Outline: a typical sauropod
Tapuiasaurus
"Tapuia lizard"
- Lived
- 121 to 113 million years ago, Early Cretaceous
- Diet
- Herbivore
- Group
- Sauropods
- Found in
- Brazil
- Named by
- Zaher et al. 2011
Where its fossils were found
The evidence
Today
115 million years ago
Field notes
About Tapuiasaurus
What it was like
Tapuiasaurus was a titanosaur, a long-necked, four-legged plant eater. It is known from a nearly complete skull, one of the best titanosaur skulls ever found, with narrow, pencil-like teeth.
Its skull showed that titanosaur heads were more like those of Diplodocus than scientists had thought.
Its world
It lived in the Early Cretaceous in what is now southeastern Brazil. Its bones come from the Quiricó Formation, where it shared the land with the abelisaur Spectrovenator.
How it was found
Zaher and colleagues named Tapuiasaurus in 2011, from a single find.
Lived alongside
Found in the same rock formations
Close relatives
Other members of Saltasauroidea
Sources: WikidataNamed in: H. Zaher, D. Pol, and A. B. Carvalho, P. M. Nascimento, C. Riccomini, P. Larson, R. Juarez-Valieri, R. Pires-Domingues, N. J. da Silva, D. d. A. Campos. 2011. A complete skull of an Early Cretaceous sauropod and the evolution of advanced titanosaurians. PLoS One 6(2):e16663:1-10