Aragosaurus Temporal range: Early Cretaceous, Barremian |
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Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Reptilia |
Superorder: | Dinosauria |
Order: | Saurischia |
Suborder: | †Sauropodomorpha |
Infraorder: | †Sauropoda |
Branch: | †Laurasiformes |
Genus: | †Aragosaurus Sanz et al., 1987 |
Species: | †A. ischiaticus |
Binomial name | |
Aragosaurus ischiaticus Sanz et al., 1987 |
Aragosaurus (meaning "Aragon lizard") was a genus of sauropod dinosaur from the Early Cretaceous period of Galve, province of Teruel, in the autonomous territory of Aragón, Spain.
Aragosaurus was a large, quadrupedal plant-eating (herbivorous) dinosaur, which lived about 130-120 million years ago, in the Hauterivian-Barremian. It was about 60 ft (18 m) in length and about 28000 kg in weight.
Like other sauropods, it had a long neck, a long powerful tail, a small head and a bulky body. It was broadly similar to Camarasaurus. It is represented by a partial fossil, which was found in Spain and was named by Sanz, Buscalioni, Casanovi and Santafe in 1987. The type species is A. ischiaticus. Like Camarasaurus, Aragosaurus probably had a short, compact skull and a moderately long neck. The teeth were large and wide, and would have been useful for slicing through the leaves and branches of tall conifer trees. The forelimbs were only a little shorter than the hind limbs, and the tail was long and muscular.