Saltasaurus was a large plant-eating dinosaur with an elongated neck and bony armored plates on its body. It was a titanosaurid sauropod that lived during the late Cretaceous Period, about 83 to 79 million years ago. Fossils have been found in Argentina.
Description[]
Saltasaurus was named by paleontologists J. Bonaparte and J. Powell in 1980. Salta is the name of the Northwestern Argentinian Province where fossils were found. They include: a few oval and circular armored plates, hundreds of bumps which covered its back (roughly 1/4 inch = 6-7 mm in diameter), and several incomplete skeletons, including some vertebrae, limb bones, and jaws.
Paleobiology[]
A large titanosaurid nest was found in Auca Mahuevo, in Patagonia, Argentina. The small eggs had fossilised embryos, complete with skin impressions. [1]
In the Media[]
In the enhanced-motion vehicle attraction Dinosaur at Disney's Animal Kingdom theme park, a saltasaurus is seen in the ride, mentioned as a "sauropod".
References[]
Template:References
External links[]
- Sauropodomorpha: Titanosauridae: 'Saltasaurus, by M. Alan Kazlev, from Palæos.
- The late Cretaceous nesting grounds of Patagonia, by Luis V. Rey, from his art gallery.tegory:Herbivores]]
- ↑ Coria and Chiappe (2007).