Dinosaurs A to Z
Noasauridae

Vespersaurus paranaensis

"western lizard"

Generic theropod body-plan outline
You 1.8 m (5.9 ft) tall
Vespersaurus 1.5 m (4.9 ft) long
as long as 2 people standing fingertip to fingertip
generic theropod body plan, scaled to length — not a silhouette of Vespersaurus
Length
1.5 m (4.9 ft)
Period
Cretaceous (145–66 Mya)
Place
South America · Brazil
Food
Carnivore
Clade
Noasauridae

Vespersaurus (meaning “western lizard”) is a genus of noasaurid theropod dinosaur from the Cretaceous Rio Paraná Formation in the Paraná Basin, Brazil. The type and only species is V. paranaensis, which would have lived in the giant prehistoric Botucatu Desert.

What we know

  • Named by Langer et al., 2019.
  • Body length estimated at about 1.5 m.
  • Fossils found in South America and Brazil.

What we guess

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