Outline: a typical early ornithischian
Pisanosaurus
"Pisano's lizard"
- Lived
- 234 to 227 million years ago, Late Triassic
- Diet
- Herbivore
- Group
- Early ornithischians
- Found in
- Argentina
- Named by
- Casamiquela 1967
Where its fossils were found
The evidence
Today
230 million years ago
Field notes
About Pisanosaurus
What it was like
Pisanosaurus was a small, lightly built plant eater from the Late Triassic, one of the oldest animals ever proposed as a bird-hipped dinosaur. It is known from one partial skeleton.
Its world
It lived about 234 to 227 million years ago in what is now Argentina. Its bones come from the Ischigualasto Formation, home to some of the earliest known dinosaurs, including Herrerasaurus and Eoraptor.
How it was found
Casamiquela named Pisanosaurus in 1967. Where it belongs is still debated. Some scientists see it as one of the earliest ornithischians, while others think it belongs to a group of close dinosaur relatives called silesaurids.
Lived alongside
Found in the same rock formations
Sources: WikidataNamed in: R. M. Casamiquela. 1967. Un nuevo dinosaurio ornitisquio triasico (Pisanosaurus mertii; Ornithopoda) de la Formación Ischigualasto, Argentina [A new Triassic ornithischian dinosaur (Pisanosaurus mertii; Ornithopoda) from the Ischigualasto Formation, Argentina]. Ameghiniana 4(2):47-64