Lessemsaurus

What it was like

Lessemsaurus was a large, early relative of the giant sauropods. It walked on four legs and had tall spines along its back. It is one of the biggest plant eaters known from the Triassic and helps show how early sauropodomorphs grew large before true sauropods appeared.

Its world

It lived in the Late Triassic, in what is now Argentina. Its bones come from the Los Colorados Formation, where it shared the land with the plant eaters Riojasaurus and Coloradisaurus and the early predator Zupaysaurus.

How it was found

Bonaparte named Lessemsaurus in 1999. The type species is Lessemsaurus sauropoides. It gives its name to a small family, Lessemsauridae, of heavy early sauropodomorphs.