Open Paleo

Bonapartesaurus

Cruzado-Caballero & Powell, 2017 BOW-nuh-part-SOR-us

Named after José Bonaparte, the prominent Argentine paleontologist, combined with Greek sauros (σαῦρος) meaning 'lizard'; overall meaning 'Bonaparte's lizard'.

83.6–66.0 million years ago Campanian–Maastrichtian, Late Cretaceous
Late Cretaceous stages

Bonapartesaurus is an extinct genus of herbivorous ornithopod dinosaur belonging to Hadrosauridae, which lived in the area of modern Argentina during the Campanian and Maastrichtian stages of the Late Cretaceous.

Diagnosis

  1. Ratio between height of sacral neural spines and centrum greater than 3.5
  2. Neural spines of anterior caudal vertebrae extremely long (3.5-4× centrum height) and evenly expanding distally
  3. Preacetabular process of ilium slightly deflected ventrally, angle greater than 150°
  4. Ratio between dorsoventral height and anteroposterior length of iliac blade 0.8 or greater
  5. Posterior portion of postacetabular process markedly thicker mediolaterally due to dorsomedial twist of postacetabular process
  6. Anteriorly expanded cnemial crest restricted to the proximal end of the tibia

Species

Bonapartesaurus rionegrensis Cruzado-Caballero & Powell, 2017

Type species

Named for Río Negro province of Argentina, where the holotype specimen was excavated.

Holotype
MPCA-PV SM 2 , Museo provincial de Cipolletti "Carlos Ameghino"
Material
Partial, articulated skeleton including dorsal and caudal vertebrae, sacrum, hemal arches, ribs, scapula, humerus, ulna, ilium, pubis, ischia, femora, tibiae, fibulae, astragalus, calcaneum, and left pes.
Horizon
lower Allen Formation, Campanian–Maastrichtian, Late Cretaceous , 83.6–66.0 million years ago
Locality
Salitral Moreno, Río Negro, Argentina Cruzado-Caballero and Powell (2017) give the horizon as the Allen Formation, "late Campanian–early Maastrichtian", and say the fossil level "might be correlative to the Lower Member of the Allen Formation".

References

  1. Cruzado-Caballero, P.; Powell, J. (2017). Bonapartesaurus rionegrensis, a new hadrosaurine dinosaur from South America: implications for phylogenetic and biogeographic relations with North America. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 37(2): e1289381. Informa UK Limited. doi:10.1080/02724634.2017.1289381 cruzado-caballero2017a
  2. Paul, G. S. (2024). The Princeton Field Guide to Dinosaurs (3rd ed.). Princeton University Press.

    Source of the body length and mass estimates.

    paul2024a