Skip to content
Category

Saltasauridae

page 1
Alamosaurus
Alamosaurus (; meaning "Ojo Alamo lizard") is a genus of titanosaurian sauropod dinosaurs containing a single known species, Alamosaurus sanjuanensis, from the Maastrichtian age of the Late Cretaceous period in what is now southwestern North America. It is one of the few known titanosaurs to have inhabited North America after the nearly 30-million-year absence of sauropods from the North American fossil record ("sauropod hiatus") and probably represents an immigrant from South America.
Saltasaurus
Saltasaurus (which means "lizard from Salta") is a genus of saltasaurid dinosaur of the Late Cretaceous period of Argentina. Small among sauropods, though still heavy by the standards of modern creatures, Saltasaurus was characterized by a short neck and stubby limbs. It was the first genus of sauropod known to possess armour of bony plates embedded in its skin. Such small bony plates, called osteoderms, have since been found on other titanosaurians.
Opisthocoelicaudia
Opisthocoelicaudia is a genus of sauropod dinosaur of the Late Cretaceous Period discovered in the Gobi Desert of Mongolia. The type species is Opisthocoelicaudia skarzynskii. A well-preserved skeleton lacking only the head and neck was unearthed in 1965 by Polish and Mongolian scientists, making Opisthocoelicaudia one of the best known sauropods from the Late Cretaceous. Tooth marks on this skeleton indicate that large carnivorous dinosaurs had fed on the carcass and possibly had carried away the now-missing parts. To date, only two additional, much less complete specimens are known, includin
Saltasauridae
Saltasauridae (named after the Salta region of Argentina where they were first found) is a family of armored herbivorous sauropods from the Upper Cretaceous. They are known from fossils found in South America, Africa, Asia, North America, and Europe. They are characterized by their vertebrae and feet, which are similar to those of Saltasaurus, the first of the group to be discovered and the source of the name. The last and largest of the group and only one found in North America, Alamosaurus, was in length and one of the last sauropods to go extinct.
Trigonosaurus
Trigonosaurus (meaning "triangle lizard" after Triangulo Mineiro, where it was found), is a genus of saltasaurid dinosaurs from the Maastrichtian Serra da Galga Formation of Brazil. The type species, Trigonosaurus pricei, was first described by Campos, Kellner, Bertini, and Santucci in 2005. It was based on two specimens, both consisting mainly of vertebrae. The two specimens were originally believed to have come from the same individual. However, one specimen was described as the holotype of Caieiria in 2022, while the holotype may have instead come from Baurutitan. Before its description, it
Neuquensaurus
Neuquensaurus (meaning "Neuquén lizard") is a genus of saltasaurid sauropod dinosaur that lived in the Late Cretaceous, about 80 million years ago in Argentina in South America. Its fossils were recovered from outcrops of the Anacleto Formation around Cinco Saltos, near the Neuquén river from which its name is derived.
Rocasaurus muniozi
Rocasaurus (meaning "General Roca lizard") is a genus of titanosaurian sauropod that lived in South America. Rocasaurus was discovered in Argentina in 2000, within the Allen Formation which is dated to be middle Campanian to early Maastrichtian in age (75 to 70 million years ago in the Late Cretaceous). This genus grew up to long, making it one of the smaller sauropods. It seems to be closely related to saltasaurid dinosaurs, like Saltasaurus and Neuquensaurus. The type species, Rocasaurus muniozi, was formally described by Leonardo Salgado and Azpilicueta in 2000.
Bonatitan
Bonatitan is a genus of titanosaurian dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous Allen Formation of Argentina. It was named in 2004.
Pellegrinisaurus
Pellegrinisaurus (meaning Lizard from Pelligrini) is a genus of titanosaurian sauropod dinosaur that lived in South America during the Late Cretaceous period. The holotype was found in the Allen Formation, Argentina.
