Zapalasaurus
Zapalasaurus was a long-necked plant-eater that lived in what is now Patagonia, Argentina, about 130 to 120 million years ago. It walked on four sturdy legs and used its long neck to reach leaves and ferns without moving its body much. This dinosaur was a early relative of the famous Diplodocus.1
Cando viviu?
Que velocidade alcanzaba?
Datos curiosos
The first fossils of Zapalasaurus were found in 1995 at a place called Puesto Morales, and more bones were dug up in 2004.1
Zapalasaurus is named after the city of Zapala, which is about 80 kilometres (50 miles) north of where its bones were discovered.1
Unlike some other long-necked dinosaurs, Zapalasaurus probably fed at ground level, while other sauropods in the same area ate plants higher up.1
Its tail vertebrae double in length from front to back, a feature shared with the more advanced diplodocines.2
Zapalasaurus belonged to a group called rebbachisaurids, which were early cousins of Diplodocus and lived mainly in the Early Cretaceous.31
The species name bonapartei honors the famous Argentine paleontologist José Bonaparte, who helped collect the first bones.1

As preguntas máis frecuentes sobre Zapalasaurus
?How big was Zapalasaurus?
Scientists do not know its exact size because only a partial skeleton has been found. It was a medium-sized sauropod, but no length or weight estimates have been published.1
?What did Zapalasaurus eat?
Zapalasaurus was a plant-eater. It used its long neck to browse a wide variety of low-growing plants and greens without having to walk very far.1
?When did Zapalasaurus live?
Zapalasaurus lived during the Early Cretaceous, about 130 to 120 million years ago.1
?Did Zapalasaurus have feathers?
No. Zapalasaurus was a sauropod dinosaur, and there is no evidence that any sauropod had feathers.1
Para expertos en dinos
- Nome científico
- Zapalasaurus
- Bautizado por
- Salgado et al. 20063
- Grupo
- Pescozos longos
- Familia / clado
- Rebbachisauridae3
- Clasificación
- Sauropodomorpha > Sauropoda > Diplodocoidea3
- Idade das rochas
- de 126 a 120 millóns de anos (Barremian / Aptian)3
- Formacións rochosas
- La Amarga3
- Países
- Arxentina3
- Rexistros fósiles
- 1 na Paleobiology Database3
- Descubrimento
- Zapalasaurus was first described in 2006 by a team led by Leonardo Salgado. The bones were collected by scientists from the Bernardino Rivadavia Natural Sciences Museum and the Juan A. Olsacher Museum, with help from José Bonaparte.1
- Aínda en debate
- Scientists are not sure exactly how big Zapalasaurus grew, because only a partial skeleton has been found.1
De onde veñen os datos
- Zapalasaurus (en.wikipedia.org)
- Translated by Michael D’Emic University of Michigan (naturalhistory.si.edu)
- Zapalasaurus in The Paleobiology Database (CC BY 4.0): idade, lugares, formacións rochosas, clasificación.
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