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early dinosaur
Chilesaurus
Say it like this: “CHIH-lee-SOR-us”
Chilesaurus diegosuarezi
Chilesaurus ate plants and walked on two legs. It lived in the Late Jurassic. Bones have been found in Chile.
- When
- Late Jurassic (Tithonian) · roughly 149.2 to 143.1 million years ago
- Named in
- 2015 · Novas, F. E.; Salgado, L.; Suárez, M.; Agnolín, F. L.; Ezcurra, M. D.; Chimento, N. R.; de la Cruz, R.; Isasi, M. P.; Vargas, A. O.; Rubilar-Rogers, D.
- Hip height
- 0.9 m · 3 ft
- Length
- 1.6–3.2 m · 5–10 ft
- Weight
- 17 kg · 37 lb
- Found in
- Chile · Toqui
- Food and walking
- Herbivore · Two legs
- Kind
- early dinosaur · Early dinosaur
- Family branch
- Dinosauria
The story in short
Chilesaurus was formally named in 2015 by F. E. Novas and colleagues. The name honors a person tied to the fossil or its study.
Fossils referred to Chilesaurus date to the Late Jurassic (Tithonian), roughly 149.2 to 143.1 million years ago. Finds come from Chile, including the Toqui Formation. It was a herbivore and walked on two legs.
Published estimates put Chilesaurus at a length near 1.6–3.2 m, hips about 0.9 m high, and a body mass around 17 kg.
On the family tree it sits in Dinosauria, among the earliest dinosaurs.