Amazonsaurus

Amazonsaurus
Temporal range: Early Cretaceous, 125–100 Ma
Skeletal reconstruction
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Clade: Dinosauria
Clade: Saurischia
Clade: Sauropodomorpha
Clade: Sauropoda
Superfamily: Diplodocoidea
Family: Rebbachisauridae
Genus: Amazonsaurus
Carvalho et al., 2003
Species:
A. maranhensis
Binomial name
Amazonsaurus maranhensis
Carvalho et al., 2003

Amazonsaurus (/ˌæməzənˈsɔːrəs/ AM-ə-zən-SOR-əs, 'Amazon lizard') is a genus of diplodocoid sauropod dinosaur from the Early Cretaceous Period of what is now South America. It would have been a large-bodied quadrupedal herbivore with a long neck and whiplash tail. Although more derived diplodocoids were some of the longest animals ever to exist, Amazonsaurus was probably not more than 12 meters (40 ft) long. Gregory S. Paul estimated in 2010 its weight at 5000 kg.[1]

Fossils of Amazonsaurus, including some back and tail vertebrae, ribs, and fragments of the pelvis, are the only dinosaur remains identifiable at the generic level from the Itapecuru Formation of Maranhão. This geologic formation dates back to the Aptian through Albian epochs of the Early Cretaceous Period, or about 125 to 100 million years ago. Amazonsaurus was recovered in sediments which are interpreted by geologists as floodplain deposits near a river delta.[2]

  1. ^ Paul, G.S., 2010, The Princeton Field Guide to Dinosaurs, Princeton University Press p. 185
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference Carvalho2013 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).