Laplatasaurus

• South America ( Argentina, Uruguay)

Laplatasaurus ( " La Plata lizard" ) is a genus of sauropod dinosaur from the Upper Cretaceous of South America. Only the type species L. araukanicus 1929 scientifically described by Huene was previously classified in the genus erected by him in 1927.

Description

The counting of the Titanosauridae Laplatasaurus lived during the Late Cretaceous (late Campanian ). He was like all sauropods an herbivore and moved away quadrupedal. He was up to 18 feet long and resembled an enlarged by 50 percent Titanosaurus, but with slimmer limbs, and pointed, like Saltasaurus, on the back of a skin armor on. Von Huene description ( 10 of them connected) two or three Präsakralwirbel based on about 20 caudal vertebrae ( vertebrae across the pelvis ( sacrum ) ) and most of the limbs. Skull material is not obtained.

Locations and type

Fossils of Laplatasaurus were in Argentina ( Castillo Formation, Bajo- Barreal lineup, Laguna Palacios Formation, Rio Negro Province and Lot Blanquitos lineup, Salta Province) and in Uruguay ( Asencio Formation) found.

Laplatasaurus was the first sauropod wherein the body armor is detected. It is named after the region of the Argentine city of La Plata, in which its fossils were found. Due to the absence of a holotype selected Bonaparte and Gasparini, 1979, the copy MLP. 26-306 ( tibia and fibula ) as the lectotype.