Open Paleo

Pellegrinisaurus

Salgado, 1996 pel-e-GREEN-ee-SAWR-us

Named after Pellegrini Lake (Lago Pellegrini) in Río Negro Province, Argentina, where the holotype was found, combined with Greek sauros meaning 'lizard'; meaning 'Pellegrini lizard'

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

Pellegrinisaurus is a genus of titanosaurian sauropod dinosaur that lived in South America during the Late Cretaceous period. The holotype was found in the Allen Formation, Argentina.

Diagnosis

  1. Transverse width of the centrum of the posterior dorsal vertebrae approximately twice the maximum dorsoventral depth
  2. Dorsal centra strongly depressed
  3. Midposterior and posterior caudal vertebrae with anteroposteriorly elongated and dorsoventrally depressed neural spines
  4. In midposterior and posterior caudals, the anterior end of the neural spine is positioned higher than the posterior end

Species

Pellegrinisaurus powelli Salgado, 1996

Type species

Named for Jaime E. Powell, the assistant who helped discover the holotype at Pellegrini Lake, Argentina.

Holotype
MPCA-PV 1500 , Museo provincial de Cipolletti "Carlos Ameghino"
Material
Four dorsal vertebral centra, twenty-six incomplete caudal vertebrae, and an incomplete right femur
Horizon
lower Allen Formation, Campanian–Maastrichtian, Late Cretaceous , 83.6–66.0 million years ago
Locality
Cantera de la Pala Mecánica, Río Negro, Argentina Salgado (1996) gives the horizon as the "Lower member of the Allen Formation, Malargüe Group", at Lago Pellegrini.

References

  1. Salgado, L. (1996). Pellegrinisaurus powelli nov. gen. et sp. (Sauropoda, Titanosauridae) from the Upper Cretaceous of Lago Pellegrini, northwestern Patagonia, Argentina. Ameghiniana 33(4): 355-365. salgado1996a
  2. Jones, B. (2026). The Princeton Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs: Sauropods. Princeton University Press.

    Source of the hip height estimate.

    jones2026b