Aline Marcele Ghilardi (born 8 June 1986) is a Brazilian biologist and palaeontologist. She was one of those responsible for the return of the "Ubirajara jubatus" dinosaur fossil to Brazil in 2023 by promoting the Ubirajara belongs to Brazil campaign (#UbirajaraBelongstoBR). She is currently a professor and researcher at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte.
Ghilardi was born on 8 June 1986, in São Paulo. She graduated from UFSCar, where she did her post-doctorate in 2019, her master's degree in Ecology and Natural Resources from PPGERN-UFSCar in 2017, and her doctorate in Geology from PPG-GI UFRJ in 2015.[1]
In 2018, she coordinated studies in the city of Sousa, Paraíba, to study dinosaur footprints more than 136 million years old that were being destroyed by erosion caused by animals stepping on the ground. In an interview with Diário do Sertão, she said that the action was urgent and aimed to preserve historical heritage.[12]
Aline Ghilardi (at the right) at the Ubirajara fossil repatriation ceremony
Ghilardi was responsible for the "#UbirajaraBelongstoBR" campaign to retrieve the "Ubirajara jubatus" fossil, which had been illegally removed from Brazil to Germany. In July 2022, twenty-seven years after its removal, German authorities decided that the fossil should be returned to Brazil.[16][17] This was done in June 2023.