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Lourinhasaurus
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An artist's illustration of Lourinhasaurus alenquerensis
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
clade: Dinosauria
Order: Saurischia
Suborder: Sauropodomorpha
Infraorder: Sauropoda
Family: Camarasauridae
Genus: Lourinhasaurus
Dantas, Sanz, Silva, Ortega, dos Santos & Cachão, 1998
Binomial name
Lourinhasaurus alenquerensis
Lapparent & Zbyszewski, 1957

Lourinhasaurus (meaning "Lourinhã lizard") is a Primitive Sauropod from the late Jurassic of Portugal (Late Kimmeriggian to Early Tithonian). It was a herbivore dinosaur, measuring about 17 metres in lenght and 6 metres in height. It resembles Camarasaurus, albeit with proporcionaly longer forelimbs.

History[]

In 1949, a partial skeleton was found near the village of Alenquer. It was only described in 1957 and was named by  Albert-Félix de Lapparent and Georges Zbyszewski as Apatosaurus alenquerensis. After that, in 1970, Rodney Steel renamed it Atlantosaurus alenquerensis; in 1978 George Olshevsky renamed it Brontosaurus alenquerensis and, in 1990, John Stanton McIntosh proposed that it was a species of Camarasaurus: C. alenquerensis.

However, when a second individual, which had been found in 1983 (ML 414), was described in 1998, by Pedro Dantas et al they noticed that this animal was so different from Apatosaurus that it represented an intirelly new genus: Lourinhasaurus.

Material[]

Since its discouvery, several individuals of Lourinhasaurus have been uncouvered, albeit, being usually only represented by partial remains.

Lourinhasaurs-fémur

A femur of Lourinhasaurus alenquerensis at the Museu Geológico e Mineiro, in Lisbon.

Paleobiology[]

Lourinhasaurus was a sauropd dinosaur and, therefore, a herbivore. Measuring about 17 metres in lenght and 6 metres in height, it resembles Camarasaurus, albeit with proporcionaly longer forelimbs.

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.

Lourinhasaurus

A small herd of Lourinhasaurus alenquerensis marches on in search of food.

Although the first classification of Lourinhasaurus as a species of Apatosaurus may indicate that this animal was a diplocid, this is wrong. In reality, Lourinhasaurus was actually more closely related to Camarasaurus, even making part of the clade Camarasauridae.

This means that Lourinhasaurus was likely more suited to the life of a high browser.

Lourinhasaurus-size

Gallery[]

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