Argentinosaurus

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{{Taxobox | color = pink | name = Argentinosaurus | fossil_range = Cretaceous | image = Argentinosaurus.jpg | image_width = 200px | regnum = Animalia | phylum = Chordata | classis = Sauropsida | superordo = Dinosauria | ordo = Saurischia | subordo = Sauropodomorpha | unranked_familia = Titanosauria | genus = Argentinosaurus | binomial = Argentinosaurus huinculensis | binomial_authority = Bonaparte & Coria, 1993 }}

Argentinosaurus ("Argentina lizard") was a herbivorous sauropod dinosaur that is quite possibly the largest, heaviest land animal that ever lived. It developed on the island continent of South America during the middle of the Cretaceous period (around 100 mya), after all of its more familiar Laurasian Jurassic kin — like Apatosaurus — had long disappeared.

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Description

Not much of Argentinosaurus has been recovered: just some back vertebrae, tibia, fragmentary ribs, and sacrum. However, the spectacular proportions of these bones and the familiarity of the species' sauropod relatives allows paleontologists to estimate that full-grown specimens reached some 40 metres (125 feet). Weight was perhaps 90 to 110 tonnes. Vast wings on the vertebrae suited the attachment of massive muscles.

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Classification and history

The type species of Argentinosaurus, A. huinculensis, was described and published (by the Argentinian palaeontologists José F. Bonaparte and Rodolfo Coria) in 1993. Its more specific time-frame within the Cretaceous is the Albian to Cenomanian epochs, 112.2 to 93.5 mya.

The fossil discovery site is in the Río Limay Formation in Neuquén Province, Argentina. Due to the enormous size of each bone, Rodolfo Coria apparently told National Geographic Magazine, who were covering the event, "God forbid we ever find a complete one."Template:Fact

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