Padillasaurus

Padillasaurus was first thought to be a brachiosaurid, a group of sauropods with very long front legs, but newer studies place it as a basal somphospondylan.1

The only known fossils of Padillasaurus are vertebrae from the back, sacrum, and tail, all from one animal.1

Its fossils were found in marine rocks, meaning the dinosaur's body washed into the sea after death.2

Padillasaurus lived about 130 million years ago, during the Barremian stage of the Early Cretaceous.1

The dinosaur was named after Carlos Bernardo Padilla, who helped start a paleontology center in Villa de Leyva.1

Ammonite fossils found with Padillasaurus helped scientists date the rocks to the late Barremian.1