Lessemsaurus
Sauropodomorph dinosaur genus from Late Triassic Argentina
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Lessemsaurus is an extinct genus of sauropodiform dinosaur that lived in the Norian-aged (Upper Triassic) Los Colorados Formation of what is now Argentina.
| Lessemsaurus Temporal range: mid-Norian ~ | |
|---|---|
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| Reconstructed skeleton | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Clade: | Dinosauria |
| Clade: | Saurischia |
| Clade: | †Sauropodomorpha |
| Clade: | †Sauropoda |
| Family: | †Lessemsauridae |
| Genus: | †Lessemsaurus Bonaparte 1999 |
| Species: | †L. sauropoides |
| Binomial name | |
| †Lessemsaurus sauropoides Bonaparte 1999 | |
Naming and description
The type species, L. sauropoides, was formally described by José Fernando Bonaparte in 1999 in honor of Don Lessem, a writer of popular science books. It was found in the Los Colorados Formation of the Ischigualasto-Villa Unión Basin in La Rioja Province, Argentina.[1]
It is part of the La Esquina faunal assemblage,[2][3] dating to the mid-Norian stage, around 213 million years ago.[4] It is estimated to have reached 10–12 metres (33–39 ft) long and weighed over 7 metric tons (7.7 short tons), possibly up to 8–10 metric tons (8.8–11.0 short tons), in maximum body mass.[5][6][7][8]
Classification
A cladogram after Pol, Garrido & Cerda, 2011,[9] illustrates a possible placing of Lessemsaurus and Antetonitrus in Sauropodomorpha:
In 2018, Apaldetti et al. recovered it as part of a clade they named Lessemsauridae, after Lessemsaurus. Their cladogram is reproduced below:[10]
The following cladogram shows the position of Lessemsaurus outside of Sauropoda, according to Oliver W. M. Rauhut and colleagues, 2020:[11]
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