Outline: a typical sauropod
Austrosaurus
"southern lizard"
Type species Austrosaurus mckillopi
- Lived
- 106 to 101 million years ago, Early Cretaceous
- Diet
- Herbivore
- Length
- about 15 m (49 ft)
- Group
- Sauropods
- Found in
- Australia
- Named by
- Longman 1933
Size comparison
To scale
Scale in metersOutline: typical sauropod shape
Where its fossils were found
The evidence
Today
105 million years ago
Field notes
About Austrosaurus
What it was like
Austrosaurus was a long-necked sauropod known from backbones, ribs and some limb bones. It was one of the first sauropods found in Australia.
Its world
It lived in the Early Cretaceous in Australia. Its bones come from the Allaru Mudstone, which formed on the floor of a shallow inland sea, so its body probably washed out from land. The plant eater Muttaburrasaurus lived in the same region.
How it was found
Longman named Austrosaurus in 1933. The type species is Austrosaurus mckillopi.
Lived alongside
Found in the same rock formations
Close relatives
Other members of Somphospondyli
Sources: WikidataNamed in: H. A. Longman. 1933. A new dinosaur from the Queensland Cretaceous. Memoirs of the Queensland Museum 10(3):131-144