Loricosaurus

Loricosaurus (meaning "armour lizard") is a genus of sauropod represented by a single species. It is a titanosaurian that lived near the end of the Late Cretaceous period, approximately 71 million years ago in the early Maastrichtian. Found in the province of Neuquen, Argentina in the Allen Formation. Due to the presence of armour, at first it was thought that it was an ankylosaur, but today it is considered to be the armour of a titanosaur.

Loricosaurus
Temporal range: Late Cretaceous, 71 Ma
↓
early Maastrichtian
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Clade: Dinosauria
Clade: Saurischia
Suborder: †Sauropodomorpha
Clade: †Sauropoda
Clade: †Titanosauria
Clade: †Lithostrotia
Family: †Saltasauridae
Subfamily: †Saltasaurinae
Genus: †Loricosaurus
von Huene, 1929
Species:
†L. scutatus
Binomial name
†Loricosaurus scutatus
von Huene, 1929

Armour

The armour of Loricosaurus has caused some controversy. When Huene first described it, he considered it to be from an ankylosaur. Later, it was discovered to not belong to ankylosaurs, but to belong to titanosaurs.[1] Now it is considered to possibly belong to Neuquensaurus or Saltasaurus.[2]

Species

In 1929 von Huene described Loricosaurus based on some armour osteoderms found in Argentina. The type species, Loricosaurus scutatus, is now considered possibly a synonym of Neuquensaurus.[2]

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See also

References
  1. Holtz, Thomas R Jr. (2011) Dinosaurs: The Most Complete,Up-to-date Encyclopedia for Dinosaur Lovers Of All Ages, Winter 2010 Appendix.
  2. "Loricosaurus". Paleobiology Database. Retrieved 20 May 2013.


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