Pronunciation: bag-WAH-lo-SOR-us
Meaning: Strong Lizard
Author/s: Pretto et al. (2018)
Synonyms: None known
First Discovery: Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
Acta Ordinal: #1007
Bagualosaurus agudoensis
Bagualosaurus agudoensis was one of the larger Carnian-aged sauropodomorphs, living in what is now southern Brazil during the Late Triassic. It appeared at a pivotal stage in dinosaur evolution, combining features of older, small-bodied ancestors with others that would later become common in larger, more specialised relatives such as Plateosaurus. Its skull and teeth show early adaptations for more efficient plant-eating, while the rest of its skeleton remained relatively primitive, suggesting the evolutionary path toward the giant, long-necked sauropods began with changes in feeding anatomy, long before the dramatic increase in body size and hindlimb and foot robustness that characterised later sauropodomorphs.
(Strong Lizard from Agudo)Etymology
Bagualosaurus is derived from the regional southern Brazilian term "Bagual" (an animal or person of strong build or valour) and the Greek "sauros" (lizard).
The species epithet, agudoensis, means "from Agudo" in Latin.
Discovery
The remains of Bagualosaurus were discovered in the Santa Maria Formation (Candelária Sequence, Santa Maria Supersequence) at the Janner outcrop, 2km from the town of Agudo, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, in 2007.
The site has produced a rich fossil fauna, including the early sauropodomorph Pampadromaeus, the large cynodont Trucidocynodon, abundant remains of the herbivorous traversodontid Exaeretodon, as well as rhynchosaurs and other early dinosauromorphs.
The holotype (UFRGS-PV-1099-T) is a semi-articulated skeleton, including a partial skull and mandible, trunk vertebrae, isolated tail vertebrae, fragmented ribs, gastralia, isolated chevrons, hip bones (sacrum, both ilia, right pubis), a thigh, shin and calf, and a partial left foot. The fossils were found in a small ravine and some elements had eroded prior to discovery.
Another partial skeleton (UFRGS-PV-1240-T) from the Janner site, that was described by Favio Pretto and colleagues in 2015, might represent a second specimen
of Bagualosaurus, even larger than the holotype.
