Zapalasaurus
Temporal range: Hauterivian-Early Aptian
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Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Clade: Dinosauria
Clade: Saurischia
Clade: †Sauropodomorpha
Clade: †Sauropoda
Superfamily: †Diplodocoidea
Family: †Rebbachisauridae
Genus: †Zapalasaurus
Salgado et al. 2006[1][2]
Species:
†Z. bonapartei
Binomial name
†Zapalasaurus bonapartei
Salgado et al., 2006

Zapalasaurus is a genus of sauropod dinosaur described by Leonardo Salgado, Ismar de Souza Carvalho and Alberto Garrido in 2006.[3] It was named after the city of Zapala, which is approximately 80 kilometres (50 mi) away from where the holotype was discovered. The type species, Zapalasaurus bonapartei, was found in the La Amarga Formation of the Neuquén Basin, Neuquén Province, Argentina. It was a diplodocoid, a long-necked herbivore, and it lived during the Early Cretaceous. The authors conclude from examining the skeleton that "The record of Zapalasaurus bonapartei shows that, at least in the Neuquén Basin, basal diplodocoids were more diverse than previously thought." Zapalasaurus is assumed to have a long neck which would have been developed for feeding adaption, allowing its neck to swing in an arc like shape. This would allow Zapalasaurus to browse a wide variety of plants and greens without having to walk very far.

References

  1. ↑ Paul C. Sereno; Jeffrey A. Wilson; Lawrence M. Witmer; John A. Whitlock; Abdoulaye Maga; Oumarou Ide; Timothy A. Rowe (2007). "Structural Extremes in a Cretaceous Dinosaur". PLOS ONE. 2 (11): e1230. Bibcode:2007PLoSO...2.1230S. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0001230. PMC 2077925. PMID 18030355.
  2. ↑ Fidel Torcida Fernández-Baldor; José Ignacio Canudo; Pedro Huerta; Diego Montero; Xabier Pereda Suberbiola & Leonardo Salgado (2011). "Demandasaurus darwini, a new rebbachisaurid sauropod from the Early Cretaceous of the Iberian Peninsula". Acta Palaeontologica Polonica. 56 (3): 535–552. doi:10.4202/app.2010.0003.
  3. ↑ Salgado, Leonardo; Carvalho, Ismar de Souza; Garrido, Alberto C. (2006). "Zapalasaurus bonapartei, un nuevo dinosaurio saurópodo de La Formación La Amarga (Cretácico Inferior), noroeste de Patagonia, Provincia de Neuquén, Argentina". Geobios. 39 (5): 695–707. doi:10.1016/j.geobios.2005.06.001. ISSN 0016-6995.
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