Gasparinisaura

"Gasparini"

You 1.8 m (5.9 ft) tall
Gasparinisaura 1.7 m (5.6 ft) long
as long as 2 people standing fingertip to fingertip
Length
1.7 m (5.6 ft)
Period
Late Cretaceous (83 Mya)
Place
South America · Argentina
Food
Herbivore
Clade
Dinosauria The clade containing all dinosaurs, terrestrial archosaurs with upright limbs.
Gasparinisaura reconstruction by Nobu Tamura (http://spinops.blogspot.com)
Reconstruction · Nobu Tamura (http://spinops.blogspot.com) (CC-BY)

Gasparinisaura (meaning “Gasparini’s lizard”) is a genus of herbivorous ornithopod dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous. The first fossils of Gasparinisaura were found in 1992 near Cinco Saltos in Río Negro Province, Argentina. The type species, Gasparinisaura cincosaltensis, was named and described in 1996 by Rodolfo Coria and Leonardo Salgado. The generic name honors Argentine palaeontologist Zulma Brandoni de Gasparini. The specific name refers to Cinco Saltos.

What we know

  • Named by Coria & Salgado, 1996.
  • Body length estimated at about 1.7 m.
  • Fossils found in South America and Argentina.

What we guess

The reconstruction notes for Gasparinisaura — soft tissue, color, behavior — haven't been written up yet. Only the recorded basics above are filled in so far.