Andesaurus

Name: Andesaurus ‭(‬Andes lizard‭).
Phonetic: An-deez-sore-us.
Named By: Jorge O.‭ ‬Calvo and Jose F.‭ ‬Bonaparte‭ ‬-‭ ‬1991.
Classification: Chordata,‭ ‬Reptilia,‭ ‬Dinosauria,‭ ‬Saurischia,‭ ‬Sauropodomorpha,‭ ‬Sauropoda,Titanosauria.
Species: A.‭ ‬delgadoi‭ (‬type‭)‬.
Diet: Herbivore.
Size: About 15 to 18 meters long.
Known locations: Argentina,‭ ‬Neuquen Province‭ ‬-‭ ‬Candeleros Formation.
Time period: Cenomanian of the Cretaceous.
Fossil representation: Partial post cranial remains including vertebrae and fragments of the pelvis,‭ ‬ribs and hind limbs.




       Named after the Andes Mountains,‭ ‬Andesaurus was a titanosaurian sauropod dinosaur from South America,‭ ‬but one known from only incomplete remains.‭ ‬This makes it hard to be certain about such things as a total size or even a preferred diet beyond just general plants.‭ ‬The vertebrae of Andesaurus though suggest that the genus was a basal‭ (‬primitive‭) ‬titanosaur.
       Hailing from the Candeleros Formation,‭ ‬Andesaurus may have lived alongside the rebbachisaurid sauropods Limaysaurus and Nopcsaspondylus.‭ ‬Other dinosaurs active here include dromaeosaurids like Buiteraptor and alvaersaurids like Alnashetri.‭ ‬The dinosaurs of most concern to Andesaurus however would have been large abelisaurs like Ekrixinatosaurus,‭ ‬to even bigger carcharodontosaurids like Giganotosaurus,‭ ‬either one of these were capable of taking down a moderately sized sauropod.

Further reading
-‭ [‬Andesaurus delgadoi n.‭ ‬g.‭ ‬n.‭ ‬sp.‭ (‬Saurischia,‭ ‬Sauropoda‭) ‬a titanosaurid dinosaur from the Río Limay Formation‭ (‬Albian-Cenomanian‭)‬,‭ ‬Neuquén,‭ ‬Argentina.‭]‬,‭ ‬Jorge O.‭ ‬Calvo and Jose F.‭ ‬Bonaparte‭ ‬-‭ ‬1991.
- Anatomy of the basal titanosaur (Dinosauria, Sauropoda) Andesaurus delgadoi from the mid-Cretaceous (Albian–early Cenomanian) Río Limay Formation, Neuquén Province, Argentina: implications for titanosaur systematics. - Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 153: 1–27. - P. D. Mannion & J. O. Calvo - 2011.



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