Bonitasaura (La Bonita Lizard) is a small titanosaurian dinosaur measuring 9 meters (30 ft) long and could reach leaves about 3 meters (10 ft) above the ground. They lived 85 million years ago in the late Cretaceous Period. Unlike other sauropods, it has a relatively short neck. The dorsal (back) vertebrae also had high and robust neural spines indicating points for strong muscle attachments. This could indicate that while the neck was short, Bonitasaura were still high browsers that cropped mouthfuls of food from the tree canopy.
Bonitasaura is named after the La Bonita Quarry where the holotype remains were found in 2004. Because Bonita is a feminine Spanish word, the genus name has been named as ‘saura’ which is also feminine as opposed to ‘saurus’ which would be masculine (both are Ancient Greek for lizard). The species named B. salgadoi is in honor of the Argentine paleontologist Leonardo Salgado. The bones found include a partial vertebrae series and limb bones, as well as a lower jaw with teeth. This was significant since most Titanosaurs' skulls are separated from their bodies during decomposition. The jaw has a sharp ridge directly behind the teeth, which were covered in keratin. A similar structure was probably on the upper jaw, and most likely chopped the vegetation that the teeth pulled in.
In The Media[]
Bonitasaura in Jurassic World: The Game
- Bonitasaura appears in Jurassic World: The Game as a dinosaur that can be obtained for the player's park.
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