Lourinhasaurus

Lourinhasaurus (meaning "Lourinhã lizard") was a sauropod dinosaur genus hailing from Late Jurassic strata from two localities in Estremadura, Portugal. Lourinhasaurus should not be confused with Lourinhanosaurus, a theropod dinosaur genus also found near Lourinhã.

Species

The type and only known species is Lourinhasaurus alenquerensis, named for the locality of Alenquer.

The first find in 1957, a partial fossil skeleton found near Alenquer, was dubbed Apatosaurus alenquerensis by Albert-Félix de Lapparent and Georges Zbyszewski. McIntosh (1990) proposed that it might rather be a species of Camarasaurus. However, the find of another partial skeleton, including a tooth and 100 gastroliths, in co-eval strata near the town of Lourinhã in 1983, allowed the identification of the fossils as a distinct form from Apatosaurus and Camarasaurus by Dantas et al. (1998). The genus name refers to the new locality.

Lourinhasaurus alenquerensis is a herbivorous dinosaur measuring an estimated 17 meters (56 feet) in length. It's characterized by the morphology of its first seven dorsal vertebrae with relatively high, bifurcated neural apophyses; also, the posterior cervical vertebrae have prominent ventral longitudinal keels on their centra. L. alenquerensis due to the lack of a skull is only classifiable as an eusauropod and it was found by Upchurch (2004) to be the sister taxon to Neosauropoda. It's thought it may have resembled Camarasaurus, albeit with proportionately longer forelimbs.

In the meantime a third fossil sauropod skeleton was discovered. It had passing similarities to L. alenquerensis, thus being referred to the genus at first, but later was recognized as different enough to warrant a description under the genus Dinheirosaurus. For some time there was the possibility that these genera were synonymous, but further phylogenetic analysis dispelled such a notion.

References

• Lapparent, A.F. de; & Zbyszewski, G. 1957: Les dinosauriens de Portugal. Mém. Serv. géol. Port. 2: 1-63.
• McIntosh, J.S. 1990. Sauropoda. In Weishampel, D.B.; Dodson, P.; & Osmólska, H. (eds.): The Dinosauria. Berkeley (University of California Press): 345-401.
• Dantas, P.; Sanz, J. L.; Marques da Silva, C.; Ortega, F.; dos Santos V.F.; & Cachão, M. 1998: Lourinhasaurus n. gen. Novo dinossáurio saurópode do Jurássico superior (Kimmeridgiano superior-Tithoniano inferior) de Portugal. Comunicações do Instituto Geológico e Mineiro 84 (1A) : 91-94 Original description of the genus (in Portuguese)
• Antunes, M.T.; & Mateus, O. 2003: Dinosaurs of Portugal. Comptes Rendus Palevol 2(1): 77-96.
• Lourinhasaurus at Dinosauria.com
• Lourinhasaurus at DinoData
• Upchurch, P., Barrett, P.M. and Dodson, P. 2004. Sauropoda. In The Dinosauria, 2nd edition. D. Weishampel, P. Dodson, and H. Osmólska (eds.). University of California Press, Berkeley. pp. 259–322.