Pronunciation: la-PAM-puh-SOR-us
Meaning: La Pampa Lizard
Author/s: Coria et al. (2012)
Synonyms: None known
First Discovery: La Pampa, Argentina
Discovery Chart Position: #801
Lapampasaurus cholinoi
Ever since the description of Secernosaurus koerneri in 1979, there has been a steady stream of hadrosaurid fossils trickling from South America, but the holotype remains of Lapampasaurus represent the first from the Allen Formation of Argentina's La Pampa Province to be officially described; they just didn't belong to Lapampasaurus at the time.
Lapampasaurus is anchored by MPHN-Pv 01, a partial skeleton that was discovered in 1991 and described in 2000 by González Riga and Silvio Casadío, who resisted the urge to christen it, due in no small part to its fragmentary nature. With a little bravery, said authors could've made history, but as it happens, Juárez Valieri nobbled MPHN-Pv 01 and assigned it to Willinkaque, which claimed the "Allen Formation's first hadrosaurid" title when it was officially named in 2011. A year later, Riga and Casadío, perhaps kicking themselves, reclaimed MPHN-Pv 01 and coined Lapampasaurus.
After an ever-so-slow start, the Allen Formation finished strong in 2012. Not only was its first-described hadrosaurid specimen given its own official name after a two-decade wait, but it also yielded a single titanosaur tooth, which was almost a third bigger than any known from anywhere. Colossal remains have proven that titanosaurs such as Argentinosaurus are among the largest creatures ever to walk the Earth, but if teeth are reliable yardsticks for proportionate upscaling, then some of these wide-load sauropods may have been 32% bigger still.
Lapampasaurus is anchored by MPHN-Pv 01, a partial skeleton that was discovered in 1991 and described in 2000 by González Riga and Silvio Casadío, who resisted the urge to christen it, due in no small part to its fragmentary nature. With a little bravery, said authors could've made history, but as it happens, Juárez Valieri nobbled MPHN-Pv 01 and assigned it to Willinkaque, which claimed the "Allen Formation's first hadrosaurid" title when it was officially named in 2011. A year later, Riga and Casadío, perhaps kicking themselves, reclaimed MPHN-Pv 01 and coined Lapampasaurus.
After an ever-so-slow start, the Allen Formation finished strong in 2012. Not only was its first-described hadrosaurid specimen given its own official name after a two-decade wait, but it also yielded a single titanosaur tooth, which was almost a third bigger than any known from anywhere. Colossal remains have proven that titanosaurs such as Argentinosaurus are among the largest creatures ever to walk the Earth, but if teeth are reliable yardsticks for proportionate upscaling, then some of these wide-load sauropods may have been 32% bigger still.
(Cholino's La Pampa Lizard)
Etymology
Lapampasaurus is derived from "La Pampa" (for La Pampa Province, where the holotype was discovered) and the Greek "sauros" (lizard).The species epithet, cholinoi, honours José Cholino, who discovered its remains.
Discovery
The remains of Lapampasaurus were discovered in a bentonite quarry at the Islas Malvinas locality of the Allen Formation, La Pampa Province, Argentina, by José Cholino in 1991. Islas Malvinas is also the Spanish name for the Falkland Islands, but they're over 1000 miles away from La Pampa, as the crow flys.
The holotype (MPHN-Pv 01) includes vertebrae from the neck, back, hip and tail, a left shoulder girdle, a partial right thigh, two toe bones, and nine indeterminate fragments.
