Laquintasaura

Say it like this: “la-KWIN-tuh-SOR-ruh”

Laquintasaura venezuelae

Laquintasaura ate plants and walked on two legs. It lived in the Early Jurassic. Bones have been found in Venezuela.

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When: Early Jurassic (Hettangian) · roughly 201.4 to 199.5 million years ago
Named in: 2014 · Barrett, P. M.; Butler, R. J.; Mundil, R.; Scheyer, T. M.; Irmis, R. B.; Sánchez-Villagra, M. R.
Hip height: 0.2 m · 1 ft
Length: 1 m · 3 ft
Weight: 2 kg · 4 lb
Found in: Venezuela · La Quinta
Food and walking: Herbivore · Two legs
Kind: bird-hipped dinosaur · Ornithischian
Family branch: Ornithischia

The story in short

In 2014, P. M. Barrett and colleagues published the name Laquintasaura. The name honors a person tied to the fossil or its study.

It lived in the Early Jurassic (Hettangian), roughly 201.4 to 199.5 million years ago. Finds come from Venezuela, including the La Quinta Formation. It was a herbivore and walked on two legs.

Published estimates put Laquintasaura at a length near 1 m, hips about 0.2 m high, and a body mass around 2 kg.

On the family tree it sits in Ornithischia, among the bird-hipped dinosaurs.

Close relatives

Alocodon

Alocodon kuehnei

Middle Jurassic · Late Jurassic (Callovian · Oxfordian) · roughly 165.3 to 154.8 million years ago

Amtosaurus

Amtosaurus magnus

Late Cretaceous (Cenomanian · Turonian) · roughly 100.5 to 89.8 million years ago

Archaeocursor

Archaeocursor asiaticus

Early Jurassic (Sinemurian · Pliensbachian) · roughly 199.5 to 184.2 million years ago