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Lourinhasaurus, Late JurassicLourinhã Formation, Portugal · named 1998
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Lourinhasaurus

"Lourinhã lizard"

Lived
152 to 145 million years ago, Late Jurassic
Diet
Herbivore
Group
Sauropods, Camarasauridae
Found in
Portugal
Named by
Dantas et al. 1998

Where its fossils were found

The evidence

Today

4 finds

150 million years ago

Map: C. R. Scotese, PALEOMAP

Habitat

It lived on river plains near the coast of what is now Portugal, among conifers. Allosaurus, Torvosaurus and Dacentrurus lived in this region.

Field notes

About Lourinhasaurus

What it was like

Lourinhasaurus was a long-necked, four-legged plant eater, a relative of Camarasaurus. Its type skeleton includes bones from the backbone, shoulders, hips and limbs.

Its world

It lived in the Late Jurassic in what is now Portugal. Its bones come from the Lourinhã Formation, where it shared the land with the hunters Allosaurus, Ceratosaurus and Torvosaurus, the stegosaur Dacentrurus and the long-necked Lusotitan.

How it was found

Its bones were first described as a species of Apatosaurus. Dantas and colleagues gave them their own genus in 1998. A later review rejected most of the older isolated bones assigned to it.

Field gallery

More views of Lourinhasaurus

Scenes reconstructed from the available fossil evidence.

Lourinhasaurus 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 Lourinhasaurus.

The evidence

The science behind Lourinhasaurus

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

From its own fossils

  • The type skeleton includes vertebrae from the neck, back, hips and base of the tail, ribs, a shoulder blade, hip bones, and bones of the front and hind legs down to the ankle.
  • Distinctive features include a keel along the spines of the hip vertebrae, deep round hollows in the front tail vertebrae, and a thigh bone whose whole shaft is angled.
  • One later study notes that its upper arm bone flares strongly at the top.

Borrowed from relatives

  • Its close relative Camarasaurus guides the missing head, hands and feet.
  • The general shape of the neck, body and tail follows other long-necked plant eaters such as Mnyamawamtuka.

Still unknown

  • The shape of its skull.
  • Its hands and feet.
  • Which of the many isolated sauropod bones from the region belong to it. A later review rejected most of the older referrals.

Discovery timeline

  1. 1998Named itDantas et al.
  2. 2014Full descriptionMocho, Royo-Torres & Ortega
  3. 2015Family treeTschopp, Mateus & Benson
  4. 2017Its worldMateus, Dinis & Cunha

Key papers

The research behind what we know of Lourinhasaurus

Close relatives

Other members of Camarasauridae

Sources: Wikidata