Ibirania
Ibirania (meaning "Ibirá wanderer" or "tree wanderer") is a genus of dwarf saltasaurine titanosaur dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous (Santonian to Campanian) São José do Rio Preto Formation (Bauru Basin) of Southeast Brazil. The type species is Ibirania parva. It is one of the smallest sauropods known to date, comparable in size to the titanosaur Magyarosaurus.
Loricosaurus
Loricosaurus (meaning "armor lizard") is a genus of sauropod represented by a single species, L. scutatus. It is a titanosaur that lived near the end of the Late Cretaceous period, approximately 71 million years ago in the early Maastrichtian, being found in the province of Neuquen, Argentina in the Allen Formation. Due to the presence of armor, at first it was believed that it was an ankylosaur, but today it is considered to be that of a titanosaur.
Abditosaurus
Abditosaurus (meaning "forgotten lizard") is an extinct genus of titanosaurian sauropod dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) Conques Formation (Tremp Group) of Catalonia, Spain. The genus contains a single species, Abditosaurus kuehnei, known from a partial specimen representing the most complete titanosaur skeleton found in Europe. Phylogenetic analyses recover it within a clade of South American and African saltasaurines, distinct from other insular dwarf sauropods from the European archipelago. Abditosaurus inhabited the Ibero-Armorican Island, a prehistoric island made up of w
Opisthocoelicaudiinae
Opisthocoelicaudiinae is a subfamily of titanosaurian dinosaurs from the Late Cretaceous. It was named by John McIntosh in 1990. Opisthocoelicaudiines are known from Mongolia, Argentina, and the United States. Two genera were assigned to Opisthocoelicaudiinae by Gonzalez et al. (2009): Alamosaurus and Opisthocoelicaudia (the type genus), a conclusion also found by Díez Díaz et al. (2018). The hands of opisthocoelicaudiines lacked wrist bones and phalanges.
Qingxiusaurus
Qingxiusaurus (meaning "Qingxiu lizard"; "Qingxiu" is short for Pinyin "shangqingshuixiu", which means "a picturesque scenery of mountains and water in Guangxi") is a genus of titanosaur sauropod dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous Dashi Site of Guangxi, China. The type species, described by Mo et al. in 2008, is Q. youjiangensis. Like other sauropods, Qingxiusaurus would have been a large quadrupedal herbivore. It is known from only limited remains collected in 1991: Two humeri, two sternal plates, and the neural spine of a single vertebra.
Saltasaurinae
Saltasaurinae is a subfamily of titanosaurian sauropods known from the late Cretaceous period of South America, India and Madagascar.
Yamanasaurus
Yamanasaurus (meaning "Yamana lizard") is an extinct genus of saltasaurine titanosaurian dinosaur from the Río Playas Formation of Ecuador, which dates to the Campanian-Maastrichtian of the late Cretaceous period (approximately 75-70 million years ago). The type and only species is Yamanasaurus lojaensis, representing the first non-avian dinosaur described from Ecuador. The holotype, consisting of fragments of a humerus, ulna, tibia, two sacral vertebrae and a single caudal, was discovered in 2017.
Qunkasaura
Qunkasaura is a genus of saltasauroid titanosaur dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous (Campanian–Maastrichtian) Lo Hueco site of the Villalba de la Sierra Formation of Spain. The type species is Qunkasaura pintiquiniestra.
Zhuchengtitan
Zhuchengtitan (meaning "Zhucheng titan") is a genus of titanosaurian sauropod dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous of Shandong, China. It contains a single species, Z. zangjiazhuangensis, named by Mo Jinyou and colleagues in 2017 from a single humerus. Zhuchengtitan can be identified by the extreme width of the top end of its humerus, as well as the expansion of the deltopectoral crest on its humerus; both of these characteristics indicate that it was likely closely related to Opisthocoelicaudia. However, it differs from the latter by the flatter bottom articulating surface of its humerus. Zhuche