomorpha > Sauropoda > Titanosauria > Macronaria4
- Age of the rocks
- 121 to 113 million years (Aptian)4
- Rock formations
- Quiricó4
- Countries
- Brazil4
- Fossil records
- 1 in the Paleobiology Database4
- Discovery
- Tapuiasaurus was named in 2011 by a team led by Hussam Zaher, based on a partial skeleton with a nearly complete skull found in the Quiricó Formation of Brazil. The species name macedoi honors Ubirajara Alves Macedo, who first found the fossil site.41
- Still debated
- Scientists are still debating exactly how Tapuiasaurus is related to other advanced titanosaurians, because its skull shows features that appear earlier than expected.1
Where the facts come from
- A Complete Skull of an Early Cretaceous Sauropod and the Evolution of Advanced Titanosaurians | PLOS One (journals.plos.org)
- Tapuiasaurus macedoi | Dinosaur Database by DinoAnimals.com (dinoanimals.com)
- Tapuiasaurus (en.wikipedia.org)
- Tapuiasaurus in The Paleobiology Database (CC BY 4.0): age, places, rock formations, classification.
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