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Galvesaurus, Late JurassicVillar del Arzobispo Formation, Spain · named 2005
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Galvesaurus

"Galve lizard"

Lived
152 to 145 million years ago, Late Jurassic
Diet
Herbivore
Group
Sauropods, Brachiosauridae
Found in
Spain
Named by
Barco et al. 2005

Where its fossils were found

The evidence

Today

1 find

150 million years ago

Map: C. R. Scotese, PALEOMAP

Habitat

Coastal plains crossed by rivers, with tidal flats near the sea. Turiasaurus, Dacentrurus and Losillasaurus also occur in the Villar del Arzobispo Formation.

Field notes

About Galvesaurus

What it was like

Galvesaurus was a sauropod, a long-necked plant eater. It is known from part of the skeleton, including neck, back and tail bones.

Its world

It lived in the Late Jurassic, in what is now Spain. It comes from the Villar del Arzobispo Formation, where it shared the land with the huge sauropod Turiasaurus and the stegosaur Dacentrurus.

How it was found

Barco and colleagues named Galvesaurus in 2005. Another team gave the same bones the name Galveosaurus in the same year, which caused a dispute over which name to use.

Field gallery

More views of Galvesaurus

Scenes reconstructed from the available fossil evidence.

Galvesaurus in its habitat, photo 1

1 of 3

Lived alongside

Found in the same rock formations

A rock formation can hold fossils laid down millions of years apart, so not every animal here met Galvesaurus.

The evidence

The science behind Galvesaurus

Which parts of the picture come from its own bones, and which come from its relatives.

From its own fossils

  • The type specimen is a single back vertebra. Scattered bones from the same site add neck, hip and tail vertebrae, both upper arm bones, a shoulder blade and parts of the pelvis.
  • Its upper arm bones are straight and slender, with a narrow ridge for the chest muscles.
  • Later study assigned another shoulder bone and a piece of the pelvis to it.

Borrowed from relatives

  • The missing skull, hands and feet are restored by comparison with Camarasaurus.
  • The general build of the neck, body, legs and tail follows other sauropods such as Mnyamawamtuka.

Still unknown

  • The shape of its skull. No part of the head has been found.
  • Its closest relatives. Depending on the data and method, analyses place it among early macronarians, with the brachiosaurids, or among the somphospondylans.
  • Whether all the scattered bones come from one animal, and its full neck length and body proportions.

Discovery timeline

  1. 2005Named itBarco et al.
  2. 2005RedescriptionSÁNCHEZ-HERNÁNDEZ
  3. 2006RedescriptionSÁNCHEZ-HERNÁNDEZ
  4. 2019Family treePérez-Pueyo et al.
  5. 2026Family treeReutter et al.

Key papers

The research behind what we know of Galvesaurus

Close relatives

Other members of Brachiosauridae