Argentinosaurus ("Argentina lizard") was a herbivorous sauropod dinosaur that is quite possibly the largest, heaviest land animal that ever lived. It developed on the island continent of South America during the middle of the Cretaceous period (around 100 million years ago), after all of its more familiar Laurasian Jurassic kin — like Apatosaurus — had long disappeared.

Description

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Not much of Argentinosaurus has been recovered: just some back vertebrae, tibia, fragmentary ribs, and sacrum. One vertebra had a length of 1.3 metres and the tibia was about 155 centimetres (58 inches) However, the spectacular proportions of these bones and the familiarity of the species' sauropod relatives allows paleontologists to estimate that full-grown specimens reached some 40 metres (125 feet). Weight was perhaps 90 to 110 tonnes. Vast wings on the vertebrae suited the attachment of massive muscles. Some scientists think this could be the largest dinosaur that ever lived.

Classification and history

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The type species of Argentinosaurus, A. huinculensis, was described and published (by the Argentinian palaeontologists José F. Bonaparte and Rodolfo Coria) in 1993. Its more specific time-frame within the Cretaceous is the Albian to Cenomanian epochs, 112.2 to 93.5 million years ago.

The fossil discovery site is in the Río Limay Formation in Neuquén Province, Argentina. Due to the enormous size of each bone, Rodolfo Coria apparently told National Geographic Magazine, who were covering the event, "God forbid we ever find a complete one."

External links

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• "Argentinosaurus". DinoData.
• Brief introduction and an idea of the scale of a vertebra
• Another brief introduction, with the restoration at Fernbank Museum, Atlanta, Georgia
• Argentinosaurus vs. Mapusaurus

Cretaceous dinosaurs | Titanosaurs | South American dinosaurs

Argentinosaurus | Argentinosaurus | Argentinosaurus | Argentinosaurus huinculensis | Argentinozauras | Argentinosaurus | Argentinossauro | Argentinosaurus | Argentinosaurus | 阿根廷龙