Lourinhasaurus
Name:
Lourinhasaurus
(Lourinha lizard).
Phonetic: Lore-in-ha-sore-us.
Named By: P. Dantas, J. L. Sanz, C. M.
Silva, F. Ortega, V. F. Santos & M. Cachao -
1998.
Synonyms: Apatosaurus alenquerensis,
Atlantosaurus alenquerensis, Camarasaurus alenquerensis.
Classification: Chordata, Reptilia, Dinosauria,
Saurischia, Sauropodomorpha, Sauropoda, Eusauropoda, Macronaria,
Camarasauridae.
Species: L. alenquerensis
(type).
Diet: Herbivore.
Size: Estimated to be about 17 meters long.
Known locations: Portugal.
Time period: Late Kimmeridgian/Early Tithonian of
the Jurassic.
Fossil representation: Several individuals, but
usually represented only by partial remains.
Fossils
of Lourinhasaurus were first described in
1957, but were
initially thought to be a species of Apatosaurus.
A second individual
described in 1983 led to the notion that the fossils were not of a
new species but an entirely new genus. Fossils of Lourinhasaurus
have
also previously been labelled as species of the genera Atlantosaurus
and Camarasaurus.
Another genus of sauropod
from Portugal called
Dinheirosaurus
has been previously considered to be a synonym of
Lourinhasaurus, though modern study has identified
these two genera
as being separate.
Lourinhasaurus
was a late Jurassic era sauropod that seems to have been quite common
in Western Europe during the Jurassic, since it is known by the
remains of several individuals. Although initial classification as a
species of Apatosaurus may lead some to assume Lourinhasaurus
was like
other diplodocids, later studies have suggested that Lourinhasaurus
was actually more like Camarasaurus in form. This
means that
Lourinhasaurus was likely more suited to the life of
a high browser.
Lourinhasaurus
should not be confused with the very similarly named Lourinhanosaurus,
a very different kind of theropod dinosaur to the sauropod that
Lourinhasaurus was.
Further reading
- Lourinhasaurus n. gen. Novo dinosaurio sauropode do Juassico
superior (Kimeridgiano superior-Titoniano inferior) de Portugal
[Lourinhasaurus n. gen. New sauropod dinosaur
from the Upper
Jurassic (upper Kimmeridgian-lower Tithonian) of Portugal], P.
Dantas, J. L. Sanz, C. M. Silva, F. Ortega, V. F.
Santos & M. Cachao - 1998.
- New approach to Lourinhasaurus alenquerensis
(Macronaria,
Camarasauromorpha) from the Portuguese Upper Jurassic, by P. Mocho, R.
Royo-Torres & F. Ortega. - In, Abstract book of the VI
International Symposium about Dinosaurs Palaeontology and their
Environment: 91-92. - F. Torcida Fern�ndez-Baldor & P. Huerta
(Eds.) - 2013.
- Phylogenetic reassessment of Lourinhasaurus alenquerensis,
a basal
Macronaria (Sauropoda) from the Upper Jurassic of Portugal. -
Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 170: 875–916. - P. Mocho, R.
Royo-Torres & F. Ortega - 2014.
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