Piatnitzkysaurus

What it was like

Piatnitzkysaurus was a lightly built, two-legged predator about 4.2 meters (14 feet) long. It had a long tail, strong legs and short but powerful arms.

Its world

It lived about 183 to 180 million years ago, in the Early Jurassic, in what is now Argentina. Its bones come from the Cañadón Asfalto Formation, where it shared the land with the predators Condorraptor and Eoabelisaurus and the sauropod Patagosaurus.

How it was found

Bonaparte named Piatnitzkysaurus in 1979. The type species is Piatnitzkysaurus floresi. It is one of the best known meat eaters of its age, and it gave its name to a family that also includes Marshosaurus from North America.