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beaked plant-eater
Gasparinisaura
Say it like this: “gas-pah-REEN-ee-SAWR-a”
Gasparinisaura cincosaltensis
Gasparinisaura ate plants and walked on two legs. It lived in the Late Cretaceous. Bones have been found in Argentina.
- When
- Late Cretaceous (Campanian) · roughly 83.6 to 72.2 million years ago
- Named in
- 1996 · Coria, R. A.; Salgado, L.
- Hip height
- 0.5 m · 2 ft
- Length
- 1.7 m · 6 ft
- Weight
- 13 kg · 29 lb
- Found in
- Argentina · Anacleto
- Food and walking
- Herbivore · Two legs
- Kind
- beaked plant-eater · Ornithopod
- Family branch
- Elasmaria
The story in short
The genus Gasparinisaura dates to 1996, the year R. A. Coria and L. Salgado described it. The name honors a person tied to the fossil or its study.
Fossils referred to Gasparinisaura date to the Late Cretaceous (Campanian), roughly 83.6 to 72.2 million years ago. Finds come from Argentina, including the Anacleto Formation. It was a herbivore and walked on two legs.
Published estimates put Gasparinisaura at a length near 1.7 m, hips about 0.5 m high, and a body mass around 13 kg.
On the family tree it sits in Elasmaria, among the ornithopod dinosaurs.
Close relatives
Anabisetia
Anabisetia saldiviai
Late Cretaceous (Turonian) · roughly 93.9 to 89.8 million years ago
Atlascopcosaurus
Atlascopcosaurus loadsi
Early Cretaceous (Barremian · Aptian · Albian) · roughly 125.8 to 100.5 million years ago
Chakisaurus
Chakisaurus nekul
Late Cretaceous (Cenomanian · Turonian) · roughly 100.5 to 89.8 million years ago