Dinosaurs A to Z
Piatnitzkysauridae

Piatnitzkysaurus floresi piːuhtnihtskiː-SƆːRUHS

"Piatnitzky"

Generic theropod body-plan outline
You 1.8 m (5.9 ft) tall
Piatnitzkysaurus 4.3 m (14.1 ft) long
as long as 3 people standing fingertip to fingertip
generic theropod body plan, scaled to length — not a silhouette of Piatnitzkysaurus
Length
4.3 m (14.1 ft)
Period
Jurassic (201–145 Mya)
Place
Argentina
Food
Carnivore
Clade
Piatnitzkysauridae

Piatnitzkysaurus ( ; meaning “Piatnitzky’s lizard”) is a genus of tetanuran theropod dinosaur that lived approximately 179 to 177 million years ago during the lower part of the Jurassic Period in what is now Argentina. Piatnitzkysaurus was a moderately large, lightly built, bipedal, ground-dwelling carnivore that could grow over 4 m long.

What we know

  • Named by Bonaparte, 1979.
  • Body length estimated at about 4.3 m.
  • Fossils found in Argentina.

What we guess

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